In the beginning there was nothing but cold. Worlds beyond worlds were covered in beautifully shimmering ice, draped by a thick layer of darkness as pure in perfection as could be. Three Winter Gods had been instructed to govern it all and make sure no intruding force was to ever compromise that which meant everything to them. The Gods often times marvelled upon the frozen harmony of the worlds without any suspicion that something was about to go terribly wrong. A vague light in a far distance suddenly appeared to the Gods, an alarming disturbance, and they rushed throughout the snow covered realms to investigate the origin from where the uninvited guest hailed from. To their grave indignation, they discovered that what they had spotted were rays of light shot out from an unseen evil star rose on the horizon who had set its sights on a far planet called Earth. Earth laid in one of the darkest corners of the world known as The Dead Sector, a constellation of deeply frozen planets and according to the laws of old, forbidden of hosting any forms of life. The disgusting light now began scorching the white planet and made the frozen soil slowly give birth to unholy, light-consuming organisms. More and more of the evil star minions unrightfully claimed their place in the light and began worshipping it. The new breed of earthly scum was a severely weak race of light cravers called Homo sapiens. A very despicable two legged deformation that bathed in the sickening brightness and built temples and monuments to honour what should never have been at all. The bare site of the foul freaks' orgy in the morbid gaze of the star would have been extremely revolting to any remote beholder, let alone the three Gods. Perplexed, yet angered by the trespassing whore of heat, the gods finally snapped out of their daze and realised that something had to be done. They knew they had to use firm action on the now sun possessed humans in order to conquer the star and regain ultimate winter on Earth. The only way to do this was to try to lure mankind into believing that winter and snow was the only true way to absolution without them realising that by choosing frostbite over tanning, the feeble humans would eventually walk into certain deaths. This would ensure that Earth once again would become lifeless and desolate in the most frozen of ways.
THE PLAN
The gods now struck up a plan. A plan that, in its simplest form, was for the Gods to find three agents that could represent them where they themselves, by principle, never would set foot, since integrating with dirty humans was beneath them. Three agents whom could roam freely on the now charred surface of earth. Three agents that the Gods would grant their most secret of powers in order to rectify the troubling effects of light and entangle the minds of the gullible humans! Hence a vast interdimensional search was set in motion for these three warriors to be.
WARRIORS OF THREE
[Ashuck]
The first to be approached by the winter gods was a wretched creature by the name of Ashuck. Part beast part demon, Ashuck hailed from the nether frost regions of the world and served as commander in the perpetuated gauntlet wars against his race's enemies of lesser worth beings. However, in the battle for the Six Storm Mountains, Ashuck was lethally wounded when single handedly taking on a mighty Ore Deity. They fought for days without end until Ashuck victoriously struck down his foe, only to find himself standing in a growing pool of blood seeping from the wounds the deity had left him with. Ashuck dropped to his knees, knowing that this was his final hour when he felt a breeze of sadness sweeping though him. There was no shame in a soldier's death, but he suddenly realized that he wouldn't be alive to see the day his kinsmen would claim triumph of the war and by tradition, adorn the walls of the Shadow Halls with their adversaries' heads. He felt will leaving him and as he was about to draw his last breath he heard the voices of the three Winter Gods within his mind. They offered him life and a return to his ancestor's valley if he would carry out a task for them. Without hesitation, Ashuck accepted the offer and the Gods were pleased.
