Chapter One - The New World
Garrow looked out the window of his small, yet cozy home. The ground was still covered in snow. He didn't really expect much difference. Outside had been that way for many years now. Many years before he, as well as his friends, were even born, the world was in a rough state. The weather kept getting unnaturally cold, and no matter what scientists did, they soon realized they could not stop the inevitable. This event was the next Ice Age. In the span of several days during the beginning of the month of December, the world soon became covered in a very thick blanket of snow. Obviously, humans were not prepared for this to happen, and many perished in this event. The technology of the world had mostly been frozen solid, so humans had to get used to living a more primitive lifestyle. Garrow grew up this way from birth, and knew nothing else but that. Coming back to reality, he heard the sound of the door opening and closing, with the subtle gust of the wind going on outside. "Brrr... it's cold out there!" said a familiar voice. Garrow turned from the chair he was sitting in to see who had just walked in. It was a boy about Garrow's age, 18, with brown eyes, and black hair. "Oh really now Colt, I had no idea." said Garrow sarcastically, with a grin on his face. The boy frowned, clenching his fists. "I told you! My name is Coltanis! Not Colt! You know I hate that nickname..." Garrow smiled. Colt was one of his friends from the village they lived in. After the Ice Age started, people began forming villages in order to create some sense of community in the newly frozen world. Eventually, when the children grew old enough, they left the homes of their parents, and formed their own villages to display their independence. Garrow lived in a village with most of his friends, and enjoyed it very much. It was nice seeing a bunch of familiar faces every day, knowing well that these people could be relied on. "I know dude, I know. You know I'm just messing with you right?" he said. Coltanis swung his arm with a friendly punch to Garrow's shoulder. "I know man, I know. Hey, the guys are outside. We were going to go hunting. You wanna go?" Garrow thought for a moment. While he did want to go hunting, he did want to visit the girls of the village later. He was friends with all of them, but especially wanted to see two of his closest friends, Ellwyn and Diamera. He also wanted to see some of the others, but mainly these two. "Sure dude, let's go!" The two boys gathered their necessary gear, which consisted of daggers for each of them, as well as a bow and arrows, and went out the door, making sure to shut it behind them.
It took Coltanis and Garrow a while to find the others, due to a minor snowstorm blowing around that day. The chilly wind was blowing the snow diagonally, but the two boys only struggled a bit, due to it being something they dealt with several times a week. Obviously, with the drastic changes from the new Ice Age, the boys wore bulkier clothing to keep warm. Fur from skinned animals was often used as the main source for this clothing. Garrow and Coltanis, as well as the other boys usually wore large fluffy wolf fur coats, with a evenly not too-thin and not too-thick white hare fur shirt underneath. Soon, the two boys spotted familiar figures not too far off in the distance. Then, all of a sudden, their view changed. A giant white figure had appeared near the group of boys. Garrow and Coltanis ran over to help, but stopped in their tracks as soon as they realized what it was. It was a polewolf, a mixed breed of a polar bear and a wolf. It had the bulky body of a polar bear, but had the speed of a wolf. It's face was shaped like a bear's, but had the characteristics of a wolf's, like it's sharp, cold and piercing eyes, as well as it's large black nose. It was a fearsome creature indeed in this new Ice Age. The animal's eyes were red with rage, and was circling the boys, looking for an opening to attack. Garrow pulled out his dagger, while Coltanis readied his bow with an arrow, set to fire. With precise aim, Coltanis shot an arrow right into the side of the polewolf's thick neck. Roaring in pain, the creature scanned the area, looking for which of these foolish boys would even dare to fire at such a creature as powerful and deadly as it was. Thankfully, this was exactly what the other boys were looking for: a moment to fight back. One boy with a skinned wolf fur covering from the top of his head to the bottom of his back charged forward tossing his dagger at the fearsome creature. It hit the side of the polewolf's head, but didn't stick. Bouncing off the large nose of the polewolf, the boy's dagger landed in the snow. The polewolf took notice to the dagger, which only felt like a toothpick poking it in the side of its head. It turned, towards the direction of the dagger thrower. Two of the other boys began firing arrows from their own bows at the creature, who appeared to be ready to charge the dagger-less boy. The arrows stuck in the polewolf's neck like Coltanis', but were unfortunately not fatal shots. The polewolf began to charge at the boy, but just before it got close enough to take a bite out of the boy with the wolf pelt hood, the creature jerked its head back, let out a loud yelp, and fell forward, with blood coming out of the top of his head. The cause for this bleeding, came from a dagger stabbed into the now dead polewolf's head, at the spot that most likely rested just above the creature's brain. The boy who had almost became polewolf food glanced up to see one of the boys standing on top of the