Love? Hate? World Dominance. The Beginning

It's cold here.

It always is.

I close my eyes and imagine the millions of beasts that have been here before me, some large, some small, but none as powerful as me.

I shouldn't be feeling cold.

I never do.

But then again, this isn't my domain.

I'm here as part of a journey.

A journey that no ordinary man or woman could survive.

I stand on the snow covered cliff, the snowflakes pouring down at a blinding rate.

Below me, about thirty feet down, is a completely frozen ocean.

Not lake, not river. An ocean.

The ocean should be completely frozen, or so I'm told. Apparently it used to be tens of thousands of feet deep.

I chuckle.

If only they knew.

Enough stalling. I will myself to be calm, and I fall over the ledge.

I could conjure any Shadow beast or float to safety if I want.

But I can't.

Because this isn't my domain.

I was expecting my impact to the frozen ocean to be sharp, stinging, painful. Like crashing against a steel wall.

But it was more like quickly sinking into a very cold mattress.

Frozen solid, they'd said.

Yet here I was, sinking down into very liquid water.

At least it was freezing.

Around me, creatures both old and new, unknown and familiar to mankind swam around me. They made no move to come close. After all, I didn't belong there, and I reeked of darkness.

Finally I reached the ocean floor.

And there it was, exactly like they'd said.

I walked into the underwater palace, ignoring the mermaids that swam around, giggling and preparing for court.

They probably thought I was a messenger, the poor fools.

Instead of heading to the throne room, I made my way to the most important looking mermaid, Tethys.

Tethys

Can I help you?

???

A transport pearl. To his location.

I didn't expatiate. If she didn't know what I meant then I was talking to the wrong person. She folded her arms and scrutinized me.

Tethys

I can't just-

???

He's expecting me.

Tethys

I need-

I held up a hand to silence her.

Shadow King/Ace

Shadow King.

Her eyes widened and she hastily bowed. Already knowing I couldn't care less, she removed an earring from her ear and gave it to me. As it landed on my palm, it changed to a glowing aquamarine blue pearl.

Tethys

Apologies, Shadow King.

Ignoring her, I stepped on the pearl with my foot. I felt myself dissolve in smoke and reassemble back on land, ,y hair slightly dripping wet.

I was on an icy terrain again, but there was no snow. The land itself pulsated with freezing cold energy.

Most of the terrain was ice and water.

It was beautiful, in a cold, distant way.

All around me, different beasts and humanoids walked, their skins and bodies made for this climate. Frost giants, ice foxes, water daemons, ice spirits, reborn hybrids and so on.

On the ice and below the water, castles were all over the terrain.

And these were actually for the people of this kingdom. Not the ruler. Of course, the master of the domain had his own keep, but building his subjects castles like it was a mere trifle was a calculated display of his own wealth.

But I had my shots set on the castle of the master himself.