“The North Pole” - A memoir by Alya Boreas-Bronze
For as long as I had been able to sense things, I had always felt something far north of my home. Something that felt so foreign, yet so familar, I’ve told Neviro about it, he seems to sense it too. No one else we’ve asked had sensed it though. I had always wanted to investigate it, Neviro always wanted to leave our home in search of revenge.
Neviro and I knew that the others would never let Neviro go to the Bronze Sea to get the revenge he wanted, so we came up with a plan. We repaired a sailboat that had crashed into our home, announced we were going north to investigate what we had sensed, and went north. Neviro and I argued a bit on if we should just directly go to the War Seas or if we should actually head north, but I convinced him that if we went north then we techically wouldn’t have lied to our family.
So we went northwards, we noticed it colder and colder as we approached. Eventually it got so cold that we were forced to transform. Even then we had to put on our cold-weather clothes. The rain turned to freezing rain, then to sleet, then to snow. The ocean began to freeze around us and we had to navigate through what seemed to be thousands of icebergs.
We reached a massive landmass eventually, the entity we had sensed was now incredibly close, we were just a long walk away. However, the landmass was covered in an endless blizzard, we tried waiting it out for a week or so, but it only got more intense. Neviro and I could really feel whatever entity lurked in the blizzard, it felt like the remnants of person, shattered by grief and sorrow. I knew I had met this person before, but I could not recall where. Neviro didn’t seem to recognize whoever was out there, at least not as well as I could.
I sensed something else out there as well, the ghost of someone beloved by many, a fragment of a long forgotten, but beloved memory. Neviro decided that whatever was on this island was personal to me, not him, and told me I should enter alone.
So I did.
When I stepped onto the island, it suddenly felt a lot… warmer. Both in the terms of temperature and how the island felt? I cannot truly find the words for it. I noticed what appeared to be aimless trails in the snow and followed one to the entity I had sensed for nearly all of my life.
It was an… Atlantean. It looked kind of like a mutated Winterveilian, it had the frozen and snowy armor and weaponry of one. I couldn’t see much at that point, as it’s back was turned to me, but it had mutations sort of like a Gurry Shark. It seemed to be constantly crying out for someone named Anna.
When it eventually realized I was here, the blizzard suddenly increased. I tried to reason with whatever was left, but it was too far gone. The fight that followed hurt me quite a bit, but I managed to land an arrow to the heart of it. As it fell, the snow to fall with him.
To this day I remember the look of peace that had overtook the face of what was left of it. Now that I could see it’s face, I recognized it somewhat. A smile from the depths of my memory, a father I had lost long ago.
I used what some spirit energy to try and reverse it’s mutations. It worked, I could confirm that he was truly my father. The blizzard began to subside and I looked around the island. We were by a small hill, with a grave atop it. It looked like a fitting place to bury him, so I dragged his body up the hill and began digging. I dug through his pockets to see if I could find a name and came upon a locket. It had two names in it, Lukyan Makarov and Anna Boreas.
I read the grave that had already been placed on the hill. It read “Anna Boreas”. I assume that it was my mother’s name and grave, and therefore, my father’s name was Lukyan. I created a small gravestone out of the bluish rock my mother’s gravestone was made of and engraved it with my father’s name, gave him last rites, and buried him.
It was a nice place to bury someone, I could see why my father would my mother there, As I looked over the frozen tundra, I noticed that there were bodies littered around. I assume my father had killed them in his madness, so I decided to bury them to atone for what my father did.
Neviro came looking for me after the snowstorm ended, and we spent the next few weeks creating a graveyard on The North Pole. It was a strangely therapeutic for me, by the end of it I felt like my mind was finally clear for the first time in years. I marked down it’s location and we set sail for the War Seas at last.
The North Pole was, and always will be a special place to me. I intend to visit it with my family in the future, if this invasion ever blows over. If you ever decide to visit it reader, bring some Snowdrops, it would be nice if others could pay their respects to the souls buried there with some flowers.