[ WP ] A second Ice Age has ravaged the Earth in the year 2039 . While scavenging , you realize that the Ice Age was artificially started , and you think you know why .

`` Freeze!'' 
 
 The voice penetrated the still cool of the night like a spear through lumbering flesh. I fell face down, put my hands out to the side and behind my head. The action was standard procedure in these troubling times. 
 
 Hands hardened by years of exposure to blistering cold frisked me for weapons, food, cash, technology, anything that might possibly be of value. My pockets were turned out and then I felt the harsh jerking of my boots being pulled off of my feet. This guy sure was thorough, I'd give him that much. 
 
 `` Get up. March forward.'' 
 
 I stood and shook the snow from my frontside. 
 
 `` MOVE!'' He barked as I felt the barrel of his gun pressing between my shoulder blades. 
 
 I did as ordered and began my march towards the foreboding gates of HardCore. What a dumb name for such an important place. It seemed like something my kid brother would have come up with. I was in no position to point this out to my captor. 
 
 We reached gates and the guard opened them with some sort of magic. He stared into a little black box and a red light scanned his face. I fell back a bit, that thing could have been some sort of horrible face-melter. There was talk of such things back home, but none of us had seen such a thing. 
 
 The guard thought I was making a break for it and grabbed my arms, twisting them behind my back. I winced from the pain of my right wrist going too far to the left. A few steps later and I realized that I could n't feel my feet. Looking down, it seemed that the guard had forgotten to put my boots back on. Great, I would probably have a rotten toe or five from this little death march of mine. 
 
 `` We're here.'' He growled. `` Sarisan will be with you shortly.'' 
 
 I stood in the midst of a grand room that was larger than all of the dwellings in the community put together. Books were on shelves that lined every wall. I did n't even know that so many books existed in the world, yet they were all around me. Artificial lights shimmered from the ceiling and the room was warm despite the lack of a fire. What magic... 
 
 `` So you're the prodigy, the chosen son of a chosen son, eh?'' A sharp male voice asked. 
 
 `` Are you... Sarisan?'' I asked with a slight pause. I was overwhelmed by all of the magic-seeming things surrounding me. Was this real? Or perhaps some sort of twisted dream? Maybe I was dead... 
 
 `` Yes, I am he.'' The man replied with a small laugh. `` Let us cut to the chase, young man.'' 
 
 `` Well, I'm here because I want to know the truth. The Great Truth.'' I said, trying to muster the conviction befitting a prodigy and chosen son, whatever those things were. They sounded important, at any rate. 
 
 `` The Great Truth? You are n't prepared to know half as much.'' Sarisan replied sarcastically. 
 
 `` Why the Long Winter? Ca n't you tell me what made the gods so angry that they would bury us under the frost for many generations?'' I pleaded. My voice was quickly betraying my confidence as it wavered. 
 
 `` Ah, the Long Winter. The gods were not gods, but merely men like us. Remember THAT.'' He said with emphasis. `` There was one among them, called Granger. There was no intention of evil in his heart, but much strife in his mind. His spirit was quite troubled, you see.'' 
 
 `` The gods are n't gods?'' I questioned Sarisan's wisdom greatly. Who doubts the gods, the masters of life and death? 
 
 `` Listen and remember.'' Sarisan said in a low tone. `` This troubled man, Granger... he made a machine beast. A great behemoth called the Harp. Now, you made think the harp is just a musical instrument, but it is n't just that. The Harp played tunes that no one but the clouds could hear. Dangerous tunes, boy, dangerous tunes.'' 
 
 `` Like the devil's fiddle?'' I asked, familiar with the tales of the Robot-Devil and his wicked fiddle that threatened to steal the hands of talented men. 
 
 `` Yes, like the devil's fiddle.'' Sarisan said, reaching for a cigar in a small tray across from me. 
 
 He lit the cigar and puffed on it for a few minutes before continuing his story. 
 
 `` When the heat came, oh those days of heat. Very few alive today know the heat. The glory of the sun and her beautiful bright lights and how they blessed the land in those times... but what is beautiful can often burn, dear boy, and this the sun did in spades for a very long time. Can you imagine an earth baked dry, years without snow or rain? Oh that's how it was back then...'' He paused and took a drag from his cigar. 
 
 `` Granger wanted to save his people, his planet, you see. So he took upon his self to travel to the wastelands of the far north. He awoke the Harp-beast and began to play the dangerous tunes. The clouds took notice and shook loose with the glorious rain that was very much needed in those days.'' 
 
 `` But how did that lead to the Long Winter?'' I inquired. 
 
 `` Ah, man can not interfere in the works of gods without consequence. And Granger's consequence did not come for a generation or so. When it did come, no one took notice. It was just slightly colder in some places for awhile, they got a bit more snow and then as time progressed, the snow kept coming. And so on until our times, where we are so blessed to see even 3 months without frost.'' Sarisan stopped and staring across at me. 
 
 My mind was racing. One man had caused all of this by playing an evil harp? This had to be some awful joke. I had come all this way for this? 
 

