300 years ago, the world descended into a long ice age, with humanity barely surviving.
Today, twins Alek and Amber have to deal with the new society that has emerged from this environment. Alek is an anti-social geek with not enough research materi...
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I shivered in my huge wool coat. The train's walls were supposed to keep out the frigid outside air, but didn't do a great job. The seats weren't cushioned, and the economy cabin was stuffed with tired and grumpy citizens. As much as I was freezing, Amber seemed to radiate heat. I huddled next to my twin sister for warmth. There were no windows in the train, but I knew it would be snowing outside. It nearly always was. I looked up at my sister, noticing her mournful face.
"Hey, second place isn't that bad," I consoled.
"Alek, you don't know anything about archery, I screwed up, big time," she replied sullenly. She was shivering as well, even though her coat was thicker and her muscular body retained heat better than my beanpole figure. I was cold all the time, which wasn't a great adaptation to have in this climate.
"You're right, I don't understand. Everyone is saying you did amazing, what's so bad about silver?" I asked, trying to cheer her up. If she was grumpy, I was grumpy. Maybe it was a twin thing, but I always felt happier when she was smiling.
"Alek, I've had near perfect scores all this season, and now, representing our capitol city, I miss on the final shot and lose to our rival. How is that okay?" She pouted.
"It's not your fault, no one expected you to get this far anyways. You know as well as I do that Arcadia couldn't send that many archers this time, and two people didn't even make it past the qualifier." I smiled at her and pulled her closer, blowing her silver hair out of my face. Our hair colors were nearly identical, although mine shone less in the light. Hers glowed like strands of silver dangling from a headpiece, and fell to her shoulders, mine dangling near my neck.
She sighed. "I know Alek... It's just... I expected better of myself. I mean, the season's over, so I can't do any better."
"Hey," I started, "at least you have next year, and kick boxing season is starting up again, so there's that to look forward to."
"I know, I guess I'm just tired," she responded.
"So you admit it!" I grinned triumphantly.
She groaned and pushed me away. "You're mean," she stated, but her voice was filled with laughter.
"No," I protested, "Amber, come closer, it's cold!" I tried to grab her again, but she laughed and scooted towards the isle. I finally got up next to her, pulling her back to me along with her warmth.
After a few seconds, she spoke again. "Doesn't it seem more cold than normal?"
I nodded. We had been taking the train everywhere for the past week while she participated in tournaments in the surrounding area. Usually we were fine in our thickly lined coats, fuzzy socks and warm pants, but today the air was frigid. A few hundred years ago, autumn supposedly used to be above freezing temperatures, and people could grow crops out in the open air. In this day and age, that was completely false.
