All that's left is snow...

Snow. Wind. Darkness. All one could see or hear was these three things while out in these barren frozen waste. A flat terrain that was given form through the ever raining snow from an unceasing blizzard. This used to not always be the case however, the world once used to be a beautiful and vibrant place full of life. The sun used to shine brightly throughout most of the world. Colors such as the various shades of green, brown, orange, tan, and yellow used to be a common sight until a sudden cold front hit the world all at once. No one knew what caused it, but as time continued to go on people began to realize it was not going to get warmer. Places that used to see nothing but constant sunlight found themselves going months with heavy cloud cover followed by unending snow. Within a few years Earth could be best described in one simple and once playful word: snowball.

The fall of human civilization was surprisingly quiet and slow. No one could ever imagine that a simple thing like snow would be responsible for the collapse of society as we knew it, that entire nations that many considered invulnerable fell under the weight of the ever increasing blizzards. Even the lands of the north --who pridefully considered themselves accustomed to such climate-- found themselves unable to properly prepare themselves for the increased frequency of snowfall nor were they prepared for the sudden and harsh winds that accompanied them. What one would consider to be a deadly environment in certain regions was now commonplace almost everywhere.

Expectedly crops froze, livestock unable to acclimate to the rapid change in temperature quickly died off, resulting in massive food shortages followed by a worldwide famine. Needless to say the world population quickly dropped from almost eight billion to a meager and scattered million. People now spend their days attempting to survive the cold harsh weather. Foraging for food, conserving heat, etc. Few pockets of humanity managed to create complex underground shelters. Yet they too still experience hardship from an ever increasing cold. The ventilation to the surface being many of their downfalls. The heat from the internal structure of the complex being incapable of keeping the vents warm and as result the vents would freeze over or simply be buried in snow, resulting in the inhabitants to unfortunately suffocate.

This is all of course, after many governments had attempted to save their people from the ever growing cold. Before their collapse that is. To say humanity did nothing when faced with this new ice age would be a lie, many attempts were made however not one managed to succeed. First there were attempts to try and make great space age arks. The plan being that humanity would make a great exodus from earth to literally anywhere else, however, due to the time required to construct such arks paired with resources becoming harder and harder to collect, very few managed to be completed and sadly those few would never be capable of launching due to a combination of the lack of good conditions necessary to facilitate a launch paired with the engine's complex piping simply freezing over. Finally as a last ditch effort, vast underground vaults were attempted though like with the arks, time was against them as well; as the resources were just no longer available and whatever structure did get finished experienced the problems mentioned before. This was the last attempt any country was able to make before their eventual collapse.

What of the survivors? During all this time, what did the people of the world do in order to keep them and their loved ones alive through it all? A great many tales could be said, ranging from a family rushing to get an underground bunker while a cold snap hits their region. Another could be of a few people simply attempting to survive the harsh waste; to one following a new settlement of survivors who face clear hardship and in order to survive they realize they must forgo what was once clear morality. In this case, there is a man who in complete lonesome traverses the frozen oceans on foot. A man intent on fulfilling some sort of mission. Whatever that may be. What will become of him? Will he succeed in achieving what he’s after? Only time will tell.

Barren. Endless. Cold. A small yet, apt, description of the frozen oceans. While the oceans may not be one big block of ice, a great deal of the surface had frozen over. Enough so to create the land bridges that had once allowed man to populate the world. On this vast expanse, only one man could be seen continuously walking forward. His equipment was surprisingly advanced, indicative that he was no ordinary survivor. The gear was a thick thermal coat, covered by a protective vest. On his back was a metal pack that let out a wheezing noise that was quickly drowned out by the heavy blizzard. Connected to the pack were several tubes leading to various plates on his body, at which point one could realize that the plates and vest were heaters that allowed the traveler to maintain a high body heat. Which was then kept through the use of the thermal coat. On his head was a helmet connected to the same heating system, paired with a face mask that had goggles attached in order to cover his face, keeping it from freezing and allowing him to see better in a ceaseless blizzard. Just where did he come from?

