Darkness.
A land without sun, a land without hope.
But there is hope in another day. Just not now. No hope now. Clouds can be cleared, light can be brought. But it is all a question of when. Right now, hope was not here. It was cold, very, and also dark. We've been here three months and not a day with the sun. Not a day without snow.
But what do you expect in the frozen tundra, far far from civilization., with animals adapted to survive in the Tundra and eat whatever they happen upon. I'd be lying if I said I haven't had a close encounter with one of those Polar Bears. Nasty things, those.
But recently, strange things have been happening. Not over the top weird things that happened, like when Discord appeared, but most peculiar all the same. Now, don't believe me if you must, but I swear I've seen butterflies roaming around here. I know, unbelievable, inconceivable, questionable, but true. I know you're thinking, why on Earth are there butterflies roaming around the Tundra Wasteland? I'm not sure myself, but I have a harrowing suspicion they're coming from civilization. I mean, where else could they be coming from?
But that is the least of my worries. Having been wandering aimlessly for months, we are beginning to run out of food. Recently, we've had to survive on the occasional Tundric Hare. Recently they've been more scarce, so I suspect it's mating season and they're staying in their burrows or something. Point is, if we don't get some food fast, we're either going to have to kill a Polar Bear, or eat one another. Either way, someone is probably going to die.
Maybe I should tell why Dasha and I left home. Actually, I've never told Dasha my story, but I've heard hers, so that's the one I'll tell you. When Dasha was a little girl, her parents were taken against their will to serve in the war. After a few years of living in Mr. Toutley's house (I'll tell you about him later), she decided to go back to her old house. Upon further investigation, she discovered a secret compartment. Inside, the was a bottle marked In case of Military Abducton. Inside, there was a strip of paper reading RUN. So, run she did. As an orphan, I accompanied her. It's not like I liked where I was staying, and with the war going on, not many resources were being put in to orphanages.
But I'll go into my story later. Right now, my focus is survival, and my chances weren't looking too bright.
"Feplot, look! A whole bushel of bouncing baby bunnies!" Dasha proclaimed in triumph. Looking over to where she was pointing, I did indeed see tons off bunnies.
"So it is bunny mating season!" I said, then added "So do we take them all or just the big ones?"
"Just the big ones. Little ones aren't worth the weight."
So we carefully snapped their necks and put them in our bags. There would be time to cook them later, and right now we needed to find a good place to stay for the night.
We walked for about two hours before finding a nice, cozy cave. I know what you're thinking, "no, caves are where the bears sleep, wah wah wah" but Polar Bears sleep in burrows, preferring the snow to the dark.
As I put up our tents, Dasha started a fire on which we cooked one of our hares. We couldn't afford t eat like kings, for we don't know how long we'll be out here. In fact, we don't even know if we'll make it out alive. All we know is that soon, summer will end and the Polar Bears will be everywhere. We can barely escape one, let alone ten. Nature is not kind to Tundric creatures, so they'll take whatever they can get.
Yesterday, I made an interesting discovery. The other day, I saw two polar bears... conversing. It was an odd sight, grunts and yelps laid out in a rhythmic pattern, and the other Bear... understood. I"m not sure how anything could understand that, let alone leave because of it. But I shouldn't be surprised. In the Tundra, cooperation is necessary for survival. Sometimes, in sticky situations, I swear I've been able to... understand them. Not like 'a loud grunt means gtfo,' but they... talked to me. In plain english. Dasha thinks I've been having hallucinations from the desolate wasteland that is the Tundra, and she's probably right, but it feels as if there's... more. It feels as if the animal isn't talking to me, but to my soul. Anyways, I probably sound like a raving lunatic.
While we ate, it was quiet. One does not have a lot to talk about when all one does is walk around.
Unexpectedly, Dasha turned to me and said:
"What will we do once we get out?" She asked
"If we get out" I grunted
"Oh come now, that's no attitude for a survivor. You need to be confident! We WILL get out of here."
"Fine, we are going to somehow survive in a metaphorical battle royale against every beast in this wasteland, in which our competitors have have centuries to adapt to the harsh conditions and we have had mere months. Things are really looking our way."
"Hmmm. I think I'll talk to you when you become more positive. If you ever do." With that she walked off and crawled into her tent.
The morning sun rose with a roar of fury. Waking abruptly, I scrambled to my feet and peered outside. The sun had risen, and it was only visible through a tiny patch of sky. Wondering what could have caused such a miracle I stared into the sun. Normally this would've blinded me, but the sun in the Tundra is always affected by a translucent layer of haze. Suddenly, a winged figure flew by in front of the cloud. Startled, i decided to tell Dasha about this.
"DASHA! DASHA! Waketh thee up!" I yelled. Dasha stirred in her bed, then shot up.
"Whzaaaaat?"
"Thy sun hath risen!"
"Stop talking like that" she muttered, then what I said sunk in. She raced besides me, catching only a glimpse of the sun as the clouds moved to block our view. We stood there, mystified, until Dasha noticed something.
"Look, Feplot, a trail of sky!" she pointed to a trail of whitish blue that seemed to be elongating.
"Well, let's follow it!"
"Wait, It could be a trap!"
"Well, we're wandering around anyways. Might as well have some direction."
"Oh all right..." she muttered. I felt proud, having won an argument with a woman.
We followed the trail for hours. It was obvious we could not go back to our cave, the trail behind us having disappeared. We were about to climb over a rather big hill near the end of the trail when we were suddenly attacked. With a roar, out attacker slammed into me and sent me flying. I turned around and found myself face to face with a giant Polar Bear!
Maybe I'm missing some backstory with Polar Bears. Back home, we have Timber Wolves and Mountain Lions, made out of timber and mountain respectively. Polar Bears are made out of ice, so without the right tools, they're nearly impossible to kill. You can't choke them or throw them because the slip right off your fingers. You'd think this would be useful because they wouldn't be able to pin you down. Actually, the ice under their paws is rather rough so you would actually he scraping yourself in trying to escape. So without a flamethrower or even an ice pick, You're basically doomed. Dasha and I have escaped them before, but we were thrown in the middle of nowhere from all the running. Our trail could disappear at any moment, and we would be lost anyways.
Actually, It didn't matter, because the Bear had managed to pin them against a cliff in the hill.
The bear reared up, ready to strike, when suddenly it was enveloped is a rusty bronze colour. It levitated up in the air and started it drip.
Suddenly I realized that the glow was melting the Bear! After a few minutes, All that remained was a puddle of ice. Dasha and I looked up the hill to see out saviour. We all screamed, having met each other's eyes.
Our savior was... a unicorn!