Thing in the Ice// Awoken Horror

In the depths of the sea, creatures of unimaginable power and terrifying presence lurk, surrounded by the crushing depths and unbreakable darkness. Some of these beings have slumbered for centuries unbroken, dreaming a dream of the world above and waiting for the moment they awake. But not all who slumber have done so eternally, and legends speak of a creature of the deep that already awoke once to terrorize the people of Innistrad.   Worship the Unspeakable Hundreds of years ago on the shores of Nephalia, and enormous horror came from below to bind the minds of Innistrad's people. Using the psychic pressure of its vast intellect, it gifted those willing to submit to its rule with power, and set about destroying those who refused. With a name unpronounceable by those who served it, those who fought against it called it only the Horror. Gathering an army of worshippers around it, the Horror began to spread its influence, gaining the attention of Avacyn and her angels. The ensuing battle lasted for days, with dozens of angels lost, hundreds of people killed, and the Horror barely scratched. Gathering her hosts for one final charge, Acacyn built up her power for a single great spell, rendering a curse upon the Horror. As the angels fought against it, using up as much of its strength as they could, ice began to spread across the surface of the Horror, eventually swallowing it whole. With the physical threat of the Horror ended at the cost of many angels, and afraid that trying to destroy it would awaken the beast once more, Avacyn dragged the Horror far to the north, into the icy seas beyond the borders of Innistrad. There the archangel sank it into the depths once more, believing that it would never again threaten her wards.   A Prison of Ice Avacyn had hoped that deep in the ice, the threat of the Horror would be ended. But though it slumbered for a time, the Horror would soon awake, its terrible mind once more free to roam and seek those weak enough to dominate. But the Far North is empty, devoid of life but for those denizens of its depths. With little other choice, the Horror has floated for centuries, its prison slowly growing as it rises to the freezing surface. Though the ice of Avacyn's curse prevents it from moving, the Horror's mind still seeks, stretching out in every direction, searching for a slave to drag it back to Innistrad. In a sense, the ice which now swallows the Horror also protects it, shielding its body from harm while allowing its psychic tendrils to seize control of the weak-willed. With centuries of practice, the Horror has trained to divert the power of magic, guiding it into its prison to shatter the bonds of ice that hold it. Once freed, the Horror will again sweep across Innistrad, leading an army of enslaved straight to Avacyn's own front door.   A Horror Unleashed Before it can hold Innistrad in its grasping claws, the Horror has plans to bide its time, laying within the ice and gathering the minds of men to its side. Building an army of followers strong enough to stand against Avacyn's angels. Only then will it use its followers to unleash itself from the ice, not possibly knowing the effects that Avacyn's casting of the Cursemute has had upon it. In the magic of the Cursemute, Avacyn's own spell of binding upon the Horror was mutated, and in a sense, strengthened by Avacyn's renewed power. The Horror is irreparably weakend, and even freed it would find itself at only a fraction of the strength it once had. Powerful enough to devastate villages and wreak havoc, but too weak yet to stand against the might of Avacyn, assuming she would even think to do so in the new-found chaos of her mind. Her goals and thoughts twisted, believing humanity to be as much a plague to themselves as the darkness which threatens them, Avacyn may not move to deal with the Horror until it is too late. But even without Avacyn hope exists, as the curse of ice she cast upon the Horror still lingers. Empowered by the Cursemute, ice readily clings and grows upon the scales of the Horror's back slowly and weakening the beast if it were to escape. This growing ice, its effects palpable even without Avacyn's presence, will forever haunt the Horror across its existence, hobbling an evil force that once might have threatened existence.