polewolf's head. The dagger was obviously his, as the boy pulled it out of the creature's head. "Well that was fun." he said. His name was Andros, a boy just a year older than the others, and had green eyes, with short brown hair. He was a bulky-looking guy, and grinned as he looked at his kill from atop it's head. Andros jumped down from the polewolf, and went over to help the boy in from of the polewolf up. He extended his hand out to the boy, and he grasped it. "Thanks Andros, I thought I was gonna be that ugly mutt's snack." said the boy, still wearing the wolf pelt on his head. Kerrick, the boy's name, was a average-sized young adult, with blue eyes and short blond hair. He was often the group's loudmouth, but the other boys still treated him as their brother. "Don't mention it, Kerrick. I know you would have done the same for me." Kerrick chuckled. 'True, but I'm not crazy enough to even dare to climb atop something that huge." Andros and a few of the other boys began laughing as well. It was at that point that Garrow and Coltanis had finally made it over to the others. Besides Coltanis firing the one arrow at the polewolf, they hadn't done much else except run towards the boys to help up close. When they had finally arrived, the polewolf had been killed. "Whoa! Awesome job guys! You took down a polewolf! Guess we won't be hungry for a long time now!" said Garrow, with an enthusiastic smile on his face. "Hold on", said Coltanis. "What is that?" He pointed at something on the polewolf's neck. Everyone glanced over, and couldn't believe what they saw. It was a collar. A collar that they had not noticed before, or had ever seen on any creature in the arctic wilderness. The boys crept closer to it, but jumped back a moment later. A small circle on the collar opened up, and a blue light shot out. A figure formed from the blue light, and soon, in hologram form, was a tall and thin man with grey eyes, and extremely pale skin. The man had slightly long, shaggy snow white hair, with a beard and mustache to match. He wore white robes, and stood with his arms tucked into his robes like a monk would. He had a solemn, yet also stern, look on his face. "Greetings gentlemen, I am known as Caelus. It would seem that you have killed my faithful pet polewolf. Pity." The boys were at a loss for words. This man owned such a creature? "Hold on a second." said Coltanis. "Caelus is the name of one of the first Roman gods of the sky." The hologram Caelus chuckled. "Very good boy. I am not the actual god however. But I am close enough to it." This thoroughly angered one of the boys. Derrus was his name. He was an average sized boy, with short brown hair and brown eyes, and was quite intelligent. He did not like that this white-haired man claimed to be almost a god. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? You're just a human, just like us. What makes you any better than us?" Caelus chuckled at this statement. "Oh my dear boy, you know nothing. Nothing at all. Fools, that's all you are. Each and every one of you." Caelus put his right hand out, and displayed it palm-side up. His hand tensed up, with his fingers curling almost to make a fist, and out of thin air, a floating ball of snow appeared in his hand. It was not compressed like a snowball. It was instead encased in what appeared to be a small bubble of some sort, with little bits of snow circling the bubble. The boys all gasped. How could this man do such a thing? In this primitive planet they now lived on, how could anyone possibly have that much power? "What the hell are you?" spat one of the boys. His name was Serith, and while he was younger than most of the other boys, he fit in just fine. He had short black hair, brown eyes, and was decently strong. Yelling at Caelus now, Serith's fists were clenched, angry at this man who just seemed to keep toying with them. Caelus spoke back with a evil grin on his face, "If you mere mortals must know, I am a member of the group that goes by the name The Sub-Zero. We Sub-Zero are much more different than you pathetic ordinary folk, and will one day conquer all of this icy planet, eliminating all mortals, especially the ones who foolishly attempt to stand in our way." The man in white clenched his fist, causing the ball of floating snow to dissipate into thin air. "And now you gentlemen have been added to the list for killing my precious pet. If you can take down such a powerful creature, you are a threat in the eyes of the Sub-Zero. Consider yourselves warned." Kerrick yelled back at Caelus, furious at this crazy old man's decision to have them killed just for killing the man's precious pet, which clearly tried to kill them in the first place, "So just because we defended ourselves from your precious poley-wolfy, now we are going to die?!?" Caelus smiled once again. He seemed to do a lot of that, probably because of his belief that he was far more superior to these "average" people. "Precisely. However, we Sub-Zero are not as savage and primitive as you, so therefore we do not intend to kill you in such a way. Besides, we have better ways to deal with pests than just wipe them out so quickly." Garrow finally spoke up. "What exactly do you mean by that?" Grinning once more, Caelus responded to the brown-haired boy. "Oh you shall see soon enough. Farewell for now." The hologram of Caelus flickered, and disappeared in moments. The boys glanced around at one another. They were now all very confused, and at the same time, a little bit scared. What had they brought upon them? If they had not killed that polewolf, it would likely have killed them