A/N: Thank you Tin from the Elsword Fanfiction Brigade discord for proofreading my work. Well! I'm back and with a fresh oneshot to help flex my writing muscle after nearly a whole month off! It feels a bit strange coming back to writing since I want to startt the sequel to Heart of a Guardian but I made a promise to myself that Id get other projects and requests out of the way first. Anyway, here is an Elsword story based in the game FrostPunk's universe! This is more of a drama than action but i wanted to try focusing more on character interaction that doesnt focus on people trying to kill each other. If you haven't played the game FrostPunk, I highly recommend it. its a city builder based in a frozen apocalypse! A city builder crossed with a beatem up game? How does that work, i hear you asking. well. youd be surprised! On with the story!
"One whole chicken leg? Are you serious?" the black-haired man stared at the steaming can of soup in disbelief as his wife returned from the cookhouse. She handed it to him with a smile as snow fell around them. He could see the tiny flakes melt into nothing upon landing in his soup.
"I could take it for you if you don't want it," she replied coyly, batting her lashes and giving him that pure and innocent smile that betrayed her thin cheekbones and sunken eyes.
"Seris, you know I'd rather you take it instead—"
His wife quickly shook her head, "Nope. It's for you, Raven. You'll need your strength."
The man stared at the rusted tin can in his hands, relishing in the warmth that threatened to burn his skin off. His mouth watered. It had been a whole day since he last ate. This was very generous of their city's leader, giving him this much to eat. Even though it was only a single chicken leg boiled in snow water, this was a gift he couldn't put to waste.
His mind was pulled out of the rumbling in his gut as he noticed his love staring just as hungrily as he was at the morsel in his hands. She felt his eyes on her and as she looked up, Raven caught a brief glimpse of guilt and shame as the woman quickly looked away and turned to her simple can of boiled chicken broth. Flakes of snow fell off her shoulder as she shivered, whether it was from the cold or something else entirely, he wasn't sure.
"Seris," Raven sighed, extending his day's worth of rations to her only to have her step further away from him.
"Just come back safe," she replied, clutching her day's ration tightly, "Not just for my sake… but for everyone's sake."
Raven looked around him. Many had gathered around the natural heat exuding from the cookhouse's tiny service windows. Each face, bundled in layers of wool and rags, looked just as cold and hungry as his wife. Nobody spoke but Raven could feel all eyes subtly turn towards him. Seris was right: they were depending on him. With only enough coal to last the city a month and even less food to feed the thousands that clung to what little hope there was left, New Velder was on the brink of collapse.
But not all was bad. The meteorologists had predicted a balmy minus sixty degrees and a clear forecast for the next few days. He had a detailed map that clearly laid a path of landmarks for him to follow. If all went well, he would reach his destination in three days and be back home before the end of the week.
Sunlight crested over the tall ice walls that encircled the city, casting a blinding ray of light as it reflected off the opposing wall's bluish-white surface. It was as if the sun itself was warning Raven that conditions like these were only fleeting; that there was no better day than today to act.
"Sun's up. Chung's already waiting for us at the frost gates. Are you ready, Raven?" a red-headed young man arrived, pulling a supply sled filled to the brim with rations and ice climbing gear.
"Elsword," the man smiled, "Glad to see you're up early today."
The redhead grunted, "Yeah, well, scouting is a lot more interesting than working in a freezing mineshaft. Why would I miss an opportunity like this?"
"Because it's a lot safer," Raven stated, biting into his day's ration.
"Safety's overrated," Elsword laughed dismissively.
"Do you realize the only reason we're being assigned this job is because our previous scout team died?"
"Not all of them died," Elsword corrected.
"One returned and had to have his leg amputated from the frostbite," Raven continued, ignoring the young man's reckless comment, "This is serious Els. This isn't something you can laugh off. Everyone's depending on us."
The man's eyes naturally traveled to his wife, standing with her back turned as she quietly sipped on her soup. She was listening, but she had already said everything she needed to before. This was most likely going to be a suicide mission and she was vehemently against it. He didn't want to leave her, but if sacrificing himself meant giving her that little extra chance of survival, he knew he had to do this.
Elsword sighed softly, the smile leaving his lips, "Sorry, Raven. I'm just trying to be optimistic about all this. I got my big sis depending on me, too, after all."
"I know, Els," the man said, not taking his eyes off his wife, "I know."
He strode over to Seris, wrapping his arms around her from behind. She had been crying. She mouthed a nearly inaudible "Don't go." which her husband had to force himself to ignore.
"I'll come back in one piece," he said, planting a rare but loving kiss on the side of her head, "I promise."
She didn't bid him a farewell. He understood the finalities of "goodbye". Tightening his embrace around her one last time, he savored the subtle warmth radiating from her before releasing her and finishing the last of his meal.
Raven took one of the harnesses from Elsword's outstretched hand and strapped it onto himself while his young friend did the same. With their gear stowed and ready to go, the two scouts made their way through the cramped roads and thinly layered boarding homes of the ruined residential area towards the looming walls of ice that surrounded their city.
Raven only looked back once to see Seris still standing by the cookhouse clutching at her tin can as she silently watched him leave. He waved at her, and she waved back before the biting cold forced her to return her ungloved hand to the warm metal cradled in her arms.
The blaring horn, deep and thrumming, sounded, shaking the large icicles that hung from each bunkhouse along the road. The people of the city filed out of the warmth of the bunkhouses answering the call to begin their toil for the day. Even their children were to join their families in their labours. As long as someone had two hands, they were qualified to handle a mining drill or a buzz saw.
Raven could see it in his partner's eyes: the strained yet watchful vigilance that quickly scanned over each young child before moving on to the next. How many children had the young man been forced to save from the coal mines? How many more lost their lives under his watch? Elsword may have joked about taking the scouting job but deep down, Raven understood the redhead's need to step out. Spending fourteen hours of every day of his life looking over his shoulder was getting to him. He needed this breath of fresh air.
Hundreds of faces blurred past Raven's peripherals as the two men dragged their scout sled across the wooden path. Each of the faces were red-nosed and tightly wrapped in whatever layers they could find. Not a single soul spoke to them yet the man heard every single prayer each person made. They was their last hope.
