A World of Ice

Life

The next morning, Cassandra was slowly pulled from her sleep to the hustle and bustle of those around her starting their day. She began smoothing her hair, looking around for something she could use as a mirror. An older woman she had met the night before brought her a wooden comb and a sort of mirror.

“I know it’s not as clear as the ones in the Old World, but it’s what we have around here.” The woman smiled softly, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. Cassandra wondered what all the woman had left behind in the “Old World”. No sooner had she finished her hair, her trusty guide appeared before her, full of enthusiasm for the new day.

“Good! You’re up. We have a big day today.” Kasim said.

“Oh?”

“You have a million questions, and we have five or six answers for you. Plus, you’ll need to find your place here. Everyone has a place and a job, or else none of us would survive.” Still not understanding what lay before her, Cassandra took Kasim’s outstretched hand arm followed him outside.

Two beasts like the one pulling the cart yesterday were saddled and cackling. Kasim helped her mount one, assuring her the hyenas were gentler than they looked, and then mounted the second himself. They didn’t quite look like the hyenas Cassandra had seen in zoos, but she filed this away for later.

“We will make our way to the capital city. It is about a day’s journey. I’ll tell you what I can along the way.

“Best we can tell, the first people arrived here about 400 years ago. One of the early survivors kept a meticulous journal, which helps us surprisingly little in our efforts to rebuild normal lives. For 400 years, we have been trying to figure out where ‘here’ is. We still don’t know. Everyone has a theory, but no one actually knows.

“Everyone simply shows up, the same way you did (or is descended from those who did). We don’t know how it happens. What we do know is that people from all over the world end up here.

“There are twenty-four known entry points. For the most part, the first people to enter at each of these points banded together and formed clans, with some re-shuffling, splitting, and joining happening over the years. There are other clans farther out from entry points as well. They tend to be rougher types of folks, outcasts in some way or another. Some are anarchists, thieves, and scoundrels who simply reject social order, while others are simply ideological minorities or feel more at home in a smaller clans.

“The entry points are not like a door that opens in the same place each time. They are areas where people just pop up with a colorful flash of light. Those who remember the Old World say the lights appear in some areas there as well. They say those living in the Old World call it the “Aurora Borealis”. Here, it is simply The Light. Most report that they seem to arrive sleeping. A few claim to have been awake when they arrived, but any memories that might help understand what happened are fuzzy at best.

“The entry point you came to is in the land of the Sun clan. In time, you’ll learn your geography and each of the clans. For now, the important thing to know is that we are large enough to protect our own, and we are a part of the East Wall Alliance.

“Now that the basics are out of the way, what questions do you have? I will answer if I can.” Kasim finally stopped to catch his breath. Cassandra wondered at his lungs.

“I do have one question. All of you seem to be stronger than one would expect from people who are fighting to survive. Am I imagining that? Or am I just more tired than usual?”

Kasim laughed. “You’re not the first to suggest that. Those like me, who grew up here, seem to have an extra dose of it. While we don’t know for sure what gives us our vigor, our clan believes it is part of the same force that brought us here. “

“What, like God?”

Kasim shrugged. “Maybe.”

They rode in silence for a while, Cassandra deep in thought. “So, people just arrive out of the blue with what looks like the Northern Lights. No one knows where we actually are or how we got here. We’re all just trying to survive. Is that about it?”

“Pretty much!” Kasim said, cheerful as always.

“Tell me about the Sun Clan. How big is it? Who leads you? Am I a part of the Sun Clan, since I arrived at your… entry point, I think you called it?”

Kasim smiled. “Right now, you are a guest of the Sun Clan. I am sure we will be happy to welcome you as our own once the Elders have met with you, but you will be free to go find a different clan if you would prefer. Some do not like our way of doing things,” he shrugged casually. “Whatever your values are, there is a clan out there that will be a good fit. If the Elders think you would be a better fit for another clan in the Alliance, they can arrange for your transfer.”

“And what if they think I belong in a clan that isn’t in the alliance?”

Kasim’s face darkened slightly before he recomposed himself. “It has only happened once. A man came through the Light one day many years ago. My father told me about him. He had a dark heart that wanted nothing to do with the ways of the Sun clan. To his eyes, we were too soft, too gentle, too weak. I don’t know his birth name. I only know what he is called now. He is known as Blackheart, and is Head Advisor to Queen Vanessa of the Royals.

“So you all have royalty?”

Kasim scoffed. “Goodness, no! When Vanessa and Blackheart brought their clan together a couple years ago, they called their clan The Royals. Before that, they were just a disheveled group of ruffians. I’ve heard she has her court announce her as “Benevolent Mother Nessa”. There’s nothing benevolent or motherly about her. She’s just another power-hungry thug. But she was smart enough to get a noteworthy clan together for the first time in nearly 100 years, so she’s got something going for her. And rumor has it they have been amassing quite an army. They’ve already annexed several smaller clans. The elders believe it’s only a matter of time before they declare war against larger clans. There are three clans with territory between us and them, so they won’t come for us right away, but the elders are concerned that sooner or later they will be coming.”

“That’s… a lot to take in.”

Kasim nodded.

“You asked earlier about our size. The elders will have the most up to date records. Last I knew, we were estimated to have just over 1 million people in our clan. My father and others have told me about devices from the Old World that made it easy to quickly share information with one another, and quick, easy ways to store a lot of information in a very small space. Here, all our records are carefully kept by hand and rely on scouts and couriers bringing information. By the time the information arrives from the far end of Alliance, it is weeks old at best. From the other end of the continent, it is several months old. So it is hard to know exactly how we compare, but I do believe we are among the larger clans. We certainly have larger territory than most.”

Cassandra chuckled. “I hadn’t thought about it being harder to know exact numbers here. Back home, we can just pull out our phones and type in ‘world population’ and we get an up-to-the-minute number that updates right before our eyes.”

Kasim nodded. “I’ve heard of these phones, and of your internet. It seems strange that none of the new arrivals seem to have one, since they all say they typically carry one with them.”

“That is odd. I assumed I had dropped mine somewhere and that it got buried in the snow while I was asleep. Where I come from, nearly everyone has a phone on them at all times. Has any other modern technology come through?”

“People typically come in with nothing but the clothes they are wearing. Every once in a while someone will have some snacks in a pocket. Once, when I was a boy, someone came through with a Swiss Army Knife. It was a huge deal. People are still talking about it and our Light Scholars sill send him emissaries to try to find out what is different about him. He became the leader of a small, but dedicated clan that believe he will be able to get them home. Nessa put herself up as queen. Marshall put himself up as messiah. They pretty much keep to themselves. They are also part of the East Wall alliance, but their attendance at council once a year is all we typically see of any of them.”