Ice & Sun: A Quest for Dawn.

The first thing I noticed, was the lack of light. The second thing I noticed, was a shadowy figure standing in front of me. The third, and final thing I noticed, was the sharp pain in my arm.

"That will do for now." A deep voice from the shadows spoke. "We need to get it to him as soon as possible. When he wakes up, we'll give him a drink of water. Excuse me now." With that, the man left me there, in the dark.

I tried to move my left arm, but found it was tied down by some sort of rope. It stung when I tried to move it. Same with my legs and torso. My head felt heavy and groggy.

That's when I remembered why I was here...in the cold...being held down by rope and who knows what else...

The Great Frozen Sea! In all my travels; through deserts, over mountains, across oceans, nothing ever prepared me for this one trek! Once you start out on this frozen sea you can't turn back; it's an endless landscape of ice and snow! As we set off into the great unknown, no-one knew how long our journey would take or if we'd even make it alive. We set off with little food or water; just what we could carry and keep our bodies warm enough to survive!

I remember seeing a small dot on the horizon..then another..and another..until there were hundreds of them! We were surprised at first; wondering if there were people living on this vast frozen ocean?! As we ventured closer however, we realised they were not people..they were birds! Hundreds of birds that had flown south so they didn't freeze to death! They managed to keep close enough to stay alive but still far enough away from us so we couldn't get any food from them! We managed to catch a few though; we used some of their feathers in order to make clothing for ourselves (the birds' blood also froze very quickly so wasn't good for drinking!) but ultimately we ended up dying anyway!

That's when I woke up tied down by a man in a cloak who asked me where I was from and apparently took a sample of my blood before telling me he was going to 'get it' to someone else...(?) But who? Who is he talking about? And what did he mean by 'it'? What does he want with me? Am I going to be killed like all my friends?

The door opened once again and there stood two men dressed in similar cloaks. One gave me a small cup full of water and told me to drink it all at once then lay back down..I did as instructed and lay there for a while longer until eventually passing out again...

"Sir," said one of the men who had brought my 'meal' before I passed out again. "We've got results!" He handed him a parchment which seemed quite old. On top sat a wax seal with something written inside which looked like roman numerals....XVIII....(18) The man looked at his companion then smiled before giving him a pat on the back. "Well done lad!" He said proudly. "I think everything will be alright now!" He walked over to his desk which sat next to an open window with morning light shining through it and gazed out towards the frozen sea out beyond his home which he had once called home many years ago....