Monday: The Long Trek
The cold air bit at their skin as they trudged onward, the trek growing longer and steeper with every passing hour. Jas, Ivy Mae, and Roman were exhausted, but they kept pushing forward. Their footsteps crunched against the frost-covered ground, the only sound breaking the eerie silence that seemed to blanket everything around them.
The animals, too, had become quiet, moving alongside them in a strange sort of solidarity. Sleepy Z, the cat, seemed to prefer following them from a distance, but even he knew something was different. The little chipmunk Jas had saved earlier perched on their shoulder, clutching their collar as though it, too, understood the importance of this journey.
The air grew thinner as they climbed higher up the ridge, their breaths coming out in visible puffs, and the wind grew stronger. They could hear the occasional rustling of leaves and the distant cries of birds, migrating in strange patterns that didn’t match any normal seasonal shift. Something was definitely wrong.
“Just a little further,” Jas said, their voice strained from the exertion but firm. “We can do this.”
Roman wiped the sweat from his brow, despite the chill. “I’m not sure how much longer I can go. I haven’t felt this tired since... well, since I don’t even know when.”
“We all feel it,” Ivy Mae replied, glancing back at the animals who were keeping pace. “But we have to find out what’s happening. There’s no turning back now.”
They continued to climb, the ridge seeming to stretch endlessly before them. The higher they went, the more they noticed the strange behavior of the wildlife. The birds were flying in large groups, but not in any recognizable pattern. They seemed to be heading northwest, farther away from their usual migratory paths, as though being drawn to something.
After hours of climbing, the summit finally came into view. The exhaustion and the cold made their limbs ache, but there was no time to stop. They reached the top of the ridge and paused, catching their breath.
Then, they looked down.
The sight that greeted them was unlike anything they had ever imagined. Below them, the Grand Canyon stretched out like a massive, flooded basin. The once-dry riverbed now overflowed with water, and in some areas, the rock walls had eroded to reveal pools of water swirling in a vicious current. The cliffs, once jagged and stark, were now softened by the rising waters. But the most astonishing thing of all was the strange sight of small icebergs, floating down what had once been the Colorado River.
“Is that... real?” Ivy Mae whispered, staring down at the surreal sight.
Jas nodded slowly, a sinking feeling growing in their chest. “It has to be. This is the proof.”
Roman squinted at the horizon, where the icebergs drifted lazily, moving with the current. “I thought the Grand Canyon was a desert. This isn’t supposed to happen.”
The waters below glistened with a surreal, almost unnatural sheen. The icebergs bobbed gently, but the landscape surrounding them was changing rapidly. Even the animals seemed unsettled. Some of the larger birds had stopped flying and had settled in the trees, watching the scene below with wide eyes.
“The map in that control room,” Jas said softly, their eyes still fixed on the sight. “This is it. The flooding... the rising seas... everything. It’s happening now.”
Ivy Mae’s voice trembled slightly as she spoke. “We thought we were the only ones who could see it. But this...” She gestured to the canyon below, to the icy flow cutting through it. “It’s bigger than us. It’s all real.”
Sleepy Z let out a low, plaintive mew, seeming to sense the tension in the air.
Roman turned to face the others, his face grim. “We need to keep moving. There’s no time to waste. Whatever’s causing this, we need to find out. This can’t just be happening out of nowhere.”
They stood there for a moment longer, each lost in their thoughts as they gazed down at the transformation of the Grand Canyon. The icebergs continued to drift, slowly making their way toward a distant horizon that no one could predict.
The landscape felt as though it were buckling beneath the weight of the changes. It wasn’t just the river running wild or the strange ice floating where none had ever been. It was the world itself shifting—perhaps irreparably. And they had no choice but to keep moving forward into the unknown.