[Ash]: 102.Jack Frost.25

‘The Eternal Glade…’ Jack carried Marylin swiftly in his arms as he walked out behind Cassandra who had buried her head into reading the text of the book. ‘Is a gift from the God of Death to all who wish not to die. There is a price the dying must pay. When upon entering the glade the dying must open their eyes and accept life in the Glade.

‘If the dying accepts death they will be swiftly whisked away by the god of death.’ Cassandra let out a small sigh and stepped up onto the sleigh Jack followed her up and set Marylin on the opposite side and placed himself down next to Cassandra.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “Jack, is this fair? What if she accepts it without knowing the consequences? What if she doesn’t want to die but doesn’t want to live there? Jack, what if she wants to die?” Slowly two streams of tears rolled down her eyes as the sleigh took off. The four ice bears pulling the sleigh kept pushing faster and faster feeling the emotion pulling through their king.

‘My daughter is dying…’ Cassandra admitted to herself.


“If we pull together we can do it…” Regina said watching the sleigh speed away. “But we have to do it quickly.”

“I’ll miss this though… But I’d do anything for Marylin.” Gina said quietly.

Kristin pulled the page out of her shoe and unfolded it. “Marylin asked us for this favor, let’s give it to her. Gina are you ready?”

“I am…” Gina said and stood in front of her two friends. “Will we still be friends when this is done?”

“Of course!” Regina and Kristin said quickly. Together they looked down at the page.


Gareth danced across the floor of the forest until he approached upon it, the Glade. The area opened right up and there, with the Sun just above the ground it was dimly lit and partially serene until you look upon the large blood covered slab in the center. Glade, Glen, whatever you called it, it still reeked of death.

A tree toppled over and into the space burst the ice bears pulling the sleigh. They stopped and slowly Jack raised Marylin in his arms and stepped out into the grass. The blades moved at his every footstep as he walked up and placed Marylin on the slab.

Jack looked up and saw Gareth. “It figures you’d be here.”

“Is she still conscious? If she doesn’t open her eyes again it doesn’t matter.” Garth said lightly and kneeled down, eye-level with her cooling body. “Marylin, it’s me…”

“Gareth…” Gareth looked up at Jack who respectively took several long strides backwards and kept Cassandra back. “My head…”

“Don’t open your eyes, your in Death’s Glen. Marylin, I have something to tell you…” He whispered.

“I have something to tell you to,” She whisper back lightly. “The girls…”


Regina looked at the human before her and took a step back. She looked at the ground but nothing happened. Kristin tried as well and found that she too had lost her powers. Gina smiled, her beautiful, full rosy lips smiled. “Good job, you two.”

“Here, you still have to read the incantation.” Kristin said and handed her the page. Gina flipped it over to see Marylin’s handwriting. “We have to go now, if we stay here, you’ll have to watch us die.”

The woman knelt down and opened her arms to the girls. “My sisters, I’ll miss you terribly.”

“It’s okay Gina, I mean Wood’s Lady. Goodbye.” Kristin said and walked out dignified. Regina broke into tears and ran out after the only other child there. Gina lowered her arms and lifted her arm to read the page. ‘Inauguration Ceremony.’


Marylin’s hand rose and Gareth took it and held it closely to his cheek. She sighed, “In mere minutes, I’ll be mortal.” Quietly the words rose and she sat up and opened her eyes. “I have a few minutes; I can feel Death coming for me. I know how the Glade works… I know the Heartwoods all gone and I’d die anyway. Why waste time suffering.”

“I wasn’t going to convince you to stay on, but…” Gareth said as she slipped down on the grass. Marylin cuddled into his chest. “My father gave me a favor and gave me one condition. The favor was that I could be with you forever, the condition was that I must be with you forever.”

“The Lover’s Curse? So, Death comes for both of us?” She said and felt his arms wrap around her.


Regina stopped by the edge of the tree and put her hand out on the bark. She turned around and saw Kristin behind her, she was leaning against a root and slowly fading into the forest. Suddenly Regina’s hand felt numb and she looked to see as she was slowly turning into moss. “What a way to die…”

“It’s better then some ways. I think I’ll be rather happy dying this way, Gina’s going to take good care of the forest.” Kristin weakly muttered. Her head stopped moving as it transformed into a young sapling.


Cassandra’s head turn sharply towards the sky. Jack looked up and saw nothing. He turned to her and her lips barely moved as she carefully mouthed the word. “Death.”

“Then… Then it’s too late, isn’t it?” Jack asked and slowly began foreword. Cassandra clasped her hand over her mouth ad began crying as she rushed past jack and found the two collapsed on the ground in each other’s arms. Jack moved in beside her and placed a hand on Cassandra’s shoulder. “They’re both dead?”

Cassandra fell to the ground and screamed with all the power in her lungs and was over taken with grief. Jack simply stood and looked at the two and suddenly felt cold. It wasn’t despair or even a little upset, just cold.

“My baby! She’s gone!” Cassandra whimpered.

“Together, I’ll bury them together.” Jack said and with a flicker of his wrist the Glade began to freeze.


Jack sat in the sleigh next to Gina, behind them a simple frozen coffin. Gina frowned over at Jack and carefully placed a hand on his arm as the snow bears began to descend into the village beneath Jack’s ice castle.

“When you become a witch, you give yourself over to something. The something provides her with life as long as she stays loyal to it. When a witch gives herself over to a man, she becomes mortal because she no longer offers herself to said something.” Gina explain. “That is why Cassandra died.”

“I should have never let her marry me; I knew it would lead to disaster.” Jack said flatly.

The sleigh evened out on the bottom where the thick snow made travel easier. The bears rushed through the town and halted beside the large frozen oak tree. Beneath the tree was a wide coffin made of clear ice. Inside lay Marylin and Gareth, their hands joined with smiles on their faces.

“Every time I come here, I keep thinking she’ll wake up.” Gina sobbed looking down on them. “She always used to do that to us, pretend she’s asleep then wake up and scare us. I wouldn’t mind being scared if she did that.”

“Dwelling on the past won’t help.” Jack floated the coffin down next to them and changed it to a solid clear ice showing Cassandra, long grey hair flowing with wrinkles around her lips and a batch of flowers in her hands. Jack leaned down and kissed the coffin lid. “Goodnight, dear. I’ll see you someday.”

“That’s why you went to see father winter isn’t it?” Gina said figuring things out from her tears. “You’re trying to find a way to die.”

“Eternal life is nothing unless you have someone to share it with.” The King of Winter said.

‘Jack it’s simple really, you have to wait until there is someone strong enough to kill you.’ ‘And how long will that take?’ ‘Years, decades, centuries, eons… There is no definitive way of knowing.’ ‘I can’t be awake every morning to know I’m alone.’ ‘There is one thing you can do…’

“Gina, this is a gift from me to you.” Jack said and walked over to the girl and pressed a hand to her chest and filled it with his coldness. “It’s most of my power. I want you to live and become strong.”

“King…”

“You need to be able to defeat me when the time comes and then be able to kill me.”

“Jack…”

“See you later.” Jack summoned as much as he could, the freezing ice surrounded him in a spiky hellish form and there, Jack fell asleep.

“I’ll become strong enough… I’ll kill you.” She turned away still crying and headed on the sleigh.