They arrived at the frost gates at the edge of the city: a large divide in the surrounding wall of ice that was shaped and cut just wide enough for their people to fit their large snow-traversing vehicles through during the city's initial colonization years ago. As Elsword had mentioned, Chung was already waiting for the two of them, huddled next to a tiny fire as the icy breeze that flowed through the frost gates threatened to snuff the flames out.
A young man still in the prime of his teen years, Chung was the only other able-bodied individual that volunteered to join the scouting team. Wrapped in faded blue and white snow gear, he looked pale and beside himself with anxiety. Having spent most of his childhood within the safety of the ice walls had made the young man complacent with what he had.
"Good morning!" Elsword greeted with a smile, "How's it feel to be outside of the infirmary for once?"
Chung threw both of them a less than amused glance before returning his attention to the dying flame in front of him.
"Cold, miserable," the blonde with cyan eyes grunted, "But I suppose someone with proper field medic training has to come along."
Raven approached the blonde, patting him on the back. He may have only ever visited the young man when illness forced him to go to the infirmary but he was well aware of the weight resting on all of their shoulders.
Chung rose to his feet, patting the ice that caked over his legs as the three of them took one last look at their city before setting out.
At the center of the ice valley stood the generator; a large black column of steel that hummed with life-giving heat. It had seen better days, however. One of the four support beams collapsed long ago and multiple holes from years of strain and lack of maintenance had left many of the city's citizens wondering when their only source of warmth would finally cease to function.
Thinly insulated boarding homes, sick houses, and greenhouses were built around the generator. They were built radiating outward where facilities requiring the least heat would be at the furthest reaches while homes and medical facilities were closer to the center.
Along the edges of the ice wall were large industrial facilities that marked the location of their coal mines and steel works. Even from this distance, the three of them could see many of the city's people were on their way to the mines. Extra hands were necessary, at this point, just to meet the daily demand of coal for the generator.
"Where are we going exactly?" Elsword asked Raven.
"Anywhere where we can find help. We just have to find another surviving city and beg for their assistance."
"Begging? Well, I guess there's no other option at this point," the red head snorted.
"I just hope we'll be able to get back in time," Chung muttered.
"Don't worry," the eldest reassured both of them, fishing out a detailed, yet incomplete map, "We just have to pick up where the previous scouts left off. From the looks of things they've pretty much scouted most of our immediate surroundings except for the area beyond The Great Divide to our north."
"The Great Divide?" Elsword tilted his head, clearly not too excited about the name, "And what makes you think there's something worth finding on the other side?"
Raven then pointed at the map once more, squinting as he read over the chicken scratches on the paper, "We'll have a look over there since there's some notes scrawled on here saying they spotted a definite plume of steam coming from just beyond the chasm."
"What makes you so sure there are survivors, though?" Chung asked.
"What else can be generating steam in the middle of nowhere?" the man countered.
Elsword shrugged, "I don't know? A volcano, maybe?"
"If we find a volcano that would make our lives easier, still," Raven reasoned, "Don't worry. Regardless, there's something there and we have a definite goal to reach. We'll be there and back in no time."
The wind violently whipped at Raven's back as he clung tightly to his climbing gear. Digging his feet into the sheer wall of ice he stopped to take a breather. The great divide was no joke. It had taken them nearly a day to scale down to the bottom and were well into the night of the first full day climbing back up the other side.
Glancing upward revealed they had around two hours worth of climbing left. Chung had just found his second wind and managed to pull ahead of the rest while Raven, himself, was starting to trail behind. It was around halfway through the day that Raven had lost all feeling in his left arm. But having made it so far up the climb, they couldn't stop to check his condition. He had to bite the bullet and hope for the best when they reached the top.
Their scout sled dangled haphazardly beneath them over a dark chasm that threatened to swallow them should any lose their footing.
"Almost there!" Raven yelled over the wailing winds, more for himself than for the others, "You two doing alright—"
Just as he spoke clumps of ice broke free from the leading climber's pick. The sudden shift in weight caused Chung's grip to fail and the medic was sent on a freefall.
Thinking quick on his feet, Elsword swung his arm outward, catching Chung by his arm and causing the young man to slam against the cliff face.
"Gotcha!" Elsword shouted through gritted teeth.
Raven could feel the weight of the sled swinging underneath the two of them. The added strain caused the ice under his own picks to crack.
"You okay?" Raven called towards the other two.
"I think so," Chung replied over the wind, "I just need t—"
The ice holding Elsword gave and the two were sent tumbling downward.
Raven braced for the worst, digging his boots into the wall and wedging his picks as deep into the ice as possible. The line connecting him to the two young men and their sled pulled him downwards but the man resisted, holding on for dear life as the weight of all three suddenly fell upon the mercy of his grip.
The sled smashed against the ice wall, causing its contents to fall loose. The boxes of supplies fell directly on Chung's head, breaking open and knocking the poor medic unconscious. His body hung limp with blood trickling from the blonde's temple as Elsword, who had lost his picks on the way down, tried to find a way to anchor himself with just his boots.
"What's the status down there?" the eldest grunted, fearing any move he made would send them all plummeting to their doom.
"Ch-chung's out of it. Our gear hit his head."
"You're going to have to cut him free!" Raven shouted as he felt the ice begin to give.
"I… you're asking me to kill him?!" Elsword yelled back as he swung helplessly beneath him.
"He's literally dead weight! I can't hold on for much longer!"
"Oh gods," Elsword's face went pale as he was given little time to think. The red head pulled out his hunting knife and gently tried to swing himself closer to Chung's unconscious body.
"Forgive me for this, Chung," Elsword whispered, grabbing on to his friends rope and running the blade as quickly as he can through it.
"Today?!"
"I know, Raven, I'm sorry, I just—" his blade cut through and the medic's body was left at the mercy of gravity, vanishing into the deep chasm below. Raven could feel the tension on his own line lighten.
"I did it," Elsword whispered, "Gods help me, I did it."
"We'll worry about what you did later," Raven sighed as he tried to shift his weight to begin climbing again.
He pulled his pick out from the ice and, to his horror, felt the solid layers under his feet begin to crumble. The entire block of ice he had anchored himself on separated itself from the cliff face and it only took a split second in decision for the eldest to pull his gear out of the falling segment and throw himself against a more solid section of ice.