[Fjalar]
Continuing farther north from the crystalline nexus, the Gods were determined to find their second militant in the forgotten Caves of Darkling. Its inhabitants were said to be one of the most brute type of beings ever to curse a world and that the taste of blood was the only thing that could settle them. Furthermore, legend had it that a large Frost Fiend of female nature had been captured and caged by the inhabitants to be used in war when an invading army approached. The fiend, with its barbaric lust for killing, served the cave impeccably until it one day unexpectedly gave birth to a son. Right after delivery she took a long proud stare at her creation before she fell over and died. The offspring, who unlike its monstrous mother, was more man like in its physique appeared as no threat to the clan and without any knowledge of its father, it was decided that they themselves would raise the infant to become one of them. Baptized, Fjalar the bastard child grew strong and became a fierce warlord who oftentimes would lead the clan into battle, but it was undeniable that his deeply disturbed lineage had affected his sanity, creating a collective fear of him within the ilk. Thus upon arrival to the caves, the Gods met with a rather upsetting notice, Fjalar had been banished once and for all! Reason being was that he had become agitated with the hierarchy of the caverns in which he was looked upon as a servant rather than a master and this didn't sit well with the warlord. Feeling heavily insulted he decided to punish every living thing within his sight and in a most brutal manner, he uncontrollably began slaughtering everything that could breathe. Finally, he was overpowered and thrown out of the kingdom. By the time the Gods finally reached him he was lying lifeless next to a dead oak at the outskirts of the domain. He had turned blind from fresh air outside of the caves and given up that which had meant most to him, killing. Still, the Gods managed to wake him from his slumber to present their proposal and insure him that for his loyalty he would not only regain his sight but also that his strength would be fully restored so he could later seek vengeance on those who had forsaken him. In a slow confident nod, Fjalar accepted the offer and the gods were pleased.
[Mordechai]
As for the third and final ally, the Gods stood clueless in where to proceed with their search. By now, they had covered most of the arctic districts of the Great Beyond without any luck of finding a worthy figure that was equally met with Ashuck and Fjalar. So they took to the hidden Book of Crevasse to seek the answer for where to find the last Frost Bearer. Along the aged and mouldered pages of the book, they soon discovered a somewhat forgotten tale. This story spoke of a man who'd been raised by a flock of crows and when old and wise enough, been given a pair of black ice wings. Mordechai was his name and he was looked upon as the darkest of nightmares for those he would prey on. But to Mordechai's disadvantage, his lust for death and rebellious actions soon had him clean out entire areas of life which eventually led him to seek flesh elsewhere. This inevitably made him hunt and feed where he was off limits until he finally was captured and imprisoned for several eternities. His wings were destroyed by fire and as a discouraging mark to other disobeying creatures, the sovereigns decided to torture Mordechai endlessly in his reeking crypt so that his screams would be carried with the wind as a warning to others. The elders at last felt Mordechai had served enough for his crimes and were about to release him when it became apparent that his incarceration had done nothing but to stimulate the evil inside him. He was never to walk any landscape again and was placed in a sombre asylum where he would remain out of grasp from the living. Struck by unchallenged amnesia, Mordechai was found by the esoteric Gods who made him realise that the pact they wanted his signature for was his way out together with the insurance that he would never be punished again. A silent blood red tear of agreement fell from Mordechai's left eye and the Gods were pleased.
A WAR TO COME
With slightly polished appearances, the three were sent to what the Gods knew to be the most winter fertile place on earth, Blekinge. Not long after, Ashuck, Fjalar and Mordechai had left for the raped planet they for the first time witnessed the corrupted star of light in the heavens that the Gods so scornfully had described. They saw what the nauseating beams had done to the surface with only Blekinge still laying dark and cold. A swift sense of complete and utter hate for this glowing abomination shivered through them as they laid eyes on the lit freak of nature. In that moment the tree, under the blizzard banner of Istapp, realised that they would forever be the prominent nemesis of all above zero and wage war on anyone who dared oppose them. Upon arrival they built a frostbitten stronghold deep within Blekinge and began recruiting winter hailing soldiers for their army of cold. The time had come to reclaim the old order that would set aside all other priorities to put an end to the horrible warmth of light and all of its sunburned followers.
EPILOGUE
More and more followers now swear allegiance to winter and join the battle to once and for all erase the burning star and bring forth the Absolute Zero. It is imperative that every human walking this Earth gets cured from this thermal plague and join Istapp in the most urgent of wars to finally erase the sun!!!
Chronicled by Tjaele Ichskald
