King of Winter?!

Jack. Jokul. Same Difference

After a lot of bickering between the two certain holiday rivals, North was able to force Bunny—and subsequently everyone else—into the sleigh, and it wasn't long before they were flying in the open sky. North held the reigns of his reindeer in one hand and swirled a snow globe in the other.

"I say...Winter Palace," he whispered and threw the device up into the air, watching as it morphed into a swirling portal that pulled them in.

They gasped in awe as they breached the other side, arriving in the heart of Antarctica. Heavy gray clouds loomed overhead, promising continuous snowfall if the giant flakes were anything to go by. Ice creatures of various shapes and sizes ran along the ground below and glided through the air around them, all heading in the same direction. The Winter Palace.

It only took a few seconds for them to come within viewing range of the castle, and the four guardians looked on with wonder. The entire building was made of solid ice, blue flames and glowing crystals lighting everything around it in a variety of wintery hues. This was the home base of the King of the Winter and the capital of the season itself.

The wind tugged sharply on the sleigh, pulling it towards the palace. Someone, or something, had noticed their arrival. The sleigh was pulled to what looked like a runway made of ice, and North landed carefully. The last thing they needed was bringing on the wrath of the Winter Seasonal by damaging his runway.

   One by one, the four guardians climbed out of the sleigh, Bunny looking more than a little worse for wear. In fact, he actually looked rather nauseated. North surveyed the vacant platform, his eyes squinting in the growing snowstorm. The entire group flinched as the massive, opaque ice door swung open, and a large man came out to meet them.

    His hair and beard were white with flecks of gray sprinkled throughout and trimmed in a clean cut, dark blue eyes shadowed by a pair of bushy eyebrows. His muscular form was garbed in a white and blue military uniform with accents of gold and a variety of medals displayed proudly on his right breast. The only thing that hinted that he was not once human was the fact that his skin was an icy blue with navy markings painted on any exposed skin. And if his large presence alone wasn't enough to create an air of intimidation, the massive Nordic battle-ax strapped on his back did the job just fine.

"Ah! Guardians!" the man exclaimed with a disarming grin and stretched his arms out in greeting, "Welcome to the Winter Palace! I am General Winters, at your service."

The four legends cautiously introduced themselves before they let North do most of the talking as to why they had decided to visit. He pulled out the weather planner from the folds of his coat and held it out to the man.

"One of our members, Jack Frost, found this, and ve came to return it to you. Ve believe it belongs to the Winter King."

"Is that so?" General Winters asked and took the book, scratching his beard as he observed the cover. A smile broke out across his face, "The King would probably like to thank you himself for returning this. Come with me! I am sure he is in the main hall right now. He only arrived a few minutes before you did."

"Why is that?" Tooth asked as she flitted beside the giant soldier. A knowing twinkle entered the man's eye.

"Our king has been rather busy this past year. On top of his usual duties as the Shepherd of Winter, the Moon assigned a new task to him which has taken a lot of his time."

   The next few minutes were spent in polite conversation that eventually faded into companionable silence. The walls of the castle seemed to pulse with an unknown energy, each beat steadily increasing in frequency. While the guardians seemed mesmerized by the way the castle appeared to be alive, General Winters paid no heed to it.