Raven drove his picks into the wall, the weight of Elsword and the sled causing the eldest scout to slide downwards before losing his anchor completely and sending him and everything connected to him plunging into the waiting chasm.
As Raven fell, all he could think about was the wind; the merciless gust that lashed at him and blotted out Elswords scream. He watched as their days worth of progress, in the form of a starry sky framed by snow, slip further and further away from him.
Then, as sudden as the rushing wind arrived, it all came to a halt after a bone breaking thud. Pain surged through Raven's entire body like electricity as his body landed on something soft.
He had landed on the small ledge; the same one he and the others had used to rest over an hour ago. Something in him broke, but it wasn't enough to keep him from moving. Rolling over, he did his best to brace himself once more, expecting the weight of his line to pull him further downward. He wasn't sure if fate was being virtuously kind or despicably cruel, however, for as Raven rose to a sitting position, he soon learned what had broken his fall.
Elsword, the poor soul, stared vacantly up at the distant night sky. Mouth agape and body crushed and unmoving, Raven could do nothing but run his hands over the young man's face, shutting his eyes before cutting the rest of his line. He was on his own, now.
Raven stood, noting the pang that shot through his torso. Yet despite his broken ribs, all he cared about was his ability to climb. He still had both picks, he still had all his functioning limbs, Elsword and Chung may be gone but he couldn't stop here; not when there were hundreds of more lives depending on him.
His grip tightened on his ice picks once more and he faced the wall, driving both into its unforgiving surface before beginning his climb once more.
For the past decade, Raven had only known the biting frost of a never ending winter. The feeling that washed over his sore body was nostalgic; welcoming. It was a sensation he had not felt since the decision to abandon Velder was passed. This was warmth.
The scout opened his eyes and found himself staring at an unfamiliar grey ceiling. He tried to move but found a thick blanket had been tightly wrapped around him, preventing him from getting up. Not that he minded, though. He welcomed this long needed bit of comfort. Looking around, he found himself in what appeared to be a small and rather empty room consisting of nothing more than a bed, a chair resting at the bedside with his clothes resting on top of it, a steam heater resting on the opposite end of the wall, and a tray of bloody medical supplies—
Bloody?
He shot up from the bed, eyes scanning his immediate surroundings. Raven's sheets were coated red with blood. Was it his blood?
The scout struggled under the wraps, doing the best he could to unravel himself but found only one of his arms to be doing its job. The other… was gone.
He stared at the stump ending at where his mid-bicep would be. Dried blood had solidified through the layers of bandages and he let out an anguished scream. He screamed for some time, the sight of his bicep muscles moving underneath the wraps causing his stomach to curl. But there was nothing in his stomach to even allow him the liberty to vomit.
The only door in the room swung open and a young woman stepped in, golden eyes wide as she clung to a worn crossbow. Their eyes met for only a moment before Raven found himself staring down the wrong end of a firearm.
"Don't be alarmed," the woman said, her voice betraying the air of calm she was clearly trying to establish.
"I'd be less alarmed if you weren't pointing that thing at me," the scout said, pushing himself to the end of the bed furthest away from her.
"Explain yourself," she replied, ignoring his suggestion. Her voice was flat, coarse, as if she hadn't spoken to anyone in weeks. Her hands trembling as she shakily fingered the trigger and could hear the uneasy strain of the spring in the firing mechanism. This woman was ready to kill him!
"I'm a scout!" Raven was quick to answer, "I'm a scout from New Velder!"
"Oh," the young woman trailed off, her crossbow lowered slightly. She steeled herself once more and pointed the weapon at him yet again, "Why are you here? What do you want from us?"
Again Raven was forced to shield himself from her, "I don't know! I don't even know where here is! I came searching for help, I wake up and my arm's missing! Please, drop the weapon and let's reach an understanding peacefully!"
There was a brief pause as the young woman considered his words. After a moment, she lowered her crossbow, yet still held it at her side.
"Really? Truly?"
"I'm lost, alone, and I have no means nor the ability to steal from you. Yes, I'm here looking for help!"
She eyed him warily before setting the crossbow against the wall and shutting the door behind her.
Raven breathed a sigh of relief but found the new face to keep to her side of the room. This was fine, as long as she wasn't pointing that thing at him. With the immediate threat of being skewered gone, Raven was able to inspect his visitor more thoroughly.
Despite the layers of black, white, and yellow clothes she wore, it was easy to notice her slender frame. She had short white hair that fell around her shoulders and over the tightly wrapped black scarf around her neck. Far unlike the people in New Velder, her clothing was in much better condition than the rags Raven was so used to seeing.
"Who are you?" she began, "Why are you here?"
"My name is Raven. Again, I don't know where here is. I woke up and here I am."
"You're in Altera. Oberon found your body."
"Oberon?"
"My scout."
"That explains how I got here," Raven mumbled, noting her mentioning another name. Judging by his immediate surroundings, in general, he quickly came to the conclusion that he was where he had sought to be all along. And these people were much better off than those in New Velder. "How long was I out for?"
"A week," the woman answered, "What business brings you past The Great Divide?"
Maybe fortune was being kind to him, after all. This could be his chance!
"The city of New Velder is in dire straits. We're low on supplies and we're desperate for any help. I was sent to look for other surviving cities."
"Alone?"
"I… was with two others. They didn't make it."
"I see."
There was an uneasy silence as Raven waited for her to offer assistance.
"How're you feeling? I trust the amputation procedure was successful?" the young woman asked.
His eyes fell onto the stump on his left arm as he was suddenly reminded he was short one limb.
She continued, "I'll let you stay for another week, then I'll have to send you on your way."
"W-wait!" Raven called after her, trying to scramble out of bed as she stopped halfway out the door.
Was that it? Was she just going to let him go like that? Was she just going to ignore his reasons for being here? Maybe she didn't have the authority to make that call, he assumed. She did look a bit too young to be considered the leader of a city. He could just wait for someone else. She did, after all, mention that someone else had found him in the snow. Until then, he just had to wait.
"What's your name?" he asked.
The young woman knelt down to pick up the crossbow she had nearly unintentionally left in the room, "Eve."
