It had been over seventy years. seventy years of emptiness and silence, from all but the wind.

It was enough to make anyone lose hope.

Jack found himself standing on a branch, staff in hand, gazing up at the moon.

"Why?" He waved the staff about for emphasis. "Why am I here?"

The moon remained silent. As always.

Jack scowled and lowered his staff. "Why do I even try?"

"Because you still hope."

Jack jerked his head up. "What?"

"Light."

Jack wasn't sure if it was a command, or a statement. He supposed it was the former however, when he suddenly found himself in the middle of a kind of spotlight.

Turning on the branch, he found himself facing a strange sort of symbol in the sky. Looking rather like a floating bull's-eye with several teardrops warping away from it, it seemed to pulse as he stared at it.

Then quite suddenly there was a spectral face staring at him.

"Hope is a terrible thing to let die." The face sighed and Jack caught sight of a lock of green hair. "I suppose therefore, that that makes Bunnymund a terrible being."

Jack blinked. "Bunnymund?"

"A spirit like you, although he is the spirit of hope."

"Like me? You mean there are others like me?!"

The face smiled, somewhat wanly. Then its, her, jack realized abruptly, voice sounded again. "There are many like you and I across this world, Jack Frost." The smile widened. "Would you like to learn about them?"

"Well, yeah, but why are you offering?"

"Because you deserve answers. And you deserve more friends than just the wind." A pillar of light suddenly shot down from the sky, bathing the branch next to him in radiance. "I do not wish to see your hope die Jack. If you wish to meet me face to face, step into the light."

Jack clutched his staff and bit his lip. Then he sighed and jumped into the pillar. Immediately he was lifted into the air by some unseen force. As he rose skyward he shouted, "What's your name?"

The face's smile turned into a grin. "My name is Palutena, Jack. And from this day on, the light shall be your guide."

AN: Hello just posting a little prologue here. More to come!