Snow fell in pace with the fall of the axe. It crystallized - hardened - as hands picked up the hardened earth minerals from the ground. It raged on continually, like the work that they were forced to do.
In camp 'harmonia,' the workers unitedly extracted valuable resources for an imperial force. One member of such a force had decided to visit - a special command from the high office.
"Hey, one more move and there'll be even more work for everyone else."
The somber voice came from the captain, stepping into a cabin with a young lady and a commander as red as a volcano erupted.
"All workers are to come to front - immediately"
Each one obeyed the order and later on recited whatever information was requested to the captain.
"These three are the ones that the emperor requested. "
Promptly, the five, including the commander and captain, were climbing through mounds of snow, laborers everywhere, towards the imposing structure of wood attached to a propeller on top.
The inside of the space was permeated with heat - probably related to the clanking of metal in the back.
It - the heat - immediately melted or 'broke' the ice between the lady and commander who took the lead.
"So perhaps this is a vacation."
"..."
"Or, a new task, in a different location, away from here."
The captain took on a malicious smile.
"Well, if the work is done well, this work that is about to be assigned, perhaps then it will lead to that."
The captain reached the second floor of the ship.
A young lady, the same age of those entering the ship, bowed with the grace of a queen. She kept her head down. The others felt so astonished by her presence; they each turned their heads away immediately, lest they violate their personal senses of decencies staring at the picture of true dignity.
But the irony still remained. It was clear, she - like the rest of the three - was to be kept in the wooden structure and subjected to the order of the captain who seemed to grimace now.
The ship lifted from the mound of snow.
The commander called the four to stand in the center of the small compartment. His eyes were small. His expression was cold. His mannerisms are tight. The captain who stood behind had that to a magnitude that could be multiplied by 5.
Perhaps these men were from a different era of constant fighting and war - constantly mentioned by the parents of the four. The two who looked alike remembered the tale more deeply. They - their parents were consistently sent out to meetings and conferences of many sorts - in an effort to bring a convenient, easy resolution. The father was a medic and the mother an educator in the arts that is centered around elemental manipulation. They were like royalty in their hometown in some sense.
During that time, there was also much lost. Apparently, the kingdom of Avalon was the place by which any resolution seemed to have come.
The lady with blue hair looked at him - the young captain. There's something that he'd lost. When he'd lost, his kindness had been lost as well. A spouse, maybe? A house. It might be that someone from the Avalon kingdom saved him. Or…
But if it had been Avalon that had ended the wars and the conflicts, why then why did her home too - that was her burning question. It was the one in which the aforementioned two sought to understand and the one in which the other thought about but simply set down with resignation.
Was Avalon then the instigator of the conflicts in the beginning?
The captain grunted to the commander. In an act of strict obedience, he stepped aside.
"The next labor task for those here," he said with a slight ironic smile, "is more than just recovering minerals from a mine in Harmonia, but retrieving an even bigger mineral."
Somehow, the four knew this transcended a simple material from the earth.