Memories Of Ice
Journey's End

Atlas and the others had been walking for around a week, with no signs of any modern civilization on the island. Strangely, the warm sun had got cooler by the day, and the nights had started to become as cold as a winter's day. Syl was walking slightly ahead, as the group neared a clearing, Syl stopped and jumped with joy as he spotted a small town further down the coast.

"Finally!" He cheered as he pointed to the town, the others looked in the direction Syl had pointed out to them.

"Good, these cold nights are getting to be too much..." Amanda sighed.

"Come on, lets get there before it goes dark, if the last few days are anything to go by, tonight will be even colder" Atlas said as he walked ahead.

"Right" Seb nodded as he followed. Amanda and Syl followed after them.

It took several hours for the group to reach the town, as they arrived, they noticed there was only one boat left in the small docks and the village seemed to be empty. Atlas looked around at the nearby buildings to see if he could replace anyone.

"I don't like the look of this" Amanda sighed. As she finished her sentence, a nearby door creaked open, and an elderly man walked out onto his porch.

"Hmm, I wasn't expecting supplies until next week..." He said as he scratched his head. Seb stepped forward.

"Well, the thing is, we kinda got ship wrecked to the south of here... about a week or two ago" He explained. The old man nodded then walked down his porch stairs onto the path.

"Where is everyone?" Syl asked.

"Hmm, they've fled, they say the weather is a bad omen" The old man sighed. Amanda looked up at the dark grey skies, the sun was close to setting.

"What exactly is going on with the weather? When we arrived here it was scorching" Amanda pondered.

"Hmm, from what I hear, colder temperatures are sweeping across the whole world... we've never had weather like this here before" The old man explained as he sat down on one of the steps. Seb looked over to the docks.

"Is that your boat, sir?" Seb asked.

"It is, sonny, and I know what you are going to ask" The old man said as he gave Seb a look.

"Sorry sir" Seb bowed his head.

"No, it's okay... I'll let you take the boat, tomorrow" The old man smiled.

"What about you?" Seb asked.

"I..." The old man began before shaking his head. "I've never left this island in my whole 78 years of being alive..." The old man frowned.

"But, if the temperatures keep dropping, you could die" Seb sighed deeply.

"If I do, it's okay" The old man nodded and smiled. "I've lived a long and happy life here" He added. Atlas walked out of a nearby house and shook his head before looking at the others.

"Hey! You could have informed me you found someone you know?" Atlas said as he shook his head and approached the group. The old man looked at Atlas.

"I know that face..." He said.

"Um, I'm Atlas Luna, nice to meet you?" Atlas shrugged.

"Oh, you're Atlas!" He smiled.

"Yeah, that's me" Atlas scratched his head.

"Around fourteen years ago, you stopped an Imperial Dreadnought from taking over our little island, we hailed you as a hero" The man smiled.

"Oh, what island is this?" Atlas asked.

"The Three Siblings" The man nodded. "Unfortunately, in more recent times, the Empire set up an outpost on an island north of here, they don't give us too much trouble, but they must be doing something strange up there, as a lot of dead sea life has been washing ashore" The old man explained.

"That's the Empire for you, they crush and kill and leave ruin in their wake" Syl said as he stared at Amanda.

"That they do, young man" The old man smiled as he stood up.

"If I may, can I offer you a room for tonight?" The old man asked.

"We're gonna need to borrow that boat" Atlas said as he pointed at the docks.

"Oh, don't worry you can, but tomorrow" He nodded as he walked toward the house. "Setting out at night is treacherous" The man nodded.

"Oh, thank you sir" Atlas smiled.

"Call me Benyrd" The old man said as he walked inside and held the door open for the others. As they all walked inside they looked around to see a nicely decorated house with leather chairs, a large dining table and a rustic looking kitchen. "Do you like my home?" Bernyd chuckled as he noticed the others looking around in awe.

"It's a very welcoming sight after sleeping rough for the last month or so" Amanda chuckled.

"Yep, thank you for your hospitality!" Atlas smiled.

"Now, you all put your feet up while I make you dinner" Benyrd said as he walked over to the kitchen. The others sat down in the chairs and sighed with relief to finally sit on man made furniture once more. Near to the chairs there was a roaring fire, which looked like it had never seen much use.

Benyrd made the group a delicious meal, with fresh seafood and home-grown vegetables, followed by a coconut cake dessert. They all sat up talking until late in the night, they eventually fell asleep.

Outdoors the weather had gotten colder, jungle trees had begun to shed their leaves, and in the darkness of the night, a snowflake dropped to the beach, followed by more. As the night went on it turned into a blizzard.