Two days had passed. During his stay, locked in the luxury of a solid roof and walls that kept the cold away, Raven had only seen Eve. Like clockwork, she dropped off piping hot meals for him at the beginning and end of the day, and often seemed to disappear for the rest of it. All the while, not a single new face could be seen passing by the insulated house's single window.
Through the layers of frost caked on the glass, though, Raven could make out other houses lining the streets that surrounded a pristine looking generator that marked the center of the city. The heating quality of the place was the best he had ever seen and he was more than happy to experience temperatures over subzero for once.
Yet despite the life he was living, Raven knew he couldn't forget about his people back in New Velder. He had to speak to someone about helping his home city soon. But as day three of his stay came to an end, the scout had yet to see anyone else other than Eve when she dropped off his meal.
As the evening drew closer, Raven waited at the houses locked front door, waiting patiently for Eve's evening visit.
Like clockwork, three soft knocks could be heard through the thick wooden door followed by the click of a lock.
As she opened the door, she nearly dropped the bowl of oats when she found Raven standing at the doorway.
"S-stand back!" she warned, immediately reaching for her crossbow that she had resting by the doorframe, "Don't touch me!"
"I don't mean you any harm! I just want to talk," Raven said, raising his one good arm to show he had nothing on him.
"I'm busy," Eve quickly dismissed him as she set the bowl of food on the floor and stepped back, pointing the weapon at him and motioning him to pick it up.
"Eve, please," Raven said, kneeling down slowly to pick up the food and stepping away from the door to show he meant well, "This is really important. I need to speak with the head of this city."
"You can't," Eve stated flatly, reaching for the door to shut it.
Raven took a step towards her in an attempt to stop her from locking him in, again, but he quickly remembered his situation and restrained himself from scaring her. "Why not? Eve, my people are desperate for help. All I ask is to meet with your leader."
"You can't…" Eve stated once more, eyes dropping as she slowly closed the door.
"Hundreds of lives are depending on me… Eve, please! If I can't help them they will all die!"
The young woman said nothing, shutting the door and locking it once more. Her soft footsteps faded in the snow as the scout was left speechless from her reply. In a fit of rage, Raven flung the bowl against the wall, shattering it as warm oatmeal splattered everywhere in the empty hall.
He fell to his knees, pounding his fist on the wall in frustration. "I'm sorry, Seris," he whispered, "I'm trying my best to reason with them. I really am. But at this rate, I'm not even sure I'll have the chance to speak."
Raven closed his eyes as the scent of the warm meal filled his nostrils. In his mind's eye he saw himself staring into the sunken eyes of his wife. He remembered how hungry she looked as she handed him the extra rations. He remembered how heartbroken she was when he left her. He told her he'd come back. He couldn't give up now. He had to keep trying.
Three knocks sounded on the door and Raven, who had moved his sheets downstairs and fallen asleep at the house's hallway waiting for Eve's return, shot awake as he scrambled to his feet. Eve may have a weapon at her disposal but If it meant taking an arrow to the chest, Raven was willing to risk it.
He hurried to the door as it creaked open and he flung it open only to have Eve fall backwards onto the snow in shock. To Raven's surprise and relief, Eve was empty-handed: no crossbow on hand, no bowl of food. Nothing but the silver-haired young woman and a gust of cold air greeted him.
"I… uh… what?" Raven stammered, as he was genuinely unsure what to make of the situation, now. Was she kicking him out? Was that why she had no food on her? Why didn't she have her weapon, then?
Eve scrambled to her feet. She took several steps away from the scout as she subconsciously reached for a weapon that wasn't there.
"I'm, uh, sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," Raven muttered, in a poor attempt at mending a situation he was clearly at fault for, "I just really needed to speak with you."
She eyed him up and down, quietly considering her next actions before looking up and nodding at an unseen entity standing above him.
Raven turned his head and found himself staring up at a massive three-story tall machine. It stood over the entire house with its four stilt-like legs that supported a square engine hub. Not much in elegant design, it was essentially a box on legs fitted with different modules at its hub.
The machine gave a low groan that sounded much like deep churning of rusted cogs before righting itself above the man. Its four legs thumped heavily on the ground as it stepped over and around the house.
"Moby," she said, garnering the machine's attention, "Cease defense protocol. Resume preset hothouse maintenance." Again, the massive machine groaned before stepping over both of them and making its way over the city towards its assigned workplace. Apparently the machine was prepared to crush him should Raven make any attempt at harming Eve.
Now that he had a chance to properly look around, Raven noted that they were at the heart of the entire city, with the generator towering right over them, roaring with its life giving steam.
He also noticed the distinct lack of people wandering the streets. Save for the giant machine that made its way over towards some of the more advanced looking buildings, Raven and the white-haired maiden were the only ones outside. Maybe the others were safe inside their homes at this hour?
He turned his attention back to the silver-haired maiden as she dusted the snow off her before she hesitantly motioning him to follow her. Was this his chance? Was she going to introduce her to her leader?
"What was that thing?" Raven asked, hugging himself as his body reacclimated to the never ending winter. He caught up with the woman but she made it a point for him to remain a few paces behind her.
"An automaton," she replied, "Man's latest technological achievement. Hopefully not the last."
"An automaton," Raven repeated, keeping pace behind her as Eve led him to a tall, narrow, three-story building.
Electricity arched between two nodes near the top with what looked like some sort of platform at the roof. Several steam vents lined the sides of the building as multiple gears and cogs churned under the fins. "Workshop-01" was written sideways in big black letters along its solid concrete walls.
She stopped at the doorway, tapping the snow off her boots before opening the door to a stairwell. Eve turned and motioned him in, stepping aside and shutting the door behind him as Raven was ushered inside.
"What is this place?" Raven asked, looking up the stairwell that led directly to the top.
"Workshop-01," Eve stated flatly.
"Yes, I know that, but why are we here?"
"To talk."
"To your leader?"
"No."
"Then why are you taking me here?"
"To talk."
"With… who?"
"Me."
It was a start. Raven couldn't complain, at this point. With his current situation, speaking to anyone was better than being locked in a house.
They reached the top of the stairwell and Eve unlocked the door, ushering him into a dark room. Even with the lack of proper lighting, Raven could see the mess of screws and gears that cluttered the concrete flooring. A switch was flipped and the amber glow of a single light bulb illuminated the medium-sized room.
