Rather than the warehouse interior he had been expecting, Alex found himself face to face with the strangest looking room he had ever seen. A cross between the bridge on the Enterprise and an ice hotel, where everything was made from some type of ice. Interspersed around the room were 5 people dressed similarly to the stranger, who was waiting off to the side slightly with a reserved expression on their face.

“Alex, welcome to the Frigid Domain. I know this might seem jarring, so let me give you some quick information before you ask all of the questions I know you have. Firstly, you are safe here. We wish you no harm, and actually wish to request your assistance with a matter concerning both of our worlds. Secondly, the Frigid Domain is the overall name for this realm. It is a parallel to your own universe, so we are currently stood on Frigid Earth. It’s similar in many ways to your own planet, but very different in others. I… no, WE, are happy to answer any questions you might have now.” they ended meekly.

“Wow… I mean, this has to be a joke right? Everything you just said sounds crazy… but this…” Alex said as he reached towards what appeared to be a console unit made entirely from ice, “this is real. How is this possible?”

“As I said, this realm is very similar to Earth. However, this universe functions using the power of the Frigid, hence the name. Unlike your universe, we have no other influences, so the Frigid powers every aspect of our existence. Your universe acts as a nexus of every other type of influence, acting in harmony with no clear dominant force. This is actually directly related to the main reason we bought you here. A power from the Frigid has been perverting the Accords, which is why your ‘christmas’ period as you call it, has been getting more pervasive.” They explained.

“Hold on, are you saying that the festive period getting longer is because of something or someone from here? That doesn’t make sense, there has always been a period of festivities toward the end of our year. Sure I hate that it has gotten more commercialised recently, but that's just corporate greed and consumerism.” Alex stated plainly.

“Not quite. To cut a long story short, your universe was created by the combined Powers of the Veil. As such, each realm that contributed a part of their power was allowed some small form of domain within your universe. The Frigid takes a small tithe of power and resources during the cold months on your world and others. On Earth, this culminates around your festive period. Someone on Frigid Earth has been exerting their own power to take more from your world for longer. This has manifested in the phenomena you have noticed of the festivities growing longer and longer, as well as some other planetary issues.” They said.

“I guess that kind of makes some twisted sort of sense, but how is nobody else noticing the same as I have then? Surely everyone must be able to notice what's happening?” Alex asked, scratching his head with a very confused expression on his face.

“Bluntly? No, they wouldn't, because even if it wasn't for the universal dampening filter placed on your realm, most inhabitants of your planet just don't care enough for this pervasive influence to register as a foreign invader rather than just their own conscious. You are one of the first I know of to have started to break the filter on your own, and we have no idea how or why it happened.”

“Really? I'm not sure how I feel about that honestly, but I guess it's no different than about a dozen different religions at this point, so I’ll move past that. So you’re saying that I began to break through this filter on my own? Is that why you showed me that little snowman trick to break me through the rest?” Alex questioned, glancing sideways at a sharp inhale of breath from one of the others around the room.

“Nieve! Is this true? You showed him the power of the Frigid? You could have been caught! I must alert the Council of your transgression!” A slightly taller Frigidian shouted angrily.

“Really Eira? We have transported someone through the void using hacked, stolen Fro-tech and you want to lecture me? Also, if what we think is happening really is, then its likely the council, or at least someone on the council that is responsible. So how about you stow that rage and aim it properly before the entire Veil collapses around us!” Nieve snapped back without turning away from Alex, who was looking back and forth between them with a wide eyed look. Already cold, Alex suddenly convulsed at the rapid temperature drop in the room. Dropping to his knees and clutching his arms around his body, he looked up at Nieve, his lips turning blue in the extreme cold.

“Alex! I'm so sorry, I forgot that you aren't accustomed to this climate, and have no power of your own to shield you, then when we argued and influenced the cold even more… This lapse is completely my fault. Please dont think worse of us because of this…” Nieve cried, little icicles forming and falling from their eyes.

Nieve grabbed the coat that Eira was offering and helped Alex struggle into it. Within seconds, the power of the coat had returned him back to his normal self.

“Don’t worry about it my friends, I understand that you aren’t used to having to host someone like me. What’s this coat made from though? I have never seen anything this warm before…” Alex reassured them as he examined the coat.

“Just bring up the coat’s description, that should help clear things up for you.” Eira said with a slight frown.

“What do you mean description? Like in a game? How the hell am I meant to do that? Alex laughed dismissively, not catching the fleeting look across all of the Frigidians’ faces.

“What do you mean Alex? How do you see more information about the items in your Realm?” Eira probed, genuine curiosity in his voice.

