Test Story Zero

Lucas opened his eyes to the dark, rickety cell he called home.

He rubbed his eyes and stretched his stiff legs as he felt his body start to warm up, the cold of the night still remained in his bones as a reminder of the harshness of the months of ice.

Lucas planted his feet to the stone floor and immediately jumped back to his small cot.

"Damn it's cold!" Lucas grit his teeth, his mind waking up from the shock.

He timidly placed his feet back into the floor, allowing it to get used to the cold before grabbing the flint and steel.

He slowly paced around in the darkness towards where the lamp should be.

Lucas felt around the cold desk and grabbed the shallow metal bowl filled with frozen lard, having been accustomed to this, Lucas tried to find a dry piece of straw nearby and lit it up with the flint.

The straw lit up after the third strike of the flint, the smell of smoke mixing with the stale air of his cell.

He used the straw to lead the fire into igniting the small piece of cloth sticking up in the frozen lard. The first straw only made a few embers on the cloth, forcing him to use a few more straws and a number more strikes of the flint.

A soft glow from a tiny fire gave Lucas warmth in the freezing house to reward his efforts.

The months of ice was the harshest season that ever ocurred in the land, causing people to hide for more than 125 days. The endless blizzard blocked out the sun and Ice wyverns swarmed all those that were in the Ice.

Lucas thought of how many people have died trying to survive the months of ice, worrying that he, or his friends could be one of them.

"Dammit, stop thinking about these things." Lucas scolded himself.

Carrying his lamp, Lucas slowly made his way to the main tunnel.

"How are you holding up, Luke?" A voice asked him from behind.

"What the-" Lucas turned around and directed his lamp to the dark, endless abyss.

The soft glow of his lamp only reached a few feet from him, not helping in any way in identifying the person speaking.

"Relax, Luke, stop waving that puny light around." The voice once again spoke behind Lucas.

Lucas calmed down a bit, slowly starting to recognize the voice.

"Rowan?" Lucas frowned. "Dammit Rowan, that ain't funny."

Rowan's figure slowly came to light, his average build, near pitch black eyes and Midnight hair flicked to the side reminded Lucas of his childhood friend he always spent time with.

"Goddammit." Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. "I still can't get over how silent your feet are and how the hell you run around without light."

"We've been frieds for nearly seven years, how are you not used to it?" Rowan rolled his eyes. "You heading out?"

"Heading out?" Rowan's words caught Lucas off guard. "I'm not in the mood to freeze to death."

"What are you talking about?" Rowan's voice echoed in the darkness. "It's already the hundred and twenty sixth."

Realization dawned on Lucas.

"The months of ice... are already over?!" Lucas couldn't help raise his voice in excitement.

Rowan did not respond but Lucas could feel a pair of rolling eyes in the darkness.

"I'm going to need to prepare a bit." Lucas said as he headed back to his cell.

Lucas grabbed his thick, tattered cloak and his axe, grabbed a piece of hard, black bread, and ran back to Rowan.

"Took you long enough." Rowan sighed. "Lets go, Luke."

The two of them went off to the main hall and met up with the other villagers that were about to set off.

The main hall, which was lit up by a torch, provided sufficient light to the area. With the appearance of another pair of people heading out, excitement was palpable in the air.

"Lucas! Rowan!" Faun, the village woodcutter greeted them. "Are you two going to help chop down some frozen logs? Hahaha.."

The old woodcutter had been itching to chop some wood all the time during the months of ice. Hos graying hair did not bring justice to Faun's bustling vitality.

"Better bring a hammer and chisel then if that's the case." Lucas laughed.

"I'm off to hunt some game, probably collect some hazy-shrooms on the way too." Rowan shrugged, either not getting the joke or ignoring it completely.

"Hey!" Milly complained. "That's my job to forage!"

"You can't even walk to the forest when you're practically a stick, how can you forage?" Rowan voiced.

Lucas just shook his head and laughed, smiling as he started to shovel the snow blocking the entrance while listening to the blonde stick and the monochromatic guy argue.

"I'm not a stick! What are you talking about?!" Milly complained some more. "I've got some meat in here see!"

Milly puffed up her chest in an attempt to look buff but ended up looking like a bent bamboo instead.

"Flat." Rowan mercilessly spoke without any speck of emotion.

"Wha-?! YOU SORRY EXCUSE OF A WASTE OF SPACE I WILL..." Milly started spouting a huge mound of gibberish that Lucas did not listen to anymore.

He focused on shoveling the snow blocking the entrance and started to fidget in excitement.

It had been so long since he saw the sun, he longed to feel the warmth of the sunlight on his skin more than anything.

"Careful!" Faun warned him.

Lucas had apparently dug a straight line forward in his excitement, causing the snow above him to collapse on top of him, burying him in the cold fluff.

Lucas gasped for air, though he seemed to have a lack of it under the thick snow.

He mustered all his strength to climb up, almost like swimming against a current.

His arms started to sore, months of inactivity had taken their toll on his muscles.

Lucas still grit his teeth, refusing to give up and used the last stretch of his energy to climb through the snow.

He finally felt the sensation that his arms were clawing through without resistance, his body no longer covered with snow.

Lucas finally breathed, the fresh air may have been crisp and cold, but months of breathing in the cold, stale air of the underground village made him appreciate it more.

Lucas opened his eyes and saw snow.

Everything was covered in snow.

Tall spires of snow peaked in the once lush, green forests and tall evergreen mountains.

The white sheet that covered the world seemed to stretch to eternity as it vaished to the scarlet horizon, dark clouds started to have a tinge of pink as the first rays of the sun in four months shyly peeked out of the white mountains.

He saw the Ice wyverns flapping their wings as they headed back north where they came from before the months of Ice, appearing like a flock of little birds in the distant horizon.

Lucas smiled at the sight as warmth gently crept to his face like a soft caress.

The first sunrise in four months had finally appeared.