Workbenches lined all four walls of the room, each in more disarray than the last with tools and strange gadgets hanging on display. A mobile blackboard stood in the middle of the room covered with indecipherable symbols and equations. White dust caked the floor around the board with numerous empty chalk boxes dotting the mess.
A rolled sleeping bag was tucked into the corner of the room next to a tiny steam heater. Next to it were several empty bowls of oatmeal. Was this where she lived? The houses that were built next to the generator were significantly warmer than the workshop. Why didn't she stay there?
Eve caught the man's attention as she waved a worn piece of paper at him at the other end of the room. She motioned him over and he did so, making sure to maintain the distance she vehemently seemed want to maintain between them. She stood at one end of a workbench while Raven stood at the other as she pointed at the familiar scrawlings on the sheet. It was his map! When did she—
"This was on you when Oberon found you. Is this your home?" Eve pointed at a marked location labeled 'New Velder'.
Raven nodded, "Yeah. It's about three day's travel on foot. Four and a half if you include The Great Divide, though."
"Three days travel," Eve muttered, rubbing her chin as she moved to the black board and erasing the lower corner of one side, "On foot… roughly South, South East?"
"Directly South, actually," Raven corrected, "The map's a bit skewed to fit in all the other details. Are you going to help us?"
Eve didn't answer as she tapped a piece of chalk idly against the blackboard. She mentally ran a few numbers in her head before scribbling a something down. She spun around to another workbench, digging through layers of blueprints and notes until she found what appeared to be a laminated map of Elrios before it froze over.
"Are you going to help us?" Raven asked, again.
"I'm thinking," Eve responded, pulling out a compass and turning back to the chalkboard to jot down a few more notes.
Raven idly sat on a desk watching the young woman work. She looked completely engrossed in her calculations and it appeared she was doing far more than figuring out the exact distance.
"We need food," Raven added, "And coal, if you can provide—"
Eve glanced at him at the corner of her eye as she pressed a chalk covered finger to her lips, telling him to shut up.
This went on for several more minutes before Eve stood with a satisfied sigh. She strode over to the wall near the room's entrance where a box of switches were located. A button labeled "Oberon" was pressed and a low groan, like the growl of churning cogs, was heard echoing through the walls.
He recognized that name. Oberon was the name of the scout that found him. Was he going to finally see another face?
Eve flipped a lever and the walls behind Raven began to open up, revealing a slanted layer of reinforced glass covered in ice. Pressing another button, hot water spouted from the pipes on the roof, melting the frozen layers as it cascaded off the window, granting Raven a clear view of the entire city from the workshop.
Much like New Velder, The buildings were positioned in a way that radiated outward from the generator's warmth. Unlike New Velder, however, the city was much much smaller compared to the home he was used to. Only the first layer of buildings around the generator had houses. The second and third layer consisted of industrial-looking buildings with more workshops numbering up to "06" looming behind the homes and medical buildings.
Out of all the structures built around the generator, perhaps the most notable one was a large facility that dwarfed even the generator itself. Nestled in an icy crevasse behind the fourth layer of industrial buildings, was a large building of metal and glass. Light shined through the numerous windows and it appeared as if numerous steam pipes, stemming from the generator itself, were directly connected to this enormous structure.
Smoke stacks were erected at the edge of the tiny city, marking the location of advanced-looking coal mines and steel manufacturing facilities. Two more of those gigantic automatons Eve had pointed out could be seen wandering over some of the industrial sized buildings. He watched in wonder as the entire roof of one of the buildings opened up as the automaton standing over it deposited an entire payload of precious coal into storage.
From where Raven was standing, he could see the storage depot was nearly overflowing with the black diamonds. That was omitting the fact that there were dozens of these depots surrounding the outskirts of the city. Just a single payload would have been enough to supply New Velder for at least a week! There was no reason for them not to help another city in need!
Steady tremors shook the floor as one of the automatons stood over Workshop-01. It connected itself to a metal plate at the workshop's ceiling and Eve deposited a steamcore into a mechanism that delivered it straight to the machine's waiting storage unit. The silver-haired woman then proceeded to run a system diagnostics on the machine through a flickering monitor before speaking into a microphone.
"Oberon? Begin search protocol. Location: thirty seven point four four nine degrees longitude, fifteen point one two six nine degrees latitude. Search and observe only. Repeat…"
The woman repeated her orders once more and, after her directions were given, the machine groaned once more before detaching itself from the workshop and making its way to the city's edge. Raven watched in wonder as the machine faced the wall of ice that surrounded the city. It buried its legs into the ice and began climbing its way up towards the frozen wastes.
"That's Oberon?" Raven muttered in awe as the machine scaled a cliff at a fraction of the time it would take any normal human.
"Yes," was Eve's straight answer.
"Is anyone piloting that thing?"
"No."
"So it's completely—"
"Autonomous, yes."
"That's incredible…"
"Yes."
"So you're going to help us, then?"
This time, Eve didn't answer. She instead opted to ignore the question and stood next to Raven with a measuring tape in hand.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking measurements," Eve replied flatly as she measured the man's arm.
"For what?"
"Prosthetics."
"What are those?"
"Artificial limbs," she mumbled, not taking her eyes off the measurements.
"You're going to make me into a machine?"
"No." With the simple answers she was giving him, it was clear Eve wasn't much of a conversationalist. Getting anything more out of her was proving more and more difficult for the scout.
He changed the subject back to Oberon, seeing as he wasn't getting much info about what she was doing, now.
"You sent that machine to search and observe. Is that all it's meant to do?"
Again she didn't answer, instead she scribbled her measurements onto the back of his map.
"I saw the supply of coal you have. It'd really help if we could have some. I promise we'll pay you and your city back in kind once we're back on our feet."
No reply. Her attention was elsewhere, still, and whenever he tried to look her in the eye, she turned her face away completely. She was trying way too hard to ignore him. Why was she doing this?
Raven slammed an open palm against the workbench, causing the young engineer to jump.
"You've served me two full meals daily during my stay here. That's more than anyone in my city has ever had in weeks!" Raven growled, anger rising as he spoke.
