THE PUDGY
STORY
The Calm Before The Storm
The Frozenshore slept, endless and white. Mountains loomed, their shadows still as stone. A penguin stood by the ice hole, fishing rod abandoned, a crate of fish piled high. The world held its breath. Above, the sky split. A thin streak of cyan fire carved through the blue, silent and swift. Its glow touched snow, water, and feather but went unseen. The penguin stared at the rippling hole, unaware.
The Fall
The penguin stood small and still, a shadow against endless white. A glow tore through the heavens—orange, wild, alive. The sky screamed as fire roared downward, splitting night apart. The impact came, an explosion of gold and red, a sun born in frost. Ice shattered. Ash billowed. The earth shook as a BOOM rolled across the tundra, deafening and eternal. And the penguin watched, its shadow long against the ruin.
A Gift From Another World
The crater steamed, dark and broken, as the penguins circled the wound. At its heart sat the cube—smooth, silent, alive. The word "FORCE" marked on its cold black surface. Then, all at once, cyan veins pulsed beneath its metallic skin, a heartbeat of power. One penguin reached, trembling. The cube answered. Light erupted—a shock of energy, bright and terrible. Sparks danced on feathers, arcs of cyan fire wrapped their bodies. The ice cracked, humming beneath them. When the light faded, their eyes glowed, and they understood that they've been given knowledge of outer origins.
The Rise
The ice groaned under the weight of progress. Where there was once silence, now came the clatter of metal, the hiss of steam, the hum of energy pulled from the cube's light. The penguins moved with purpose—small flippers wielding tools, black eyes sharp with newfound understanding. Machines rose from the snow, angular and gleaming. Towers of ice reinforced with steel clawed at the sky. Gears turned, pistons hissed, and sparks danced as crude engines roared to life. The tundra shimmered with the glow of cyan veins—power drawn from the heart of the cube. One penguin stood atop the tallest structure, its feathers rippling in the cold wind. It watched the machines hum and move, its gaze distant, thoughtful. The others worked below, tireless, unstoppable. The Frozenshore was no longer asleep. And neither were they.