Chapter Text
Years ago.....
The snow and the raging wind were battering the tundra of Freljord. Thunder struck like drums resounding across the sky.
The glaciers let out a faint sound as the storm winds passed through them. The horizon could not be seen because of the snow falling violently upon the ground.
But near this raging storm, there were traveler's cabin homes, hastily set up because of the harshness of the weather.
Most of the houses were lit by lamps, and the flames were weak, flickering as if they might go out at any moment. In one of these lamps, there was a woman, adding some oil to one of these lamps in the depths of midnight, wrapped in the storm.
"Mom... can I ask you something?"
The woman turned and looked at the little child in his bed, and came closer and sat beside him slowly.
"What's wrong, Nunu? It's nearly midnight, and it's not like you to still be awake at this time. Did something happen?"
"I don't....feel like I'm okay right now..... Can you stay with me?"
"Is it because of what the elders said?"
*Nods his head*
"You're like an elnuk when you do that. But..... lucky for you, I have a good story."
"Really, mom!? Is it about Rhond?"
"No...no...my child."
"What I'll tell you is a special story."
"A story that grew from a tale into a legend."
"Do you want to hear it?"
"Yes, please!"
"Then come close, my little grimaceling, and listen closely. In the ancient times, before the three sisters, there was.....
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"Yaaahoo!"
"Let's beat the wind!"
Nunu was shouting as he rode on the top of his friend Willump's head, who was charging forward powerfully across the frozen tundra.
*Yawn..*
His friend Willump let out a complaint as he charged forward with his four arms at speed.
"I told you this, buddy. I felt like something was calling to me."
He spoke with worry, grumbling.
"Don't worry, she doesn't mess with my mind this Time, I'm sure about that."
"I feel it, I feel like there's something calling to me strongly, but I don't know how."
He answered in an apologetic tone.
"Don't apologize, Willump. You're worried about me, you don't need to be worried, after all I'm the best snowball in all Freljord."
Willump snorted through his nose.
"What, I'm telling the truth!"
Willump laughed and noticed that the path ahead was blocked, and immediately began to climb. First he jumped and gripped an ice wall with his four claws, then began climbing upward. Finally, he managed to reach the top.
"Here we.....Woooaah.... Willump, look at all that!"
What each of them saw on the other side, below, looked like an ancient temple, or what remained of one. More than half of the temple had been completely destroyed, as if it had suffered the ravages of war. All that remained was a few columns and pieces of walls, with the ruins of the destroyed temple scattered across the area.
Willump landed and used his body like a sled, and when he touched down, each of them got a good look at the temple ruins.
"I never saw something like that before, is this a tribe hall??"
Willump complained and shook his head as he explained.
"Oh, it's a temple? I've never seen one before, Willump. What do you think it belongs to? To the three sisters? Or to some gods?"
The yeti shook his head and grumbled while pointing at the shattered temple.
"Right, good point."
"But if it wasn't for any of them, then who was this temple built for?"
"Hmm.....I remember mom telling me something similar to that, it was called the temple of true ice? But it doesn't seem like there's any true ice around this area."
"It's on the tip of my tongue but I can't remember what it was. What was it?"
The yeti was examining the place, and saw that his friend was absorbed in thought, pulling his hat left and right, without success. Nunu had a disappointed look as he tried to think, and Willump decided to do something to change the mood.
He shaped a snowball and threw it directly at him.
"Ouch! Willump? What's up?"
The yeti danced and laughed, sticking his tongue out, letting out strange sounds.
"You want to play snowball here?" He tilted his head.
"Wait....are you complaining about what I said earlier?"
Willump snorted and shook his head in answer, holding snowballs ready to throw.
"But I've won dozens of times!"
"Fine, prove me wrong."
"Ladies and gentlemen, the champions are....." Nunu spoke to no one as he struck heroic poses.
"Nunu the notai! And....."
"Willump the mighty, Runeterra last yeti!"
As soon as Nunu finished speaking, the final snowball fight officially began.
Both of them moved around the shattered temple and began throwing snowballs at each other. Nunu moved to the right while four snowballs headed toward him.
When Nunu saw the balls coming, he immediately dodged to the side, rolled, and hid behind a pile of snow.
"Miss me!"
The yeti huffed through his nose while preparing more balls to throw at him.
Nunu also moved and began gathering snow and shaping it with his hands. When it was ready, each of them threw snowballs at the other.
The snowballs flew and crossed paths; Willump missed hitting Nunu with his, while Nunu's ball crossed over and struck him.
"Point for me!"
The yeti complained and immediately moved, beginning to shape a huge snowball.
When Nunu saw the huge snowball being formed by the yeti's magic, he immediately moved and hid behind an old piece of wall before it fell on him.
Nunu stayed hidden behind the piece of wall, and when he came out of it, his friend greeted him by throwing two snowballs at Nunu.
"Oh no!" he said with excitement and worry.
He ran away while dodging the incoming snowballs, jumping left and right and throwing snowballs at him, and each of them was hit by an equal number of snowballs.
Nunu and Willump were nearly tied, each in an evenly matched position. This made them both more tense and excited.
