Continuation: Artem was rescued by an unknown man and his daughter, and later woke up in a small medical facility. What he saw was a strange world unlike Belobog. Everything here was made from "Rain Water," and the residents here lived in harmony with the wind and the snow. Artem was amazed by the wondrous sights built from special materials...
As the flow of time continued, Artem found himself lying in a medical facility.
However, this medical facility had nothing in common with Belobog's Architects' Charice Hospital. No hospital in Belobog would have beds made of crystals. It wasn't until Artem noticed the IV drip attached to his arm that he realized he was being treated.
There was drumming in his ears. His eyes were only able to make out the blurred, burning lights around him. Apparently, his motor skills haven't returned. What's for sure is that he had almost crossed over to the other side.
The first person he met after being discharged from the hospital was the girl that helped him in his dreams.
"Congratulations on your recovery."
"Thank you. Could you tell me where... Who are you... I should probably introduce myself first... No, wait..."
Artem was filled with questions. His words became jumbled, and he was unable to form a complete sentence.
"My name is Anna."
"I'm A—Artem..."
Unlike the first time they met, Anna didn't tie her hair. The light shone through her long flaxen hair with translucent edges. The soft glow made her hair look as if it was delicately lifted. Her long eyelashes and calming eyes matched her thin face perfectly. In the past, Artem tried to avoid observing a woman's facial features for too long. With Anna, however, he couldn't stop until both their faces were flushed with embarrassment.
Perhaps it had something to do with his life having been saved, but Artem felt something he had never felt before.
Just as Artem had predicted, he was not in Belobog.
It was a city that had been built in the blizzard. People called it the Frozen City.
Different from Belobog, the Frozen City's forebears used the Old World technology to survive in the blizzard and preserve the spark of the Old World civilization. Artem was in the happiest phase of a culture shock. Everything was brand new to him, like in one of his countless dreams, in which the technologies of the past lying dormant in the museum come back to life. Accompanied by Anna, this city gradually unfolded before Artem.
"They should have also injected an Edelweiss into your body during your surgery."
"Edelweiss... What is Edelweiss?"
"Ah, how should I put it? It's like a small... machine?"
"Machine? I thought machines were big things with chains, gears, valves, and steam? They... can be injected into the body?"
"I don't understand the principle very well. I just know all residents of Frozen City are injected with Edelweiss at birth. We do not fear the cold because of it. When I was little, the explorers told me that outsiders wear heavy clothes to stay warm. It wasn't until I saw you that I realized it was true."
"So in the eyes of the local population, such warm clothes must be quite an unusual view... Right, speaking of which, are there other cities in this world besides Frozen City?"
"But of course, the world is a big place."
Anna suddenly stopped in her tracks, and Artem followed suit. In the clearing in front of them, a group of uniformed men gathered around a cannon, which was pointed at the sky, as if ready to fire, only waiting for someone to light the fuse.
"Are they planning to shoot the cannon at the building across from here?"
"Hahahaha..." Anna couldn't help but laugh at his genuine question. She wasn't used to guiding outsiders. "You're not wrong, but they're planning to construct a new building here."
"Construct a new building?"
"Yes, but since it hasn't taken shape yet, I don't know what it will be."
The cannon fired into the sky and thick clouds began to form above the clearing. Moments later, the water Anna called "rain" fell from the sky.
"Rain Water" was a rare term that Artem only read about in the museum archives. He had never witnessed it before. It was a common weather condition in the Old World. Only snow would fall from the skies in Belobog.
It wasn't until this moment that Artem understood that the cold snowflakes at home could fall in such a gentle way.
The Rain Water didn't disperse as it fell on the open ground. Instead, it quickly solidified into a concrete shape, as if sculpted by invisible hands. As the rain continued to fall, the outline of the building became clearer. The style was much different from those in Belobog.
A building tens of meters high was completed before Artem's eyes in a matter of minutes, like a miracle.
Anna was no longer surprised by the shock in Artem's eyes. She explained that all buildings in Frozen City were created from the miracle Rain Water. If the weather monitor Cloudship detected an incoming blizzard, these buildings would be converted into water on command, then transformed into new buildings as the people of Frozen City migrated to a more hospitable area.
Unique blueprints were traded among residents. Strange buildings rose every day. There was nothing more natural to the locals than that.
...