Eve instinctively scrambled over to her corner to retrieve her crossbow. She pointed it at the man but he was beyond caring for his own safety.
"My people are freezing in their own homes while you live comfortably in insulated houses!"
"Stay back!" Eve warned, her finger trembling over the trigger.
"All I'm asking for is a little bit of help. Hundreds of lives are depending on me… my wife is depending on me… I've seen your stores of coal. I can only assume you have an abundance of food, as well. We need this!"
"I-I'm not afraid to shoot!" Eve's voice shook as she spoke.
"Shoot me, then! Because if you're just going to send me back empty handed, then i'll be nothing more than an extra mouth to feed!"
"I can't… I can't," Eve repeated through exasperated breaths.
"You can't what?! You can't find it in yourself to save a few hundred lives?! I get it. I get why I haven't seen another face up until now. You're alone here, aren't you? That's why you won't take me to see your leader. You are the leader! All I know is, you have more machines here than people, yet you have an abundance of resources to support two, maybe three other cities. Are your machines more important than actual humans?"
"You don't understand!" Eve screamed back, louder than the scout and forcing him to give her a chance to speak. Seeing as she finally had his ear, the white-haired engineer shook her head at him.
"What you ask requires planning," she said after taking a moment to find her words, "Numbers are everything. It's all I ever knew. I have promises to uphold as well, so I am trying to compensate accordingly. I need to know everything: population, daily fossil fuel consumption, structural integrity analysis of your homes, the state of your generator, everything.
"Having you just shout at me about how hundreds of your people need food and heating means nothing. Not when I don't have numbers. I need exact measurements. I need to calculate the risk!"
"The risk is hundreds of lives!" Raven argued.
"That is too vague of an answer!" Eve retorted.
"What does it matter? People are dying and you're just going to stand by and watch? Where is your humanity?"
"Don't you dare ask me where my humanity is!" Eve growled. She raised the crossbow once more, her aim much steadier than ever. "I have all the information I need. I'd like you to go back to the house, now."
"So that's it then? You're just going to lock me up?" Raven's eyes narrowed as he spoke.
"We will wait on Oberon's report. I'll decide our next move from there."
Raven spent the couple days in a state of restlessness as he wandered the empty halls of the house. With only a single window as the only means of breaking out, he settled for remaining indoors with comfortable heating rather than forcing his way back out into the cold. Eve dropped off food as she always did. Like clockwork, it was always at dawn and at dusk, seemingly at exactly the same time.
Neither of them exchanged dialogue during these brief moments of meeting, but Raven noted she had stopped bringing her weapon with her entirely during her bi-daily visits.
It was at the end of the beginning of the third day—the fifth day of Raven's temporary lodging—where Eve arrived at his door without food, once more. Something was wrong and it was apparent in the sullen expression she held.
"Well?" Raven asked, not the kind of person to beat around the bush, "What happened?"
"Follow," she said, motioning the scout to tag along behind her as she led him back to the workshop.
The scout did as he was ordered, tagging along at a respectable distance in silence, all the while wondering what this was all about.
"Has Oberon returned already? After only three days of traveling?"
"Automatons don't require rest," Eve stated, unlocking the workshop door and ushering him up the stairwell, "They can travel at nearly half the time it takes for any human to travel the same distance. They also possess the ability to scale large walls quickly and efficiently."
"Yeah, I saw that machine climb out of the city. I'm guessing the Great Divide would be nothing for a machine like that."
Eve nodded, unlocking the door to the top floor. She flicked on the lights and Raven saw little had changed in respect to the room's cleanliness. If anything, the workbenches were messier. Papers covered in neatly printed statistics sat on one of the workbenches and, upon closer inspection, Raven saw everything Oberon had learned in written form. Everything from headcount, average temperature throughout the day, daily coal consumption, and more were included in a comprehensive list regarding New Velder. There were even pictures depicting the state of their bunkhouses and facilities.
"Oberon managed to do all of this?" Raven gawped.
"Yes," Eve said at the other end of the room. The sound of her tinkering with something could be heard over Raven's shoulder.
"So? What's the verdict, then? Can you do anything for my people?"
Raven saw the engineer pause as she tilted her head back to quietly stare at the ceiling.
"Eve?"
"I can do something," she responded.
"But…?"
There was a long pause as she seemed to be picking her words carefully. She covered her current project with a cloth and turned to him. "But I can't decide whether you'd rather have food or building materials to improve your housing first."
Raven's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it, but the look on her face indicated she was serious. She was going to help them!"
"Food!" Raven managed to utter in his state of disbelief. "As much as you can give!"
"Will a month's worth of raw food suffice?"
"I—gods, this can't be real—absolutely!"
"Done," Eve nodded, "I'll have Ophelia and Remy deliver a stockpile by the end of the day."
"Thank you!" Raven was on his knees in front of the engineer at this point. His head lowered in a deep bow. "You're too kind! I promise we will pay you back in any way we can."
"When Oberon returns tomorrow, I'll arrange the delivery of building materials. Please come by tomorrow when you can. You're free to return to your assigned house."
"You're… not going to escort me?"
Eve knelt down, setting a key in front of the scout still bowing in front of her.
"Like you said, I don't have a reason to think you'd be stealing anything. Come back in the morning. I'll have something for you by then."
"Thank you!" Raven continued to grovel as he took the key in his hand. It took everything he had not to break down in front of her. He rose to his feet, gripping the key tightly as if his life depended on it. "I take everything back… everything I've said. Thank you, so much."
Eve merely nodded at the amputee and as Raven shut the door behind him, he swore he could have heard her mumble something else. Though it wasn't clear, he swore she heard her say something on the lines of "It's the only humane thing I could do."
Oberon placed himself on the metal disk above the workshop. After a light twist, his frame was fully attached. A light ding was heard from the control modules in front of Eve as a freshly cooked meal was delivered through a narrow chute. The engineer handed Raven the bowl before shutting the delivery chute once more as a second bowl was sent through the transport tube.
With its task complete, Raven watched through the thick glass as the machine detached itself and proceeded to join the another three automatons as they gathered the materials necessary to upgrade New Velder's homes.
"Those never cease to amaze me," Raven muttered as he set the hot bowl on a workbench to eat, "Is there anything they can't do?"