“You’re serious? We have lists of ingredients printed or available for items, but that's it… You mean you can see more information about stuff just by looking at it here? That sort of thing only happens in video games back home…” Alex trailed off, finally looking around the room at the faces of the rest of the people in the room. “You all act like that shouldn’t be the case?”

“It really shouldn't. It appears even more is wrong with your realm than we previously thought, but that can’t be purely the work of Frigid influence. Something somewhere has gone very wrong in your universe.” Nieve said with a loaded expression. “It appears we will have even more work to do if you choose to assist us in our endeavors. Everyone in every other realm has full access to the full extent of the Veils creation, but you and your universe seem to have been artificially cut off. We can help you forge your own connection, but I must warn you that it will NOT be a pleasant experience. Also, we have no idea what unlocking your potential here could mean for you. Your realm was meant to develop without a clear affinity to any one aspect of the Veil, so unlocking you here in the Frigid domain could have unforeseen consequences.”

“You talk of unlocking my connection and power, but this all still sounds like I’m the character in some lame story… If this is my origin story, it really sucks… No spiders or radiation?” Alex smirked at his own references whilst the Frigidians all shared confused looks.

“We aren’t too sure what that all means Alex, but this is no story. Your entire universe has grown and developed without the guidance and stability granted by an open connection to the Veil. This would explain how your world has been so easy for someone to influence. None of the natural safeguards are in place to prevent it.” Eira remarked thoughtfully.

“As Eira said, this is no story. We need your help Alex, this is why I came to you in your realm to bring you here. It may actually be for the best that you are more of a clean slate. We can help train you to combat the foes here directly without needing to help you unlearn bad habits. So, I pose you this question now: Will you help us, and thus indirectly your entire universe, put a stop to whomever or whatever is laying siege to your realm and causing ripples across the entire Veil?” Nieve looked directly at Alex when they asked this question, ensuring he could see the sincerity in their eyes.

“I mean, after a speech like that how can I say no? Plus, I don’t think there is a single person who would turn down the ability to become a hero unless they were a total asshole.” Alex replied with an enormous smile, still unsure how to believe this was all actually real, but now invested enough not to care.

And with his acceptance, the Frigidians all broke into joyous cheers. Glad that all of their work had finally given them a chance to stop the oncoming catastrophe. They explained to Alex that for many years they had been monitoring the increasingly disturbing fluctuations in the Veil, initially unsure as to the source. Then a few years ago, roughly around the time that Alex had started to experience his discomfort around the holidays, they had registered a spike aimed at his universe from their own. From what they had been able to tell at the time, someone had hastily tried to repair the damage to Alex’s perception filter, but inadvertantly caused its decline to speed up. The Frigidians here had essentially splintered off from the main group to try and search for causes and solutions, and had slowly been siphoning off equipment ever since. It was thanks to this failed spike that they had been able to hone in on Alex more and more as he grew older, and slowly construct the tear between their realms using his residual cast off energy to stabilise it.

After filling him in on the history, Nieve, Eira and the other 3 Frigidians (who introduced themselves as Iclyn, Whittaker and Yas) set about linking up what looked like a frozen suntanning bed.

“This Fros-tech is what we use on our young during their formative years to help them solidify their connection to the Veil. We are modifying it to not only accept your differing DNA structure, but to actually forge your connection manually because you don’t even have the foundations of one. This is where the… discomfort may occur. We have no idea how your body will react to being forced to connect at this late a stage in your life.” Yas explained delicately. Yas had identified themselves as the head Fros-technician for the group, and was the only reason they had been able to operate secretly on the scraps and cast offs they had been able to scavenge.

“Still not selling me on this as much as I’d hoped y’all would… But needs must right?” Alex mumbled.

“Fear not, we will place you into cold-induced coma so you shouldn’t feel anything during the process, and hopefully once your connection is fully forged, it will assist you in recovering afterwords once you awaken. Should there be any complications, we will do our best to return you to your prior state of health.” Yas smiled at him reassuringly.

“If you could take the coat off Alex, we will begin the process of chilling you gently until you fall unconscious. We are very good with cold, and no harm will befall you.” Nieve said as they reached out to help him out of the big coat. As soon as it fell from his body the biting cold set in immediately again. Teeth chattering, he laid down on the bed of the device that was about to change his life forever. The thought made him smile, despite the slightly dire situation. He kept his fingers crossed that whatever power awakened inside him at least made it so he didnt feel like his junk was going to fall off in the cold. Yas and Nieve were stood on either side of the machine, Yas monitoring screens only they could see, and Nieve was slowly lowering his body temperature. Eira stood down by his feel talking him down into his cold-induced anesthesia. Slowly Alex felt himself begin to slide into unconciousness, and his last thought was “Just don’t make me green…”