The Eternal Winter - Book 1 - Chapter 56 - The Frozen Sun (Patreon)

                                                                                          Alexander North

After Arnold’s death, none of us speak for a long while as we walk through the blizzard towards the city. But the very moment my terminal declares it as noon, something strange happens. The blizzard begins to clear up a little bit, and a strange blue light starts shining in the sky in the place of a sun.

I blink up in confusion, meanwhile the others all begin whispering, finally breaking the silence.

Eventually the blizzard clears up enough that it just looks like a slightly heavy snowfall with a strange blue sun shining in the sky, making it clear for the others to all see. Not only the frozen trees and plant life around us, but also frozen animals that they weren’t able to see before.

They all quiet down after they see the frozen ones in the surrounding area that’ve been avoiding me like the plague yet still circling us for a while.

There’ve been multiple times that I’ve wanted to go after them, but unfortunately, they just run away. And I’m not willing to abandon the others to chase after them. Especially when I’m the only one who can see through the storm as if it weren’t there.

Right as I’m beginning to wonder if I should chase after them now that the others aren’t mostly blinded, I feel an odd sensation fill my body. One that feels like a mixture of yearning, and of oppression. Like something is pushing down the energy in my body.

The feeling doesn’t leave me any weaker than before, but I really hate it, nonetheless.

/ Notice \

Warning – Radiation is pouring into the user’s body from an outside, unknown source. This radiation is suppressing the energy within the user’s body, while also slowly adding onto it at the same time. Therefore, the user will not be able to use their energy until the radiation goes away.

\End of Notice/

I blink at the notice once, then twice. Then the notice disappears, leaving me staring at the air.

“Uh…” I mutter while raising my head to look at the captain, who is staring at the blue sun, “captain, we have a problem.”

Everyone tenses up at my words and reaches for their weapons, meanwhile the captain asks, “What is it?”

I simply share with him my terminal notice.

Several seconds pass in silence before he eventually mutters, “Shit.”

The others look between us and quickly ask what is wrong, only to end up with the exact same reaction when I share the notice with them as well.

“The sun at least seems to weaken the frozen ones while it’s strengthening them, so we’ll just have to use the time we have under it to make as much progress as we can towards the city,” the captain says after everyone calms down a bit. “However long that is.”

Right. We don’t know how long this sun’ll last, or whether it will be permanent. Although I doubt it’ll be permanent, because that would just make it too easy for us to deal with the frozen ones.

We all quickly begin sprinting towards the city at a much faster pace than we were before, and just about three hours later, at 0300, the blizzard begins to pick back up again and the sun fades away as if it were never there in the first place.

The others, who had all taken their helmets off, or raised their visor in the captain’s case, quickly put them back on to shield them from the returning cold as I let out a sigh of relief and read the notice from my terminal.

/ Notice \

Warning – Radiation has disappeared. You may use your energy again as you please.

\End of Notice/

I quickly share the notice with the others. After that, I add, “It lasted for about three hours, sir.”

The captain nods his head at that before looking up at the sky and muttering, “I wonder if that’ll be a regular occurrence?”

Cynthia looks at him for a second and asks, “You mean, that could’ve been the sun rising and setting?”

“I don’t mean that. Just that it might be a common or occasional occurrence,” the captain says only to lower his head slightly and add, “Although we can’t rule that possibility out.”

The thought of that having been the sun rising and falling… makes me feel conflicted. It’s a clear moment of weakness for the frozen ones – and myself – but it’s also going to help them grow stronger faster.

Actually, on that note, how much did it actually raise my energy level?

Out of curiosity, I open my analysis before letting out a sigh.

/ Current Analysis of user Alexander North \

Strength: 2.06
Agility: 2.42
Reflexes: 2.07
Constitution: 2.27
Immunity: ???
Senses: 2.29
Energy: 2.41/2.61

Body Malfunctions: N/A
Error: Cannot determine Immunity of user’s current species without the user getting sick to collect data.
The average of a human being without a symbiont is a 1 across all stats except for Energy.
The Energy statistic is determined with a 1 being set as the user’s original starting statistic for Energy.

\End of Analysis/

“The sun raised my energy level by about 0.1,” I tell the others while crossing my arms.

The others grow silent at that.

It’s not a huge amount, but it’s no small amount either. Whether that could be considered dangerous for us will depend on how frequently that sun will appear.

Because if it’s a daily occurrence, then we will have a problem. Since that will be increasing the strength of all of the frozen ones exponentially. The weaker ones will become a threat, while the stronger ones will only become even larger threats than they already are. And let’s not even talk about the ones that travel in large groups. It’ll exponentially increase their group’s strength.

That said, it will make it easier to kill the stronger frozen ones. So there’s at least a silver lining to all of this.

“Let’s just hope that isn’t a regular occurrence and continue moving,” the captain says with a frown audible in his voice. We all wordlessly follow after him through the story, or rather they all follow after me as we continue through the midday towards the city.

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