all. Had that been Caelus' plan the whole time? To entice them into becoming targets by the Sub-Zero by setting his pet loose on them? The boys discussed the whole issue with constant interruptions, as well as pointing the blame towards others. "Nice job killing Caelus' precious pup, Andros!" yelled Kerrick, obviously still angry at what Caelus had said, and was taking it out on Andros. "Hey! I'm the one who saved your sorry ass from being that "pup's" next snack, so you should be thanking me!" spouted back Andros. "For what? Dooming us to a fate worse than that? Oh yeah, I'm real grateful for that." argued Kerrick. The two boys were in each others faces now and it looked like a fight might break out. "Guys, stop it! Just stop!", called Garrow. The two feuding boys took no notice. It was at that point that he had had enough of this. "ENOUGH!", bellowed Garrow. "We have just recently learned of this new threat to us, one that clearly wants us wiped out, and what do we do? We argue! Don't you see what this is doing? We are playing right into the hands of Caelus and his group, the...uh...what was their name again?" He scratched his head, trying to recall the name. "The Sub-Zero.", responded one of the boys. His name was Jaross, but all the boys had called him "The Mountain" from a young age, thanks to his last name. With a stern look on his face with its short brown hair and brown eyes, The Mountain looked around at all the boys, now staring at him. "Thank you Jaross.", Garrow turned back towards Andros and Kerrick, who had ceased arguing at his outburst. He still called The Mountain by his real name from time to time, especially when things were serious. "Anyways, we are playing right into their hands by arguing like this. They would have discovered us eventually anyways. They will easily exterminate us if we fall apart by fighting. Our only choice is for us all to stick together. Otherwise, we have no chance at all of surviving." The two boys looked down at the ground, thinking about what their friend had said. Kerrick turned back towards Andros, and extended his hand. "Sorry for snapping on you like that, dude. The whole pressure of this new situation just got to me. We good?". Andros stood there for a moment, and then smiled, extending his own hand to shake Kerrick's. They both shook hands, and he responded with a hearty " We're good." Garrow smiled, happy to see his two feuding friends make up. "Let's get back to the village, and tell the girls all about this. I hope they take it well." The girls were a tough bunch, but he was still not sure how they would react to the whole situation.
Back at the small village, the girls were all gathered inside the meeting house. It had become routine for the boys to meet them there with the meat they gathered from hunts. Since a few of the boys had mentioned that they were planning on hunting that day, they had just decided to wait in the meeting house. Naressa and Rachelle, two of the girls, were chatting on the makeshift couch that they all had created for the time being till they could find something better. Diamera and Ellwyn, two of the quieter girls, were relaxing, enjoying the time they had to just sit back and do nothing. The other girls were spread throughout the meeting house, doing a wide variety of things. "Hope the boys make it back soon.", said Ellwyn, glancing out one of the windows. Diamera chuckled, putting her feet up on a table, blowing her brunette bangs away from her face, "They'll be fine, Ellwyn. They've done this plenty of times before, and dealt with plenty of danger. They know nearly everything out there, what would possibly be different about this one time?" The brunette with dark brown eyes, and lightly tanned skin, looked out the window again, then back at Diamera. "Yeah, you're probably right." Ellwyn looked back down at the floor, obviously still worried. "Damn straight." said Diamera, with a smile on her face, as she rested her head on the back of the chair. Ellwyn glanced back up at Diamera again, and decided to follow her example by taking a nap. She rested her head back, and closed her eyes, hoping this nap would ease her worried feelings. Unfortunately, that nap never came. The door to the meeting house burst open, startling everyone. "Group meeting! Now!" bellowed Garrow. The other boys rushed in behind him. Diamera got up slowly from her chair, obviously not happy about having her nap cut short, and walked on over. Ellwyn was a bit cranky as well, but figured she could have time later to make up her nap. "What's so damn important that you have to slam the door open? Some of us were trying to sleep." said Diamera, glancing at Ellwyn at the end of her statement, looking for someone to back her up. Ellwyn caught Diamera's glance at her, not sure how to respond. "Yeah, but it's got to be pretty important, since they burst in like that. What's up boys?" she said, glancing back over at Garrow and the others. Before Garrow could speak, one of the other boys ran out in front. "A group of powerful people is after us now, and want us all dead!" This boy's name was Regal, and was a few years younger than the others. He had a bit of a husky body, with brown curly hair, and light blue eyes. As seen by his statement, he sometimes blurted things out at the wrong time. The result from Regal's statement caused an uproar. The girls all gasped and exchanged frightened looks. Some appeared more frightened than others, so some of the more calm ones tried to comfort the not-so calm girls. "QUIET!" bellowed Garrow. The room became completely silent. All that could be heard was