A Frozen Wasteland.

My world is frozen. It is a wasteland that is uninhabitable for humans, and we survive only through specially designed jumpsuits and head covers that work as body heat regulators. My father told me that before I was born, my world used to be a world that was beautiful, green, and full of life. There was day and night. The sun was high up in the sky giving life to plants, animals, and humans, but it all changed when a terrible icy wind stormed every corner of the world.

Now the temperature is below zero, everything here is covered in solid ice and the sun has neglected our world. There is no day, it is always dark, and the temperature drops more with each passing day. We use nanotechnology to build our homes, cook our foods and have hot showers that are limited but necessary. Only the rich could afford this technology leaving the poor to try to make fires that can only sustain them for a few days before they freeze to death.

Every day, my father and I venture out to hunt for food, and we witness the ever-increasing number of frozen bodies left behind by those who did not survive. I count myself lucky to be alive since my mother froze to death after she gave birth to me. My father's priority has always been to keep us safe and to ensure our small community never lacks the nanotechnology needed to survive.

On a fateful day, I went out hunting for food with the rest of our community hunters which is part of my daily routine and contribution to the community. I stumbled upon a cave close to a waterfall. It was my first time seeing the cave, my curiosity got me breaking the thick icicles that covered the entrance and I went in. Carefully, I surveyed the cave with my torchlight and discovered that the walls of the cave were free of ice. The temperature was much warmer than the outside world. How is that possible?

I ventured deeper and it became warmer inside the cave, then discovered that there were lots of inscriptions on the wall of the cave. I took my time checking the inscriptions and realized that it was a tale of the formal world my father told me about. I thought all that my father told me were folktales but it was all true. My world was once warm, green, alive, and with the sun high up in the sky.

Reading the inscriptions on the wall of the cave, I saw a hole. Inside the hole, there was a scroll and a golden locket. I opened the scroll and everything in the scroll was written in a strange language that I didn't know existed. So then I dropped the scroll and went for the gold locket. I tried to open the locket but it wouldn't open.

In my attempt to open the locket, I bruised one of my fingers and a drop of my blood spilled on the locket. Frustrated, I returned the locket back to the hole and carried the scroll to exit the cave. As I was about to leave, a blinding light came from the hole and that was the last thing I saw.

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Inspired by prompt "below zero". You can get to the prompt post on @mariannewest's blog page. Follow her for more prompts daily.

Thank you for visiting my blog, hope you enjoy the story. 🤗