"Buddy, you've improved a too way since last time, have you been training in secret?" Nunu asked while throwing the balls.
The yeti huffed and roared with pride while throwing snowballs from behind a shattered column.
"You'll never hit me!" Nunu spoke provocatively.
"Oh oh"
Nunu ran directly away from the spot he'd been in, and a second later the huge snowball struck, and the piece of wall flew apart into small pieces.
"That was close!"
Nunu moved and ran while throwing snowballs. Willump moved quickly and ran off, circling around the temple ruins. Nunu had chased after him but could no longer see him, so he decided to hide behind some wall, ready for any attack from him.
"Strange....where did he go?"
"Mooh!"
"What?"
Nunu came out of his hiding place and moved in panic and worry while shouting, "Willump, are you hurt!?"
"WILLUMP, ANSWER ME!"
Nunu felt something behind him, and when he turned around he saw four huge snowballs launching at him, covering Nunu's entire body until he became almost like a snowman. Willump laughed loudly as he came out of his hiding place, dancing a victory dance.
"Hey, that's cheating!" he shouted while freeing himself from the snow.
Willump tilted his head strangely.
"You can't ask for help while throwing snowballs at me, that's unfair," he complained while crossing his arms.
The yeti shook his head in confusion and pointed at himself.
"What, you didn't ask for help, then who-
*Moooh.......*
Both of them turned and looked toward the source of the sound, where they saw, atop an ice rock, a creature that resembled an elk standing and staring down at them from above.
"What is that? He's like a kellurel, but somehow different"
"Mooh," it looked at them with a sad sound.
"What? Is there something that needs help?"
After this, the elk struck its hoof twice, turned around, and went away from them, disappearing from their sight.
"Willump, should we help him?"
The yeti shook his head, without answering.
"Or maybe this is a sign for our adventure!"
Willump let out a low roar and extended his hand toward Nunu, lifting him up, and Nunu sat on the back of his friend's head, pointing his finger toward the place the elk had just been while shouting:
"To the adventure!"
Willump ran forward directly, charging ahead, then jumped up to reach the spot where the elk had been.
He gripped with his claws.
He kept running forward, but stopped when he reached a crossroads. He looked at his friend Nunu, who was studying the intersecting paths.
"Where did he.....go...hmm"
"I think....this way!"
Willump headed in the direction Nunu had indicated, and ran quickly.
"Even a duravask couldn't catch us."
The yeti let out a low roar of joy as he kept running.
"You're the best, buddy."
"Speaking of which, did you feel anything strange?"
The yeti let out a shaky, uncertain sound.
"Not that, I mean, don't you notice that the ice around us seems like it's...."
"Melting?"
"But this isn't the season for that, right?" he asked, looking at his friend's head.
The yeti looked at his friend and let out a grumble.
"Worried? Is there something ahead of us?"
"A lake?"
"Willump, be real."
"We've faced worse things, what could a small laaaaake do?"
What Nunu saw shocked him. At first it was just a puddle, but it stretched to the horizon, a lake the size of a football field, narrowing between walls on two sides. The waves were raging as if they were screaming with fury.
"Woah!"
"Since when is there a big lake like that in Freljord?"
He roared in a troubled voice, while Nunu landed on the ground and explored the edge, looking out from a distance. He saw far off that there was an end to it, but it was very far, and there were no rocks or bumps in the lake they could use to cross. The waves were crashing violently, nearly destroying anything in their path.
"How are we going to cross from here?"
"Hmm, what about this?"
Nunu shaped a snowball and threw it onto the lake. The moment it touched the lake, a patch of ice formed.
"This doesn't work either?"
Willump grumbled, gesturing to go back.
"You're right, maybe I was wrong."
"I think we should take another direction-
"Mooh"
"Huh?"
Nunu turned and saw the elk again; it was at the end of the edge in the other direction, looking at them as it stood on the ledge.
"Hey, how did you get here?"
"Mooh"
"What? This way?"
"But it's really far from here!"
"Can you help us so we can help you?"
The elk didn't speak after that, and turned and left, disappearing from the scene once again. Both of them looked at each other in confusion.
"Hmm, there must be a way out, but where?"
"Wait, I have an idea!"
"If we can't walk on the ice in the water, let's try making ice on the walls!"
"Like stairs or a bridge on a wall, that way we'll be able to cross!"
The yeti nodded in agreement with the idea, and both of them got to work.
He began throwing many snowballs, and they began merging and slowly moving forward. Both Nunu and Willump kept throwing, but the more they continued, the stranger and more inconsistent the bridge became.
"This isn't working, we'll wait forever to get across."
"If neither this nor that works, then how will we cross?"
The yeti roared and suggested.
"Do you want me to use this?"
"Sure, let me try."
Nunu placed his hand on the frozen pool slowly and closed his eyes. He took a breath in and out, and when he opened his eyes, they glowed blue, and suddenly something happened - the turbulent lake
now became a still lake, as calm as if it were just a small puddle.
"Awesome! Now we can cross!"
Nunu threw snowballs that formed solid blocks of ice, and now Nunu and Willump were able to begin crossing to reach the other side.
While they were crossing, the elk watched them with interest from hiding.