Rise Of The Guardians - The Life Of A Spirit

Darkness

The snow crunched under his bare feet, carving a deep trench as he paced back and forth, clutching at his hair as he tried to understand what had just happened.

'Oh god, oh god, I attacked Tooth. Oh my god...' he muttered to himself frantically.

The wind was whipping about him, concerned for its master and reflecting his distress, but was otherwise unable to help.

'What is wrong with me?!' he demanded to the emptiness that surrounded him.

You messed up, Jack. Like always.

He spun around fearfully, but there was no one else around, he had made sure of that. But he hadn't imagined that silky smooth voice, had he? He didn't even know what was real anymore. It seemed like the longer he tried to stay awake, the more his nightmares appeared to slip into reality.

'It's nothing,' he rambled, 'I'm just imagining it. It's all in my head.'

Is it nothing? Or are you really turning into Jokul?

'Shut up!' he screamed and a blast of ice erupted from the end of his staff, slamming into the ground a few metres away and solidifying into a jagged spear of ice. With a gasp, he dropped his staff as if it had burned him and backed away.

'I'm not like him,' he insisted, 'I'm not. I'm good. I'm... I'm a Guardian.'

But he couldn't stop replaying the events in the North Pole over and over again in his head. The ice coating Tooth's feathers, the shocked looks on their faces, Mabon's reaction.

You can't escape it, Jack. Little by little, you're going to turn into him.

'I said shut up!' Jack bellowed into the wind.

'My lord?'

'What?!'

He spun to see a winter wind spirit hovering behind him, looking somewhat concerned as he turned to glare at it.

'Apologies, my lord,' it replied, 'But there is a storm due over Tasmania and you told us to inform you of such things.'

The idea of trying to command a storm was too much for him at the moment.

'Not now,' he muttered, turning away again, 'I don't feel up to it.'

The spirit hesitated before replying, 'My lord... is something the matter?'

'I said not now!'

The spirit dissipated instantly, leaving him once more at the mercy of his thoughts.

You're even pushing away your spirits. What has become of you?

'I didn't ask for your opinion!'

He blinked as he realised he was yelling at nothing and promptly sat down heavily in the snow, scooping some up and pressing it into his eyes, but without being able to feel the cold, the action did nothing.

'I'm going crazy,' he mumbled into his hands, 'After three hundred years I've finally cracked.'

This time, that voice didn't respond, and somehow that made him feel that much worse. He was desperately lonely but the fear of causing even more harm kept him from flying straight back to the North Pole to apologise. But more than anything, he wanted to see Jamie. The kid always managed to make him feel better after particularly tiring days, but again, he couldn't risk hurting him.

He hugged his knees to his chest, miserable.

'What did I do?' he asked quietly, 'Why is this happening?'