Tales of Merlia: The Tale of Holly Day

Part 5

As the days melted into weeks and the weeks melted into months, the snow kept falling, and when it didn't fall, the clouds shrouded the sun with their thick titanium bodies. The days were cold, dead, lifeless.

The snows upon the lands became inches deep, and the snow piled up so high that humans and mers alike ended up waist deep in snow. No matter how many times they cleared away the snow to make paths and attempt to find some ground to plant crops, the snow would keep growing and growing.

Not that it really mattered. The moment they found any ground under the what felt like miles of snow, the farmers and the tenders found the ground to be frozen solid. Not at all an ideal growing condition for crops.

As a result of the dwindling supply of food, it didn't take very long for the mortals to go hungry. No one was truly prepared for the flurry that was forced upon them. There were some who stockpiled cans and jars of pickled cucumbers, beets, and even herring. But even that began to run out.

Humans began to hoard whatever food they could. Food became a type of currency. You want me to repair your boat? How much food ya got?

The humans began to fight for their food. This led to humans dying from more than just starvation. And there were even cases where families were so hungry that they killed mers for their flesh. They found the bodies of the mers did not taste good, but when you're hungry, you are willing to do anything to fill your belly.

That's not even mentioning the illnesses that ran rampant in humans. Colds that morphed into pneumonia. Asthma attacks, hypothermia, and influenza, fevers and chills. Things that seemed so small, snowballed into massive illnesses that swept through the land.

And it was no better for those under the sea. The sea grew so cold and began to glaze over with thick ice. Fish who were so used to warmer climates could not handle the swift change of temperature and developed illnesses such as ich and fin rot, and more began to die from the cold.

The same happened with Mers. The intense temperatures caused stress, which caused illnesses like ich and fin rot to name a few. 

And many tended to die despite all the magic they had to keep their kingdoms warm. Even the Trench, the coldest kingdom under the sea could not handle the lowering temperatures, many in the trench succumbed to malnutrition, illness, and death.

Even the Selkie Kingdom, who lives in the Ice Lands where icebergs float in the sea the size of mountains suffered. For them, the snowy weather transformed into horrid blizzards that lasted from morning and onto the night. The seas were far too rough to fish or swim, and no matter how much heat magic they used, they could not ward away the winter winds, and so they suffered like all the rest.

As the months marched on, the mortals suffered. Sick, hungry, and scared. They fought among each other, spilling blood for just a slice of bread. They screamed to the skies, hoping, praying that the goddesses would spare them. But a majority believed that they were cursed. Mers started to sacrifice their kin to appease the gods.

 Altogether, there was as much blood soaking into the ground as there was snow.

But as time went on, and red stained the snow, the kingdoms grew tired of all the death and sickness. Though they disliked humans, they understood that if the earth was out of balance, the sea would suffer.

 For the sea and land could not live without one another.