Chapter 1: Awakening On a Distant Shore

Soundtrack: The Great Giana Sisters - 'Epic Diva' by Zeratul


The universe was completely still. As far as he knew, "he" was simply nothing at all, merely a series of thoughts floating in a vast expanse of nothingness. Soon, however, he heard the sounds of both the wind and a slow moving tide, and to top it off, he felt the combination of the stinging bite of cold on his exposed face and the pleasant sensation of the warm rays of sun hitting his body. Still, he lay on on the cold, hard surface, not wanting to remember where he was, why he was there, or even who he was; as uncomfortable as he currently was, just being able to forget everything, no matter for how brief a period of time, was a transcendental experience that he for some reason knew he would never be able to partake in again. Just as inevitably as a summer vacation draws to a close and the dreaded arrival of school and all of its unpleasantness looms in the horizon, however, wave after wave of returning realization crashed against the young boy's heart.
He was Abner, a 15 year old boy from an unimportant, insignificant part of the United States, and he currently had a self-imposed mission to complete - to find Santa Clause. He had left home in a hurry, not daring to tell anyone he knew of his admittedly insane quest, lest he be mollycoddled and told he was just desperate in light of the circumstances, or worse, carted off to some kind of clinic. He didn't need to hear how illogical it all sounded, he himself had known this from the beginning. Maybe he was desperate, but if he was desperate enough and believed in the idea hard enough, surely he would get what he wanted. Admittedly, he had given up believing in Santa Clause when he was still in elementary school, but the times and circumstances changed. Remembering all of this now, Abner opened his eyes.
The sight that greeted him was not an unpleasant one. True, it was desolate and there wasn't a living creature in sight, but the purity of it all struck Abner as quite enchanting, and a complete departure from the gray and brown life of the midwest. In front of him, there were structures of ice that rivaled the highest of buildings from his small hometown, and behind him there were more of these, separated, however, by large and not-so-large expanses of the bluest water he had ever seen. If not for the circumstances of him being there, Abner thought it would have been quite the nice place to be. Now, however, was not the time for sight-seeing, regardless of the beauty of this natural wonder. He stood up slowly, tightened the harness of his backpack, and set off walking in the only direction available to him.