Buried Constellations

I almost wish the sparkling rock had not caught our eye, but so it did. Now here we are, and beasts the like of which have never been seen remind me we are strangers to this isle – and the farther north we go, both man and beast alike, become more feral and unapproachable. The danger started simply enough – while scouring the track, Dunne caught traces of that glittering rock, the one that glitters like stars lie within. Seeing pieces of the ore lying quite thickly about, we spent days looking for a vein of the stuff and sought to mine it. To be sure, we feared the sound of our pickaxes would wake the Corrupted from the Cleave - but that was not to be our misfortune. As we unearthed the “Star Rock” day upon day and piled it upon the wagons for the outpost, we could not help but notice the days grew colder and colder, more sharply each night. We had learned not to stray too far east and south on account of the great bears, but the sudden onset of winter was something we had not expected. Dunne had caught sight of wolves, he claimed, but he said they did not howl, nor move as he had ever seen a wolf move – he said that they looked as if they were rimed with ice, wreathed around like a coat of winter. -J. Lipscomb