In the Pass of Miyuki

Prologue:

Long ago, in days of old,

When men were young and earth was bold

A treasure, found in hidden deeps-

The alluring luster, where gold sleeps

Close ahead, in days yet to thrive,

When earth is old, and men, deprived

Of hope and joy, feel solely obliged ,

To find where gold is yet unmined.

Further on, in days to come,

When earth is cold and men are done,

Their reign shall end, theirs lives, gone too,

For the luster of gold conquers you...

In the land, once Japan, where men are to die...

The morning of September the 18th dawned dreary and rainy, a usual weather scenario in the village of Ametani. Rain had been an undying factor in the lives of the Ametani since climate change had caused the snow on the mountains surrounding the village to evaporate. Cubed kilometers upon cubed kilometers of snow had been present on those mountain which had later been discovered to actually be simple hillocks shrouded in snow, which in some places dated back to a mythical age of the earth called the 'Ice Age'. Consequently, it wasn't surprising to know that the rain there had been endless for 8300 years. 

At the same time, in the evening of the 18th of September in the village of Shiromura, it was snowing as usual. Though the people of Ametani were oblivious to the reasoning as to why this apparently natural phenomenon occurred in Shiromura, the true reason lay in the hillocks that surrounded the village south-west of Shiromura - Ametani. There, on those hillocks, had been the snow believed to have precipitated into the rain causing an endless downpour of water onto the sodden heads of Ametaninians. But the rain was not caused by all the snow that had evaporated and precipitated. Some snow had evaporated and was blown as water vapor by the unused trade-winds towards Shiromura. There, it had manifested into snow; evil, harsh and treacherous snow. And thus, the Chilled Marshes had come to be.