Permafrost Slumber

Chapter 2

The arrival in this foreign world wasn't a kind one. Frost has claimed this world, turning every corner of it into an arctic landscape where tempestuous winds and unrelenting cold chokes the last remnants of life.
If the desolate landscape and sub-zero temperatures weren't enough to offer a proper welcome into this world, then what shortly followed after their arrival would certainly give them a full understanding of this world's situation. Temperatures plummet to nearly minus thirty degrees Celsius, but with the aid of their thick fur-lined clothes, the temperatures become bearable.
As they traveled across the endless fields of snow and ice and found temporary refuge in an abandoned settlement. The night was unusually calm, the wind hardly made its presence known and the inside of the building the Captain and Kallen took refuge in was decent enough to allow them a night's rest.
During his sleep, the Captain dreams of traversing the frigid fields of this world. He travels side by side with other people, some of them collapse face forward in the snow and remain motionless as if death has claimed them already but are helped to their feet by others who struggle to avoid that same fate. Unable to control his movements or speak, the Captain is a witness to the events unfolding before the eyes of this unknown person. He soon passes through two monumentally large slabs of ice that lean off each other precariously forming both a deadly trap should the ice give in to the overwhelming weight, but also an incredible sight to behold as nature makes known its crude artistry. It's not entirely certain if nature created these towering ice sculptures and the winds knocked them over as beams of metal poke out of the ice here and there. After passing unscathed beneath the slabs of ice, the Captain sees a familiar towering engine standing in the middle of a desolate field. A man stops right next to the Captain and places a heavy hand on his shoulder and says as he points out towards the towering engine:

???: Thank God it's still standing. Our people-...

Before the man could finish what he wanted to say the Captain stirs awake from his sleep as a terrible chill runs down his spine, causing him to shiver uncontrollably. As the Captain fully wakes from his sleep, his sight is slightly blurry and takes a little bit of time for him to adjust his eyes to the dim light. Turning over and standing, the Captain's body aches all over as a result of sleeping on the hard surface of his makeshift resting place. There's also a very bothersome ache on the side of his ribs that is slow to fade even as he rubs the sore spot attempting to ease the pain.
On the other hand, Kallen sleeps sounds bundled up in her fur cloak. She doesn't show any signs of discomfort nor that the chill bothers her in any way. It is a fairly enviable sight for the aching Captain who slugishly stands to his feet and decides to take a look out the windows.
It's fairly hard to tell what time of day it is. The sun doesn't show itself and the natural light is just as dim as it was yesterday. For all, anyone could tell it might be the middle of the day or still morning, but since it's unlike Kallen to sleep in it's very likely that it's still morning since her daily routine causes her to wake up no matter how tired she is to give the Oath of Judah a proper cleaning.
The Captain heads back and begins to rummage through his backpack before pulling out two small trays of rations coated in a layer of protective metallic coating. Each tray is as wide as two palms placed side by side and just as long. Fortunately, all these trays require is a little bit of boiling water to make the food more nutritious and filling, otherwise, the contents could be eaten just as if one doesn't mind stomaching dried food and is unbothered by the taste.
Unfortunately, they may be forced to eat the tray as they are since nothing in this world seems familiar when it comes to using it for heat. The technology is odd, to say the least, and it also seems to be dependent on some sort of fuel the Captain is unfamiliar with. With no other alternative, the Captain proceeds to descend to the lower levels of the building and search for something he could use to gather up snow from outside. He finds some oddly shaped copper-plated bowl-like object that seems to be clean except for a few specks of dust it gathered. After gathering a few handfuls of snow from the outside, the Captain begins to sacrifice nearby wooden objects to use as fuel for a fire and slowly melt the snow before filtering it using a device he'd packed. After what seemed to take a few good hours of unnecessary complications, the Captain manages to heat a fair amount of filtered water and use it for a hearty meal for him and his companion to enjoy. As the hot water is greedily absorbed by the dry food, a short-lived pleasant scent wafts through the building before it quickly gets lost in the oily smell that dominates the building. By the time the Captain ascends to the top level of the building where Kallen continues to sleep undisturbed. She stirs a little bit as the Captain nears her, perhaps it is the smell of food to blame.
Using his right foot, the Captain pushes a chair close to Kallen. The scraping sound the chair makes as it gets pushed across the floor doesn't seem to rouse Kallen from her sleep just yet. After reaching her, the Captain sets a tray on the chair, places his left hand on Kallen's shoulder, and gently shakes her while saying: