White Death Wolf Emperor was not a random traveler. His day-to-day location might shift, but the general regions He moved through were fairly predictable. He rotated about the North Pole for most of the year, occasionally dipping down into the northeast of Siberia to check on things, but in wintertime He would rove the whole of Siberia and into Russia proper as He deemed suitable.

If someone intruded on His territory out of season, then He would bring the Winter with Him as He fell upon them, a sure disaster to any Humans in the affected area, which He obviously didn’t give a fig about.

His control over Ice Magic was unrivaled, and trying to contest it in His domain would instantly start a fight. He was quite proud of His power over Ice, and didn’t tolerate challengers to His territory, totally willing to start something and chase opponents away. Despite His age, He was probably one of the most active, moving Emperors in the world.

Right now, Thunderbird had assured me that He was on the Arctic Landbridge.

The Great Flood reached even here, the Ice Emperor not about to spare anyone, but the real effects were minimal. No Aquatic Imperial would dare challenge White Death on His own ground, save The Sea Emperor, who was sitting in equatorial waters enjoying Himself and not getting personally involved in these amusing events.

Some of the fin-men races and other Aquatics might poke at northwestern Russia, but none of their Emperors or Nobles were going to go any further east. White Death would happily freeze the ocean solid as He made His way over, and frozen seafood would be on the menu for the uncounted number of Wolves who would follow Him.

So, that was what I was dealing with as I winged my way over an artist’s rendition of a supernatural Ice domain, shaped in passing by magical blizzards and the will of one very old Wolf.

The cold didn’t bother me, of course. I was up to Harmonized Luan Cold as far as magical chilling went, so He couldn’t harm me just with the temperature. He could form a mountain of Ice and drop it on me, but that was mass and power, not just temperature.

The Emperors and Nobles I happened to pass did not react much other than throwing a glance or two my way. It was easy to discern my direction and the Wills I carried, and this was not a matter that concerned them.

White Death wasn’t hard to locate, either, since He was at the center of a living blizzard almost all the time. He didn’t restrain His power much, unlike most Emperors, so His natural might radiated from Him all the time, letting everyone know where He was, and that He was ready.

I totally believed He was overcompensating for being #2 in Ice in the world, and unable to take over #1, but I wasn’t going to say that to Him. There would be other things to bring up.

His Awareness when He felt me coming was cold and unfriendly. The Ice Mana around gathered hostilely, but it had no effect on me other than to stir my Firefrost Seed to delighted life and spur the flames to start flickering around me in happy reaction to the chilling pressure.

From that pleasant standpoint, His little test could be seen as an invitation.

I swooped into the frozen valley, carved by razored crosswinds into a thousand jutting spears and blades of ice, moaning with the channeled motion of the winds. The living blizzard was alive and well here, but I didn’t need my eyes to tell where I was going.

I spread my Wings, settled to the ground, and knelt there, as cold deep enough to instantly freeze water vapor from my breath surged around me, tried to gather on me... and instead fed my delighted flames, which danced to touch the cold, swirling about me.

He came out of the blizzard, the icy blue glow of His eyes visible first, looming out of the snow and winds which parted about Him in obeisance to His power and presence. He was nearly as large as Flowing Silver Emperor, with a shorter muzzle than modern wolves, thicker of build and longer of coat. His gleaming white fur was weighed down with countless icicles formed of frozen gas, probably nitrogen and carbon dioxide, misting constantly, yet reforming as they occasionally fell off with great speed. Even His whiskers and beard were laden down with the gas icicles, falling most often from them, only to dissipate before they hit the ground.

He continued to approach, and I continued to kneel as He did so. He halted literally one step away, paws larger than cars with blunt claws hidden within razor-sharp icy talons visible at the edge of my vision. His cold bore down on me, but, to His disgruntlement, all it did is fan the flames about me higher, without me expending any power to shield myself whatsoever.

“WHAT DOES A CREATURE OF FIRE IN MY TERRITORY?” He asked, which was not at all friendly, but He hadn’t pointed out I was a Human, so a step up!

“To His Imperial Majesty White Death Wolf Emperor!” I think He blinked at how loud my Voice was, carrying over the howl of His blizzard quite clearly. “This envoy has been dispatched on behalf of the True Emperors to invite His Majesty to a council! The Humans of the world have found a way to break the recent Great Flood unleashed by Ice Emperor, but they cannot do so without the permission of the True Emperors!”

He gazed down upon me, literally a mouse or less in size to Him way up there. He was cold and primal and aggressive, His Aura very, very much unlike Flowing Silver’s sly all-knowing demeanor.

Multiple icicles as long as I was tall fell slowly from His hide, hitting the icy ground rather too hard and driving in with loud cracks, treating the tempered ice like soft cheese as they shattered it, then a breath or two later they were dissolving into mists on the wind blowing past.

I could tell His knee-jerk reaction was to gaff the whole thing, but as Thunderbird had said, this matter concerned Ice Emperor, and White Death Wolf Emperor and Ice Emperor had old and bad blood between them.

I bore the Wills of more True Emperors than had ever likely gathered outside a High Emperor’s Court, none of them truly beholden to any High Emperor, even old Auric Tyrant. Despite Himself, He could not dismiss it.

