The Frost Hollow

By Dalton Overlin

In the small town of Frost Hollow, the story of Jack Frost comes to life. A young man becomes the next Jack Frost traveling to many far away worlds. Worlds with huge mountains, steep cliffs, cute birds, and civilizations at war. The next Frost must learn to extinguish the flames of war and escape those who want him dead. For every Frost has enemies and a job to protect the innocent. But for this young man, the price of power is steep, as he comes face to face with powerful enemies who conspire to kill him. All while he tries to live an average life keeping his power hidden from his family. But in the end, secrets are brought to light as the young man is betrayed by those he trusted.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dalton Overlin
• Release date: Jan 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201839611

Book preview

Let it Begin

One day something happened that would shape my life forever. And this is where my story begins. For several nights I had a recurring dream about mesmerizing northern lights in the night sky. These lights were sky blue with no other colors. Night after night, that dream recurred like a broken record on repeat. Until one night, the dream changed: the dream was now about a place in the nearby mountains not far away from my home. The following nights became more vivid and realistic. As if I were being called to visit that place I had seen in my dreams again and again. So finally, one night, the curiosity became too much. I awoke from my slumber and began my journey. I fastened my hiking boots, filled my backpack with essentials, and armed myself with bear spray.

Then quietly crept out my window for fear my parents would disprove of my journey. I left a note explaining where I'd gone on my pillow in case something bad happened that prevented me from returning before dawn. On my way, I went in the dark, aided only by the light of the moon. The destination I saw in my dreams was within 3 hours of hiking distance, I knew I could make it there and back before dawn. As I walked alone in the dark, I kept thinking, what am I doing? Why would I follow a dream like this when there's no certainty of what I may come upon in the wilderness at night. But my fears were reduced by my desire to make it to the spot in the mountains. I wanted to see why I'd dreamt of it for so long.

Though in my dreams, it was always night. I knew my parents' curfew made this a risky trip. A trip I had to make in secret and alone, for they would never allow me to go off by myself at night. But all my fears were lifted as I made my way through the hiking trails. The crickets sang to me like orchestrators chiming to their tunes. While the owls with their baritone voices echoed through the canyons giving me chills up my spine. Yet I kept my pace and walked forward with determination to find this place and lay my wondering to rest. A few hours later, I made it to the majestic spot I dreamt of for nights on end. There were no blue lights nor magic beauty like I had seen in my dreams.

But alas, I had finally visited this place. I felt it would put my curiosity to rest. Maybe my recurring dreams would stop now, I wondered? After the hours-long walk, I was tired, so I sat down beneath an old pine tree to rest. I opened up my canteen to take a drink, and as I looked up to the sky, I spotted a speck of light. A tiny blue speck way up high that grew larger as it came closer. As I stared in disbelief, a feeling of calm came over me. At that moment, a flash of blue light flashed across the sky like a ripple on a calm lake. A cylindrical spiral of light then reached down from the sky towards the little pond of water. The light spun like a spiraling galaxy hovering above the small pond of water.

A fraction of a second later, the water froze into solid ice as the light spun into a sphere of blue light. I was left breathless as I stared at this glowing sphere of light atop the now frozen pond of water. I could not figure out what this was, but I now knew the dreams I had were proven true. Then I did something I sometimes regret. I put common sense aside and chose to follow what my dreams had shown me to do. Just as I did in my dreams, I walked out towards this body of frozen water towards the center of the pond. As I walked toward the center of the pond the subtle cracking of ice beneath my feet was a reminder of the danger. But I continued, and as I drew near the blue sphere of light, I could feel the temperature around me changing and getting colder.

Continuing to ignore the danger, I finally arrived at the center of the pond 3 feet away from the ball of light. As is the nature of human curiosity when fear is absent, I reached out to touch the glowing ball of light. As I reached my hand out, I was not expecting what happened next. As I reached my hand out, the light reached towards me and struck a blow like an electrical charge that shot up my right arm. I began screaming in agony and pain as I struggled, screamed, and rolled around on the surface of the frozen pond. As I lay screaming in agony, the electrical charges of this light were merging with my body. Once it reached my mind it was like my mind was going haywire. I felt as if I would die, but at that moment, I passed out from the agony.

After hours passed laying atop the frozen pond unconscious, I finally awoke. I woke to the sounds of Chickadees flying and clenching to branches as they sang their delicate songs. I lay there with weepy eyes as the morning sun rose over the mountain. I felt like I was waking up from a dream, but instead, I awoke to find myself in the middle of a frozen pond. I knew this was no dream, nor was this sheet of ice my bed. As I stood up, I had flashes of memories come pouring into my mind. At that moment, I fell back down to my knees clenching my head. After a few moments, it finally stopped, and I realized what just happened. The memories that flooded my mind were memories that belonged to every person who ever held the power I now possessed.

This was the power that belonged to a character people had long since referred to as Jack Frost. Only rather than a character, this was a long line of people who had been chosen by this power. A power that chooses people most similar to the very first Jack Frost. In essence, the power looks for someone who would use it for good rather than evil, which are traits the first Frost held. But at the moment and to this day, I am unsure why it chose me. I am nowhere near a saint, or at least that is what I've always felt? I've made my fair share of bad decisions, which I regret, but perhaps it saw something in me that I never did. It was after this knowledge flooded my mind I realized what was going on, but I was still partly in disbelief.