"They're self sufficient," Eve replied, "As long as they have a functioning steamcore to power their mechanism, they can carry on until their gears give out."
"And you have to change their steamcores?"
Eve shook her head, "They can do it themselves. All they need to do is attach an empty core into a direct line of a functioning generator."
She was watching the scout, observing him as he struggled to keep the bowl still as he used his single arm to scoop up the oats.
"I'll get used to it, eventually," Raven grunted in mild frustration.
"Maybe you don't have to," Eve stated, rising to her feet as she crossed the room to a workbench with a sheet resting over it. It was the same project she was working on the night before.
She turned to face him, holding a strange contraption hurriedly fashioned out of wood and steel. Roughly an arms length in size, it had a single mechanical hinge for a joint and a rotating gear with adjustable prongs at the tip. A long adjustable sling hung loosely off the other end, enough to wrap around a man's torso.
"Eve," Raven was speechless at what he saw, "Is that…?"
She nodded, "Your new arm."
He could do nothing but stare dumbfounded at her as she clumsily tried to demonstrate how the mechanism worked. Raven didn't care how awkward or robotic the thing moved, this was more than anyone has ever done for him in a long while.
"You'll get used to it… eventually," Eve muttered, setting the prosthetic at Raven's table with an uneasy grin, clearly a bit disappointed at her own creation.
"Eve… what you're doing for me, for my people," Raven shook his head, "It's unbelievable. I can't thank you enough for all you've done."
The engineer sighed, rubbing her arm anxiously, "Yeah, well… it's the most humane thing I could do…"
"You said that last time," Raven noted.
"Did I?"
He nodded, "You said that before I left. And I thought it was strange that you'd have such a quick change of heart after telling me there was nothing you could do. If you don't mind me asking: what made you change your mind?"
"The situation is complicated."
"What do you mean?"
She sighed, shaking her head, "I have responsibilities of my own to uphold."
"Well, like I said we're in your depth as it is. If there's anything New Velder can do for you to repay you, I'd gladly send a few helping hands to—"
Eve turned away from him, golden eyes staring out the window as she gave another long drawn out sigh.
Raven's brow furrowed, "What kind of responsibilities are you talking about?"
He followed her gaze as it rested upon the large building nestled within a large icy crevasse. Numerous steam pipes were directly hooked up to the structure as a faint glow could be seen shining through the frozen layers that covered it.
"The Ark."
"The what?"
"An agricultural revival project started many years ago during the early stages of the frost. The Ark is a collection of thousands of seeds and seedlings that once flourished all over Elrios. It was up to us to build a city that would protect these precious specimens until the winter ends… however long that may be."
"Us? So there are others in this city?"
Eve's eyes fell, "There were."
"So that's why there are so many automatons…"
The engineer nodded, "We were tasked with ensuring the rebirth of a green world. With self sufficient automatons, we can guarantee that future, even if we aren't there to witness it."
Raven quietly joined her in gazing out the window. Both of their eyes remained locked on the Ark, its warm glow casting a faint orange around the surrounding blue ice. This entire city was dedicated to the survival of the seeds kept in that building. Raven had been living life on a day to day basis for so long that he had completely forgotten what it was like to plan for the future. What would happen once the ice finally melted? If man were to get back on its feet again, then the Ark was the ticket to restoring Elrios to its former beauty.
"You're doing a good thing, you know," Raven reassured her.
"I'd like to think we are," Eve trailed off.
"What do you mean? Of course you are. You're securing our future."
"Where does it cross the line? How many people do we have to turn away and still be able to justify our actions as a greater good?"
"You're helping us, though…"
"You're not the first to stumble across our city," Eve whispered, "Before everyone— before I was the last to uphold my people's legacy, many more visitors came to our doorstep begging for assistance. Adrian, our project leader, turned every one of them away. Months pass, then years… The amount of beggars dwindled. And for a while, it seemed that our neighbors had disappeared entirely. That is… until I found you."
Eve spun around and faced him, the same sullen look that he had seen a day prior had resurfaced.
"What are you getting so worked up over?" Raven asked, "You saved me, you're in the process of saving my people—"
"I had to. I couldn't turn you away. It had been so long since I've seen another living face that I truly thought I was alone in this world. How could I say I'm doing this for the good of humanity when there isn't anyone left?"
She held herself tightly as her words quivered from her lips, "And now that I've chosen to help you… I'm afraid I'm only digging myself a hole I can't climb out of."
"You seem to be well off, as it is," Raven commented, "With how it's going now, you're well on your way to surviving the winter, easily."
"It's not that simple, Raven," she sighed, picking up a clipboard at her side. She crossed the room and handed him the paperwork.
Glancing over the notes, the scout slowly learned that these were readings of an outstanding weather anomaly.
"Where did these come from?"
"Oberon," Eve replied, "Before he began his observation, I had him scan the horizon for the week's upcoming forecast. What he managed to detect was… frightening to say the least."
Raven looked over the notes once more. "A slow moving storm… Winds exceeding two-hundred kilometers… T-temperatures as low as minus one-hundred fifty?! Are these readings accurate?"
"Give or take a few degrees, yes, they're accurate. And the storm only shows signs of growing as it approaches. At the rate it's moving, everything around the southern half of Lurensia will be at the mercy of this monstrous blizzard for more than two weeks."
The clipboard fell out of Raven's trembling hand.
"New Velder… There's no way my city can survive that monster… we're all going to freeze to death," Raven sank onto a chair by the workbench as he let the news sink in.
Eve said nothing. She dropped her head as she held herself tighter.
"There is a way."
Raven raised his head. At this point, anything would be good news.
"Numbers… mean everything to me. They're what I live for. Naturally, I ran the calculations. I ran simulations while taking in the state of your current generator. If I could have the automatons alter your city's heat source to make it more efficient and install key steam hubs as a secondary heat source… there is a chance you can survive."
"Let's do it then!" Raven replied.
"But… even with the increased efficiency of your coal consumption… New Velder will still need a vast amount of fuel to maintain even survivable temperatures throughout this storm… an amount that would require… sacrifices."
She stared forlornly out the window once more at the depots filled to the brim with coal.
"You don't mean…" Raven trailed off as the reality of the situation dawned on him.
