Chapter 2: A message from the North Pole

It's very cold.

In the middle of a snowstorm I try to move forward, but suddenly the landscape changes to a cabin illuminated and decorated for Christmas. Ah, this is a dream.

I decide to take advantage of this lucid dream and eat the chocolate chip cookies that I see on the table near the window.

It's a luxurious and sizable place.

I see ashes falling from the fireplace. Oh, a dream about Santa Claus.

But from this chimney doesn't fall the man who was waiting but a small and very bright light. It looks like a fairy.

It approaches me, and tiny voices begin to be heard.

—Testing testing.

What the hell?

—It sounds good, stop. — A woman's voice sounds strong, but very delicate at the same time.

—Excuse me, Miss. I'm a little nervous.

—Hello? —I try to communicate with voices.

—Good evening, sir...Josuke Higashikata?

—Yeah…

I hear the male voice clear his throat.

—My name is Speedwagon, sir, and today I came to ask your good will for help. Christmas is in danger, Santa Claus was kidnapped by an evil being and we can't get to him. We need him. I don't have much time; the place where you can pass to the kingdom of the North Pole is in a special hole near your uncle's cabin...Joseph Zeppeli, yes. It was a passage made by an ancestor of yours. Without elaborating, ahem, it will be open until the morning of the 25th.

Good...

Well, I've had dreams like these so many times, Christmas in danger and me saving it. I can't help it, many movies and how I look up to all the Santa Clauses in the world even if they are not the real one, since one saved me when I was a child; this must be just one of those dreams.

So I play along.

—Of course I will.

—Thank heaven, I knew I could count on you, after all you carry his blood.

"Speed, don't talk anymore." The woman's voice silences him.

-Time is over? Excuse me.

The cabin was immediately converted into a school.

Oh no, that recurring nightmare.

...----------------...

Meanwhile, at the North Pole.

—Are you okay, Miss Erina?— asks a tall, thin figure with pointed ears to a lady made of lights and shiny decorations.

—I will live, Speedwagon, but I am exhausted. I may be late to wake up, you must take care of the other elves and Krampus castle while I'm away.

—Plan B until the children arrive?

—Yes, Krampus must not suspect what we are planning or I won't be able to stop him from invading us.

The lady with golden hair and the white tunic entered a sphere of snow above the place's fireplace.

—Well, you heard friends, we must not disappoint Christmas. The children will arrive here in two days, we must buy time and finish the preparations for this Christmas.

The other organized elves went to lead their own squads under the command of the elf leader.

—In the worst case scenario... —He murmured looking towards Santa's closet; where the substitute's tunic was kept.

...----------------...

Close to the depths of the endless abyss.

On a ledge was the castle of this Krampus.

—Krampus! —Jonathan's voice could be heard echoing through the walls.

Nobody answered.

—Krampus! Ah!—The bars of his cage prevented him from escaping, he had already hit it hard, but he had only managed to pass out for several days after the shock, so he tries to convince him. —Christmas is coming! Let me go!

—Calm down, Santa Claus. —One of Krampus's servants mocked, if he remembered correctly, his name is Vanilla Ice, formerly an orphan boy who chose to stay and serve Krampus. Now he was a watch mirror in that main room.—I don't know why my lord doesn't just kill you...

—Because my death is not what he's looking for, Vanilla Ice.

—On top of that, he put you in his private room, where only me and a few can enter, tell me why did he let his enemy enter?

—I'm not his enemy, and you can't communicate with him?

—Of course I can, my lord Krampus trusts me.

—Then call him.

—I told you, he won't be back until later, he needed to bring some children from the other side. No matter how much you scream he can't hear you.

—Krampus!

—Jeez, shut up already!

—Such manners, Vanilla Ice.

The beautiful figure of his master was drawn in the window, he carried a dark basket on his shoulder.

—Dio, let me out!—The whole situation was so wrong.

—I already told you, my name is not Dio, it's Krampus!