Again I stood up, and this time, I was thankful to stand without another occurrence of pain or an overwhelming flood of memories barreling into my mind. I began to comprehend what just happened and realized the sun had fully risen. I was afraid my parents would find that I had snuck out of the house in the middle of the night. So I grabbed my backpack that laid against the shrouded pine tree I rested against before this all began and jogged home. But what frightened me was how fast I could run without being winded or feeling the least bit tired. I was able to run so fast that I could hear the wind howling in my ears, my feet felt light, and my heart was beating like a butterfly on the wind.

Within minutes I made my way back to my house and crawled back in my bedroom window before my parents woke up. I was immediately relieved, but I was also concerned at the same time. I was still trying to figure out what had happened. With all of these new memories, I sat in my chair beside my bed and pondered on what I now knew. This knowledge was the key to understanding the magic that now coursed through my veins. It allowed me to use it without having to learn from scratch. But how? This confused me at first. So I reached over and tapped my glass of water that rested beside my bed and the glass froze into solid ice. I realized these memories did indeed show me how to control this power, but realizing what I can now do struck fear into me.

I realized I now had a responsibility not only to use this power for the right reasons but to keep control of it so I did not harm those I love. Moments later, I could hear my parents awaken because our dogs began to bark and run around the house in excitement. I waited 10 or 15 minutes, changed my clothes, and exited my room. I did the usual, visited the bathroom, went outside to take care of the chickens and peacocks. Then, I headed back indoors and cooked something to eat. All of this seemed very strange because all these years I lived in a very shallow perspective of life. But now, I had the memories of 112 people who lived before me. These people had lived and died over long spans of time.

As I went about my day making small talk with my parents in an attempt to act normal, I kept sorting through the new memories I now had. I'd come to realize that many Frosts had lived thousands of years while some only lived a few hundred. But the frightening part was realizing many Frosts had enemies who wanted them dead. Many of these enemies assumed if they could kill a Frost that they then could possess the power of a frost. But the power of a Frost does not work that way, yet none of them were willing to accept the reality. The reality, however, is that when a Frost dies their power escapes the body of the host and goes on to choose another host it deems worthy to possess the power.

The myth that killing a frost would grant the killer the power of a Frost made its way through many generations and still lived on to this day. Even though many Frosts had been killed up to this day the killers never obtained the power of the Frost they'd murdered. I now was afraid of these people who believed these myths. I was worried about what they would do if they learned that I was now a Frost. I feared they would attempt to kill me. But above all, I feared for the safety of my family and worried those people holding such beliefs may use my family against me. To say the least, the day went on as usual. At least on the outside. However, within, I was very concerned and did not know what to do?

The memories I now held showed me I could travel between realms to different dimensions or worlds that were just like the one I resided in. Only some of those worlds were ones where people had power as well. The most painful part was realizing that it's the responsibility of every Frost to travel between realms to bring balance. Just enough so that those with power could not take control and destroy the lives of those who could not defend themselves. Once the day was spent it was time to go to bed. I said good night to my family, went to my room, closed the door, and began a journey that would shape my life forever. These memories showed me how to travel between different realms. They further emphasized my responsibility to travel to these realms.

All while making sure people who held power weren't using it to gain an unfair advantage over those who had none. But furthermore, the role of a Frost is to remain as invisible and unknown as possible. As all Frosts had learned the hard way, it was easier to remain invisible. Especially when people sought to kill a Frost just to ensure they would have no rival capable of contesting their power. To put it simply, a Frost is someone who works behind the scenes. A Frost is someone who pulls the levers and makes things happen without people ever knowing a Frost was involved. This was all expected of me, but I could only wonder. How could I live up to such a standard when I wasn't even old enough to vote?

Learning the Hard Way

At this point, I mentally prepared myself for what was to come next. With the focus of my mind alone, I was able to conjure up a mirror that formed on my bedroom wall. Once formed it looked like mercury pouring out of the wall perfect cylindrical dish-shaped structure. A structure that appeared to be a mirror made of silver metal. After the mirror was formed, I was able to imagine the realm I wished to visit. Instantly a portal opened to the realm which I had imagined in my mind's eye.

When the portal opened, I was in momentary shock. This world was not as I had seen it from the memories which I just obtained. Based on the memories this world once was a beautiful lush green forest full of tall pine trees and all kinds of wildlife. But now it is a scorched wasteland. I walked through the portal into this realm and as I did I was walking on scorched remains of fallen trees. The intuition this power gave me told me to go East.

So, I began running Eastward bound which lasted about two hours. I finally arrived at a very tall wall made of stone. This wall went on for as far as I could see in both directions. I knew that my only option was to go through over or under this large wall. Based on these new memories I knew there were many options. But I was nervous since this was all new to me. So I decided to jump over this tall wall.

And I did, but I jumped a little too much. This power allowed me to