Before we begin this story is mostly about Xornoth and in his perspective. I think I might include some Flower Husbands fluff to ease the angst that's going to be happening. This story has Frost Ford from 'Where Home Is,' Sorry if that's confusing but- idk deal with it. I always put it in my ESMP S1 fics and its become a mess bc then that means that this story has to connect with The Festival, but when I tried to do that there were a lot of plot points that didn't connect so...whatever just try and deal with it and not worry about it, I'm sorry I'm really terrible at connecting stuff T-T

WARNING: this story contains a lot of cursing and violence. If you're uncomfortable by either of those, feel free to click off. I'm going to try and put warnings at the beginning of the chapter, but only when there's an excessive amount of violence or blood

Xornoth's Perspective-

It's simple.

Just don't fail.

Don't act up!

It's easy.

Yet it always seems to take the most out of me.

Rivendell, the empire known for its wool, snow and elegance, is all in my hands.

It's all down to me.

If something bad happens, who do the people blame?

Me.

It was stressful, sure, but it all changed when I turned seventeen and me and my younger brother, Scott, were playing around.

-

"I bet you can't catch me!" Scott shouted, sticking his tongue out at me.

I laughed and chased after him. Despite us being older by this time, we still liked to play around and live our childhood for as long as we could.

Scott then stopped and I tagged him.

"Hang on, look." He pointed at a wall that was covered in vines, yet there was a light in it.

"Weird." I said, brushing the vines out of the way.

Scott peeked his head in and then shook his head, pushing back.

"Come on, we should go. We probably weren't supposed to find this."

"Yeah...you- you're right."

Scott walked off and I glanced at the cave again before leaving.

The Next Day-

The next day, I returned to the cave.

Something about it was so mysterious, and I wanted to know more.

I entered the cave and saw a red crystal sealed in ice.

"Woah." I whispered.

The crystal glowed and the ice shattered.

I jumped back and fell to the ground, watching as the ice broke completely.

My eyes widened and I looked at my hands.

"Did I do that?" I asked, but before I could answer, I heard a guard shout for backup as they had heard the ice cracking.

I quickly jumped up and stashed the crystal in my pocket before leaving.

-

"The crystal is gone." I heard my father whisper frantically to my mother.

"What?" My mother gasped, "I thought you couldn't break that ice."

"I don't know, maybe her spell wasn't strong enough..." My father said, sighing.

"Well, we have to do something! We can't just- just let someone run free with that crystal!"

"But how are we going to find it? Anyone could have it!"

"You and some guards search the houses, ask the people if they know where it is. We need to get it back."

I gulped and rushed back upstairs to my room, which was right across from Scott's.

I took out the crystal and was twirling it in my hands.

What's so bad about this?

"Xornoth? You okay?" Scott asked and I jumped, quickly throwing the crystal under my pillow.

"Y-yep! How are you?" I asked, wincing as my voice cracked.

Scott tilted his head, "Good...?"

"Great! Now uh- I need to do some...stuff and need some peace and quiet. Can you leave?"

"Umm...okay." Scott let me shove him out and shut the door, but I knew he was onto me.

I have to return this crystal before it's too late.

-

I crept to the cave the following day, putting the crystal back into the remains of the ice pillar.

As I walked away, the crystal fell, causing it to break into a million pieces.

I jumped at the sudden noise and stumbled backwards, my eyes widening as a black smog formed around the crystal.

"No, no, no, no! Frick." I desperately tried to grab the remains of the crystal, a shard cutting my hand.

"Ow! Shit!" I whispered, looking at my bleeding hand.

"Tch, tch, tch, poor child." A demonic voice said.

I looked up and saw that the black smog had two red eyes and a wide, sick smile that was dripping with venom.

"I- who are you?" I asked, backing up.

"The one who can help you out of here." It said, stretching out a hand.

I looked it up and down and before I could answer, its hand plunged into my heart, causing me to scream out in pain.

Yes I know this isn't really how Xornoth became the demon, but when talking with my friend, she said that they never really say how it happened so I can write what I want and I wanted to do it this way, deal with it. (and if anyone's wondering, Scott's about 16)

This story isn't going to follow exactly what happened in ESMP bc I wanna mold it into being what I want, but it'll cover some of what happened. It's hard to explain, but you'll see >:)