The Marines' Tragedy, Part Two

The next day, a fleet passed through the nearby waters. Although the weather in this region was erratic, the sea had never frozen before. Nature could freeze the sea to this extent, but the sheer area covered was far too large. It was eerie.

"What on earth happened here?" an old man with a Mechanical Arm asked aboard the fleet.

He frowned. Since yesterday, he had felt a persistent heaviness in his chest, along with unease and heart palpitations. He had thought something was wrong with his health, but apart from his asthma, he had found nothing amiss. Everything was normal.

Perhaps some unseen force had guided him to head out to sea today. His fleet had reached these waters only to find an enormous expanse of frozen ocean. Instinct told him something was very wrong.

"There's an island nearby, isn't there?" Zephyr asked the woman behind him.

"There's an unnamed island just ahead," Ain said.

"Let's take a look. There's something wrong with this ice." Zephyr leaped onto the ice first. Ain and Binz followed him, and the three headed toward the island together.

They walked a long way before the outline of the island came into view.

Yet, for some reason, he caught a pungent, scorched smell. The temperature had also dropped considerably.

"There seems to be something over there," Binz said, pointing at the island ahead.

The island was flat, with nothing on it except a distant silhouette. They were too far away to make it out clearly.

The three pressed on. The moment they set foot on the island, Zephyr froze.

His gaze went blank, his eyes filled with disbelief, and his body trembled. The cigar fell from his mouth. He reached out with a shaking hand, his eyes brimming with tears. His mouth hung open,