The man continued to trek across the snow ridden land for hours and hours until eventually stopping. He unslung something from the side of his pack. It was a chainsaw that also shared a tube leading into the heating unit. He started it up with a few buttons and as it whirred to life a slight glow began to build up in the rotary teeth until the whole thing glowed a slight reddish orange. He then aimed it towards the ground and began melting through the snow and cutting through the ice beneath. Thanks to the chainsaw’s blade being heated, he managed to cut through it all with ease. In about an hour, while continuously battling the snow that kept building up, the man had constructed an igloo out of blocks he cut out. The small shelter was very impromptu but it kept the heavy wind and snow out and allowed him to hunker down for a rest.

The man took his time to cut a hole into the ice with his chainsaw. From there he removed something from the heating back, a small winch with a net attached. He then set it down over the hole and had the net drop into the blackened waters below. The net dropping in without so much as causing a single bit of disturbance in the water that was slowly beginning to freeze back over. The man solved that problem by periodically using a gun-like contraption. It connected to the heating unit as well and when he pulled the trigger a blast of heat would shoot down and melt the newly frozen layer instantly. This kept on repeating until something was eventually caught. Upon which the man quickly sprung into action, using the winch to reel the net back in. After several minutes of battling with whatever he had caught, he managed to pull up a small bundle of fish. They were incredibly pale and looked like they might be blind. Though that didn’t matter to the man. He quickly took them from the net and immediately filleted them with a knife he had on hand before then putting them on a small heating plate and cooking them. Once they were finished he pulled out a canteen kit and removed the lower part of his mask. He silently ate the food quickly. Once finished he packed everything up and exited the shelter, not caring for the still raging blizzard nor bothering to take down the shelter.

He resumed his trek through the waste, moving forward through the emptiness that slowly began to become less and less empty as a great deal of frozen over, derelict, vessels began to appear. At first it was simply bikes, cars, buses, even modified trains, followed by smaller boats such as speed boats and even sailboats, before eventually the larger cargo ships could be seen, frozen in place. Until finally, what appeared to be a frozen over harbor could be found. A moment of amazement could be taken as one considered how just making their way up to the harbor gave a chronological timeline of how bad the arctic weather had gotten throughout the years. Though the man cared little for that, instead simply using the port as an entry into the large empty city before him. A place once filled with vibrant life, people going out and about attempting to achieve something. Now it was nothing more than an eerily frozen series of spires filled with a great deal of silence until some ice shifted in the distance creating a long ever expansive sound throughout the empty streets; one could perhaps call this place a sleeping city of echoes…

Old. Empty. Forgotten. The city was all of these things. The sounds one could hear were only the sound of their breathing and their steps on the frozen concrete. With only the sounds of ice buckling under the weight of countless snow. Even the harsh winds of the blizzard seemed to fray away from the city. As if something about it made the cold respect what was once there. Whichever the case, the city was marginally better than being out in the frozen waste but not by much.

The man continued traversing through, occasionally looking up at the spires. Seemingly lost in thought. He walked as if he knew the city's layout, as if he had once been there. Perhaps it was a place he used to call home, or perhaps he had visited the city once or twice before. Only he knew the answer to that. Finally he stopped at the remnants a small suburban house. It had since fallen apart due to the weight of the snow on top. He pulled out his heat gun and quickly began excavating the place. Melting through the piles of snow it all until uncovering a small metal lock box that had the name “Zachary” inscribed on the exterior. The lock was frozen on and it took him a bit of using the heat gun and some percussive lockpicking before he got it off and opened the box revealing the contents inside… the items being enough to make the man suddenly freeze up like the city around him. For several moments he just stared seeming to be lost. Eventually he regained his composure and picked up a letter inside. He read the letter once. Then twice. Then thrice. He kept reading it until he realized snow was starting to accumulate on him. At which point he folded it up and put it away. Looking back into the lock box and picking out the only other item inside. A small gold heart-shaped locket.

The locket opened up revealing a picture of a young man and a young woman standing next to each other smiling. In the woman’s arms was a small child likely only a few months old. Despite being fully concealed the man radiated a somber aura. A deep sadness that only one who was familiar with the people in the picture would have. The man then stashed away the locket, stood up and began walking. He had a new mission now. One that likely pertained to what was in that lockbox, with that letter, and that locket that had a photo of a young family. Hopefully he would find what he was looking for. In a world where all that’s left is snow...