Eve slowly nodded, "I can dedicate the majority of my automaton fleet to deliver coal to your city when the storm hits. But doing so means I won't have any to run my mines."
"And your city will fall," Raven concluded.
She nodded, averting her gaze, "And I can't let that happen."
Raven stared at her for a long moment, noting the inner conflict raging within her head. If she chose to help New Velder, then it would be at the cost of the Ark. If she chose to save the Ark, then what good would they be if there were no surviving humans to put the Ark to use?
What would he have done in her position? What would anyone do? He fully understood her situation, now. He understood her hesitation to help him in the first place, her reasoning for wanting to discharge him as soon as he was able to move. This was her lifelong legacy—the legacy of many others before her. As the last in a line of bright minds, it was on her to protect the Ark. No matter the cost.
"You knew this was going to happen," Raven muttered, looking up at the engineer, "That's where this sudden change of heart came from. You knew we were doomed since yesterday, didn't you?"
"Raven… I'm sorry. I'm trying my best to help, I just—"
"No. There's no need to apologize," Raven replied solemnly, "I get it. You have the entire future of Elrios riding on your shoulders. You're taking the most rational steps to ensure the survival of the Ark as well. What you've done for us was more than what anyone would have expected. And I appreciate the effort."
Eve started but was cut off when the scout rose to his feet. Throwing on his layers of winter clothes, the scout made for the door.
"Where are you going?" Eve asked.
"Home. I promised Seris I'd be back in one piece," he trailed off, looking at his missing arm, "I just want to at least be with her when our time comes."
"You can't in your condition!"
"The storm is coming, Eve. I'm not getting anywhere sitting here doing nothing," Raven shrugged, making his way down the stairs.
"Wait!" Eve cried, hanging over the railing at the top of the stairwell. Raven didn't listen and she ran after him.
"Raven! If you're going out there, at least—"
The scout heard her lose her footing and he paused looking up as she caught herself from rolling down the stairs.
"Eve?"
"If… you're going out there," she said, "at least have Oberon take you. It's the least I can do."
The scout waited for her at the workshop's entrance. She stepped into the cold, hand over her chest as she paused to catch her breath.
"Don't forget this, either," she said, handing him the prosthetic limb.
Raven took the artificial limb, and looked at the engineer who stared at it anxiously.
"You might learn to use it someday—I'm not… very good at goodbyes."
Raven extended his arm, wrapping it around her in a tight embrace.
Eve gasped as she was suddenly pulled against the man's chest. She was held there for some time and, for a long moment, Raven could have sworn he heard sniffling.
She pushed away from him, rubbing her eyes as she kept her face turned away. "I'll… go get Oberon. You should be able to traverse the frozen wastes in no time at all."
"Eve?"
"Yeah?"
"I'll, uh, be seeing you."
Eve paused briefly as she looked at him over her shoulder. "Yeah…"
"This place is completely deserted," one of the scouts groaned as he rubbed his hands together. He and his partner stood alone in front of a concrete three-story building. Thick snow covered large black text that obviously read "Workshop-01". A giant automaton labeled "Moby" hung inert above the building, the life in its steamcore long gone. In the distance was a rather large building tucked under the icy crevasse of the ice walls that surrounded the city. There was nothing within its glass walls and it appeared the generator hadn't been functioning for days, if not weeks.
"Raven!" the first scout shouted up the stairwell, "Find anything yet?"
"I said give me a second!" a voice from the top of the stairwell shouted as he pressed his ear against the door once more. His prosthetic limb probed at the lock until he heard a definitive click from the otherside.
Turning the handle, he shoved the door open, causing the buildup of ice to shatter into a thousand pieces as he stumbled into the workshop.
It was just as he had remembered it: cogs and screws littered the chalk-caked floor. Workbenches lined the four walls of the room, each one messier than the last. Flipping on the lights proved fruitless as the bulb had burned out long ago, forcing the scout to use the last remainder of his battery life for his torch.
It was then that he found what he was looking for.
Nestled in the back corner of the room, next to a pile of old bowls of food and wrapped tightly in a thick sleeping bag, was a body.
Her frozen arms were clutched desperately around a steam heater that had long ceased to function. Short white hair was threaded into icy needles and did little to hide the white and blue face tucked under them. Just behind the steam heater, nearest to her hands were three tally marks followed by a short message: "I did my best".
"You did, Eve," Raven whispered, kneeling down to carry New Velder's savior, "You did." She deserved a proper burial. It was the least he could do.
Raven stepped out into the cold air once more where the other two scouts had waited patiently for him.
"Oh, finally! I was starting to freeze my ass off!"
"Grow a spine, would you? It's only minus thirty," Raven grunted as he laid the body down and started to dig.
"The hell are you doing, Raven?" the other scout asked.
"What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Wasting time over a corpse."
Raven paused, turning to the other two and shooting both of them an angry glare.
"Shut up and help me," he snarled, prompting the other two to get down on their knees and dig.
They buried the engineers body, erecting a small wooden cross to mark her grave just by the door of Workshop-01.
"So," one of the scouts said, "Who was she?"
"The woman who saved our lives," Raven said, patting the dirt from his gloves
"Wait… she's the one that sent the automatons with all that coal?"
"And all the food and even had the machines build the insulated homes for us before the storm hit," Raven nodded, "The very same."
"We couldn't have survived without her machines," the second scout whispered.
"Neither could she," the eldest of the three said, "I'm just surprised she decided to give up her entire life's work for our sake."
Both of the other scouts took off their hats at the news.
"What was her life's work?"
Raven's eyes fell to the large building in the distance. It didn't take an engineer to know that all the seedlings in the Ark had died.
"It was a project for Elrios's future; the responsibilities of a few men and women that inevitably fell on her lap when her predecessors died. She wanted to help; to achieve a self sustainable city for the good of mankind.
"But nothing in life is straightforward.
"She found our city, helpless in the cold. And as much as she wanted to keep her eyes set on her goals, she knew she couldn't leave us to die. After all, what good was a plan for the future when there was no one to live in it?
"She chose to save us. The project failed. But in the end, human lives mattered more to her, and for that, an entire city was able to survive. She may not have been able to carry on the legacy of her predecessors… but she willingly sacrificed it for what she felt was the greater good.
"Let that be her legacy."