The small concrete room was freezing cold. The air felt heavy and sharp. Every time a person took a breath, thick white smoke came out of their mouth.Jonah stood in the corner of the room. He watched a man named Gage.Gage was the camp armorer. Before the world ended, he was a mechanic who fixed cars. Now, he fixed weapons. He was a smart man with dirty hands and a tired face.Right now, Gage looked completely defeated.Gage sat at a wooden table. The table was covered in guns. There were black rifles, heavy shotguns, and small pistols. They were the weapons the survivors had used to fight Prophet Cain’s army.Gage picked up a black rifle. He wore thick gloves, but his hands were shaking violently from the cold.He pulled the metal charging handle of the rifle. He tried to pull it back, but it did not move. It was stuck.Gage grunted. He pulled harder. He put all of his weight into it. SNAP!The metal handle broke completely off. It fell to the floor with a loud clink.Gage sighed. H

Jonah raised his giant, scarred right fist. He brought his fist down onto the glowing orange metal.CLANG!The sound was absolutely deafening. It sounded like a massive church bell ringing inside the concrete room.Bright orange sparks exploded into the air, flying like tiny, beautiful stars in the dark room. The thick steel pipe flattened instantly under Jonah’s bare fist.The survivors gasped in pure shock. They covered their ears.Jonah raised his fist again.CLANG!More sparks flew. The hot metal bent exactly where Jonah wanted it to bend. He hit it again and again. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!He was not just hitting it blindly. He was shaping it. He was folding the heavy metal over itself, making it incredibly dense and heavy at one end.Jonah was acting as a living power hammer. His iron-scarred hand did not burn. It did not blister. The intense heat of the glowing metal felt like nothing compared to the agony he had survived on the cross."Incredible," Gage whispered, staring at the

The concrete room was freezing. The air was so cold that every breath looked like thick, white smoke.SMASH!The loud, heavy sound bounced off the gray walls."Again!" Jonah roared. His deep voice filled the room.Elena raised the heavy iron mace. Her arms were shaking violently. Sweat poured down her scarred face, freezing instantly on her chin. She gasped for air. She swung the heavy mace down as hard as she could.SMASH!The iron head of the mace hit a large, solid block of frozen concrete on the floor. Pieces of ice and rock flew into the air.Elena fell to her knees. She dropped the mace. Clang. She was completely exhausted. She could not lift her arms anymore."I can't," Elena cried. She stared at her red, blistered hands. "It is too heavy, Jonah. I have no strength left."Jonah walked over to her. His heavy boots hit the floor. Thud. Thud.Jonah’s broad chest was bare. The thick, dark iron scars covering his skin were cold and gray. He did not feel magical power anymore. He onl

"I am terrified, Lisa," Jonah whispered. He confessed his deepest, darkest fear. A single tear escaped his eye. "When I saw him falling off that cliff in the dark cave... my heart stopped. I cannot watch him die. I just cannot."Lisa moved her hand. She gently touched the tear on his dirty cheek. "I know," Lisa whispered back. "Love is terrifying. It is the heaviest burden in the world. But love is not a shield, Jonah. You cannot wrap him in bubble wrap and put him on a shelf."Lisa looked across the room. She looked at Kevin sitting alone on the wooden box."Love is a sword," Lisa said firmly. "You have to arm him. You have to teach him how to swing the sword. If you truly want him to survive this broken world... you have to let him stand beside you. Not behind you."Jonah looked at Kevin. He saw the sadness in his son's slumped shoulders. He saw the fire that had been put out.Jonah took a deep, shaky breath. He nodded slowly. "You are always right, mechanic," Jonah whispered.Lisa

The heavy logging trucks had escaped the whiteout. It was a miracle. When the giant Ice Behemoth destroyed the third truck, Jonah and Kevin drove the other two trucks away as fast as they could. They pushed the heavy engines to the absolute limit. They left the giant monster behind in the swirling snow.They found a temporary safe place. It was an old, concrete factory with a high stone wall. They drove the trucks inside and closed the heavy steel gates.They carried the giant, silver Echo Seed inside the factory. But the victory was very short.The cold was winning. The Cryospheric Collapse was too strong. The ancient Echo Seed needed electricity to keep the pure blue light shining. Without the blue light, the safe bubble would die. The dark yellow fog and the freezing snow would kill them all.Lisa had connected the Echo Seed to a large, old, rusty generator in the factory basement. The generator burned diesel fuel to make electricity. It kept the blue light alive.But machines get