A Frozen Hellscape [WIP]

The world had ended—or at least, the world as everyone knew it.  

It started with the leaks. Not of radiation or chemicals, but something far stranger, far older. The fissures tore open the earth without warning, and from them emerged phenomena no one could explain. People, plants, and animals were all affected.  

Those unlucky enough to be near the fissures experienced bizarre changes—mutations that twisted their bodies, their minds, or both. Some changes were minor, leaving their daily lives relatively untouched. Others were grotesque, creating unimaginable suffering or horrifying transformations. And for a few, the mutations were a gift, elevating them to something beyond human comprehension.  

But that was just the beginning.  

Seven years after the fissures first opened, the Earth itself rebelled. Temperatures plummeted without warning, as if some unseen hand had flipped a cosmic switch. The oceans froze solid, their waves halted mid-motion, leaving jagged sculptures of ice where water once flowed. Cities crumbled as concrete cracked and shattered beneath the relentless freeze.  

In just ten minutes, the warm, familiar world became an unrelenting tundra. Billions perished in the instant transition, their lives snuffed out by the bone-deep cold. Only those who were inside or already accustomed to frigid conditions managed to survive.  

But survival came at a cost. The mutated animals grew fiercer, more aggressive. Once-docile creatures became predators, stalking the icy wastelands. And among the survivors, those whose mutations had seemed harmless at first now revealed their darker sides. Mild temperaments gave way to madness, and they roamed the frozen wilderness, seeking sustenance wherever they could find it—be it plant, animal, or human.  

This was the new world: a frozen hellscape where the rules of nature had been rewritten, and survival demanded sacrifices no one had ever dreamed of making.