The Icebound Guardian

Be careful what you wish for - you may receive it. - Michelle Liew

This is for Mikeydred's Challenge and Vocal's Tales from the Hearth challenge. It is also for Stephanie Hoogstad's Winter Folkloric Beings Challenge.

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Vance Lowell hated the winter. Frost cluttering the windscreen of his car, slippery, icy sidewalks and perpetual chill - it was as if nature was exacting revenge on humans for being able to enjoy the weather for the rest of the year. And the blizzards? It was practically impossible to get anything done outdoors when one of those raged.“Why can’t we skip this season?” He grumbled, trudging through slush on the way home on Christmas Eve.

That was when the faint clap of hooves sounded behind him. He turned and froze.

Gracing the snow was a reindeer stag - but it wasn’t like the others he had seen. Nature had fashioned its antlers from ice, and the glimmered on its head like a frozen crown. The pale, blue light of the moon reflected its eyes. Frost spiralled out of its nostrils each time it exhaled.

“I’m Solenix.” it rumbled, its voice a resonating growl. “I’m the champion of the seasons. I’ve heard your grumbles.”

Vance stumbled and almost fell on the snow-covered road behind him. “I didn’t mean any harm…”

“You wish there was no winter? I can grant that.” Solenix enlarged his icy antlers. “Just note that you wished for it.”

Vance nodded a little too eagerly, voicing a hurried thanks as Solenix disappeared with a swish of its tail into the blizzard. Winter was gone in a few hours.

Vance enjoyed spring, summer and autumn at first - sidewalks were clear, and his wife didn’t have to press him to do any shovelling. But…the river dried up. Crops died because ice didn’t freeze them. Leaves on the trees withered a little too fast.

His apartment complex grew too quiet as his neighbours disappeared, one family after another, all seeking places to stay where the weather was more comfortable. “Solenix, I’m sorry! We need the renewal that winter brings. Please bring it back!”

Solenix reappeared, but its icy antlers were no longer stable - they burned with a fiery aura, and cracks appeared on them. It was as if the balance of the seasons it once stood guard over was coming apart.

“ I gently remind you that you asked for winter to disappear. Now, it can only return if someone restores the fractured cycle. Someone must replace me.”

Vance balked. “Replace you?”

Solenix narrowed his glowing eyes. “Yes, indeed. A new seasonal guardian must replace me. This new stag must endure the seasons as I did. He will be its guardian, forever tied to the frost."

Before Vance could utter a word of protest, the stag charged forward. Its hooves charged the ground with a thunderous roar. Bright, wintry light consumed Vance’s street. Frost hardened around something that Vance could not see.

Solenix was no more. The stag had vanished, and for a moment, it appeared that the balance of seasons had been restored.

Vance breathed easier, relief washing over him. The cold meant that he and his son could throw snowballs at each other the way they used to. They could read stories by the fireplace once more.

There were snow-blanketed streets once more. Children laughed as they rode on sleighs and formed snowmen carefully with their hands. Solenix had restored the rhythmic balance of the seasons. Vance cheered at the abrupt but relieving turn.

Then a young stag appeared, with newly-formed antlers around its skull. Its icy breath poured out of its youthful nostrils. It ran with graceful lifts of its slender legs along the streets.

Somewhere within, Victor’s soul cried softly - Vance’s young son, keeping watch over the winter his father once despised.