the sound of the wind outside, blowing some of the loose snow around. Everyone turned towards the obviously agitated Garrow. "What the hell is Regal talking about, Garrow?" demanded Diamera. With her brown eyes to match her brown hair, Diamera had the appearance and attitude of a tough girl. She wanted to know exactly what was going on, and didn't want to wait any longer. "Now that everyone is quiet, I will tell you." responded Garrow, glaring at Regal for a moment. He told them the whole story of what had happened on their hunt, and everything that Caelus had said. The eyes of the girls grew wider with every detail. Once Garrow was done speaking, all the girls, including Diamera, had worried looks on their faces. The first girl to speak up was Ellwyn. "So what does this mean? Are we just going to wait here till they come and wipe us all out? I sure as hell don't want to." she said. She didn't plan on giving up that easy, and hoped that the others would agree with her. "I agree." said Diamera, "Those cold heartless bastards won't take us down that easily. I say we fight back." The other girls chimed in, agreeing with Diamera and Ellwyn. Garrow smiled, and called out to everyone in the room. "Exactly the attitude I wanted to hear! Everyone start getting weapons ready! Let's show this Sub-Zero group that we won't go down so easily!" Everyone cheered, and spread out, looking for supplies to gather. Garrow remained standing where he was, and it appeared he wasn't the only one. Diamera was standing still, with her arms folded, and a small smile on her face. She strolled casually over to Garrow and stood by him. "I hope you know what you're doing, Garrow." she said glancing around at the others, then back at him. Garrow glanced around at everyone, who were gathering food and other supplies, including weapons. Spears, bows and arrows, and small daggers comprised most of their weapons. They would hopefully find more off bodies of Sub-Zero members that they killed. The boy sighed, hoping all these fine young adolescents were up to the task. "I hope so too, Diamera. I hope so too." he said, glancing back at her, one of his closest female friends, with a small smile on his face to match hers.
Caelus walked up the white hallway of the castle that the Sub-Zero resided in. The walls displayed portraits of the higher ranked members of the group, and carried torches containing blue fire. The whole place had a real "royal" look to it. He was smiling walking down the hallway, with his arms still tucked into his robes. "What foolish children." he thought. "It will be a pleasure wiping each one of them out. But first, we must hurt them where it really hurts. Their loved ones." He knew exactly who to talk to. He had to ask permission from the head of the Sub-Zero, his master and leader, Boreas. This man took the name of the Greek God of winter and the North Wind. It was quite common for the members to take names from ancient gods. Boreas ruled the Sub-Zero with a cold and dark rule, very rarely showing compassion, only thinking what was best for himself, and the Sub-Zero. "Greetings my lord." said Caelus, as he walked up to the throne of his mighty ruler. He bowed at the bottom of the several steps leading up to Boreas' solid ice throne. Two pale-skinned women cloaked in white dresses stood by the throne, one on each side. Holding his mighty white staff, complete with four solid ice prongs at the top of it, Boreas answered his humble follower. "Speak." he said, with a chilling tone to his voice. He was dressed in snow white robes, much like Caelus', but more royal-like. Upon his head, he wore a crown with several sharp icicles attached, to symbolize his status in the Sub-Zero as their fearless and heartless leader. His skin was pale, like Caelus', but was a much more pure form of white, as if to match the snow outside the castle. With his short white beard, he awaited a response. Caelus answered, "I have discovered others, my lord. Others outside our lands, ones not as pure as us, who live a much more primitive lifestyle than our own. They are mere adolescents, but know well enough how to fight. They killed my precious pet polewolf, who was only out hunting. They must pay for what they have done, for even daring to try to make themselves appear better than the obvious superior race, which is clearly the Sub-Zero." Boreas listened to what the man in white said, and after a brief pause responded. "What is it you ask of me then?" Caelus answered, with a fire in his eyes. "I ask my lord, for you to give me permission to send an army of our soldiers to attack a village. Not their village, mind you. I intend to make them hurt where it really hurts, the one where their loved ones reside. I want them to suffer before we wipe them off the face of this cold, dark world that we live in. Do I have your permission, my lord?" He glanced up at the face of Boreas, eager to hear an answer. "Do what you must, my brother. Make them suffer for what they have done to such a noble race as us. Wipe them all out. Every last one of them." said Boreas, with power in his cold and cruel voice. Caelus smiled, thanking his king, "As you wish my lord. I thank you for allowing me to do this and I will not fail you. I will summon the troops at once." He bowed once more, and turned to leave the room. As he left the royal chamber, Caelus smiled an evil smile. Everything was going according to plan. The extinction of the primitive race of normal humans was inevitable, and he planned on making it a point with this massacre, to show those foolish children what the Sub-Zero could really do.