“BREAK THE GREAT FLOOD OF ICE EMPEROR?” He repeated, the cold of His scorn literally dropping from His whiskers and underjaw, landing all about me. “YOU CANNOT EVEN BREAK THE POWER OF MY DOMAIN, AND YOU THINK TO BREAK THE POWER OF ICE EMPEROR?”

Ho...

I began to Hum, and the Manafield, so dominated by Ice Magic, lit up in tinkling glee as the Sublime Chord echoed through it all. Air and Water, swirling in the storm all about, chimed in with their own lonely notes, and there was a distant crackle as Lightning became part of the dance.

Vibrations built beneath both of us, and Earth joined the Chord, unaffected by the Cold above at all.

His Domain bore down, seizing control, demanding obeisance... and the Chord Sang out, long and low and mourning, echoing through all the Winds, and instead of fighting His control, instead drove it higher, cleaner, faster. His attempt to drive away the other Elements instead brought them flocking to Him and building them to greater power, greater cold, greater truth-!

My reactive Aura exploded into a pillar of fire, and STILL I wasn’t expending any power! His Domain roared to life, the living blizzard unleashed as the startled Emperor actually backed a step away on feeling His Domain explode like this, so hungry, so aggressive, so much more than He had ever felt before.

All the suppressed heat of His Living Blizzard fed into the column of flames that burned towards the Heavens, a burning tornado of flesh-stripping winds and intensity that only grew harder and faster as His Domain grew even colder, colder-!

And all the Mana everywhere, seeping out of everything in all the hues and colors, joined the gleeful, howling dance of primal fury in a rising roar that exploded towards the skies above in exultation, and despite Himself, tore an ice-shattering Howl from the White Death Wolf Emperor louder than any crack of thunder as Ice drove Fire towards the Heavens.

The explosion above was soundless, but the effects were instantaneous.

The living blizzard and the tornado it had spawned evaporated, as did every cloud in the sky, every flake of snow and chip of ice. The winds died down to absolute stillness, and the full glory of the northern sky, stars and moon in glorious brilliance, shone down on the Howling Imperial Wolf, the mournful longing in His long, ululating call echoing across time and space, calling for the kin who would never come.

And The Moon and Stars began to weep for Him.

He watched as the sparkling Tears of Heaven came down, landed upon Him, and began their task.

Long, long ago, the Auroran Ice Wolves had made a pilgrimage to the land of The Ice Emperor, there to pay homage to Him and inquire about taking up a territory in His lands, the richest and most frozen domain, a paradise for all beings of Ice.

For having the temerity to do so, the Ice Wolves had been slain outright, all save one. Wounded in body and soul, that one Auroran Ice Wolf had nevertheless crawled out from Ice Emperor’s territory, made his way back across the world to the opposite pole, and lived on.

His Tribe was utterly gone, and although He had found and founded other Packs over the years, the Auroran Ice Wolves’ true lineage was dead. There were a dozen other Wolf Tribes descended from Him, now, but He was truly the last of His kind.

And despite that wound to His soul, or perhaps because of the chill within it giving Him a dangerous level of perception of Ice, that lone Wolf survivor had advanced all the way to the height of True Emperor, staring across the millennia and world at the Ice Emperor who had slaughtered His Tribe out of hand.

I had heard this story from Queen Gichigumi, who had been visited by White Death Wolf Emperor soon after Her ascension. He had visited Her, as He visited all new Emperors of Ice, and told His story to them.

There were no members of the younger Tribes among the Emperors of Antarctica. There were ancient Elementals, Titans, Drakes, Salamanders, Lizards, other Dragons, a few Insects, and some truly ancient creatures of Ice... but there were no Mammals whatsoever, and the only Avian was Ice Phoenix Emperor, who was held prisoner and separated from Her mate.

A young Emperor of Ice going to Antarctica to pay homage to Ice Emperor was asking to die and become a meal for the old things that lived there.

As a result of His warnings, not a single Emperor with Ice Affinity had visited Antarctica since before the last Ice Age. Even Dancing Seashore Emperor, the only Imperial Penguin, did not get closer than the southern islands of South America, despite millions of members of His vassal Tribes dwelling on the shores of Antarctica.

White Death Wolf Emperor’s understanding of Ice had reached a truly frightening level, exceeded only by Ice Emperor Himself. But the understanding He could gain from that long ago confrontation was done, and now was the time for that ancient scar on His soul to heal.

The Moon and Stars came down and wept upon Him. When His great lonely Howl, shuddering with emotions that could have driven a normal man mad, was done, White Death Wolf Emperor sat down, put His head on His paws, and closed His eyes.

He felt the edge of that wound on His soul soften - an icy supremacy He had never been able to break or shatter, only acknowledge and emulate - and the first crack it had ever shown suddenly appeared as the Tears dripped upon His soul, swirled across it with an ageless wisdom that had seen all things come and go. They converged on His soulscar in starlight and moonfire, and began to wipe it away.

I had not broken His Domain. I had empowered it beyond Him, made it my own, and was using it to heal Him of an injury he had not been able to get rid of for longer than Humans had existed on this world.

After all, would breaking His Domain prove a damn thing? No, the challenge was to break Ice Emperor’s magic. The others had been content enough to imagine that if one Human could break their power, a bunch of Humans might be able to break Ice Emperor’s power.

This old Wolf needed more than that, and so I’d given it to Him.