Beyond the great wall of ice, where the ruins of the Steel Empire vanish into frost and silence, the bounty hunter rode on.

For days, there was only snow, salt, and the groan of frozen metal beneath his horse’s hooves. His companion — the nameless automaton forged in Clockwork Island — followed beside him, gears whispering like prayers in the cold.

Then, one morning, they saw it:

A shimmer on the horizon, a vast structure rising from the mist — Unterwasserstadt, the City at Sea.

Built before the Great Freeze, it was once a marvel of steam engineering — a floating bastion powered by geothermal vents and endless machinery. When the climate turned against man and the Empire’s heart froze solid, the City withdrew to the ocean’s edge, surviving on faith, iron, and vapor.

Within its domes, beneath pipes that hummed with life, the hunter met Dr. Hans Schumacher, the last surviving engineer of the old Imperial Academy. The old man’s eyes widened when he saw the automaton.

“By the gears of the Archmechanist… You were part of Project Vale, weren’t you?” he whispered.

The robot’s glass eyes flickered.

“Designation: Vale Unit. Function: Lost.”

Dr. Schumacher nodded slowly.

“Then perhaps there’s hope yet. The Empire may be frozen, but not dead. The scavengers prey on what remains — ships, settlements, the bones of our past. But if we restore the old reactors, if the hunter will stand with us…”

The bounty hunter, silent as always, drew a small rosary from his coat. He looked through the frost-covered porthole — out into the black sea that carried their fragile city — and murmured,

“If there’s life left to save, then it’s God’s will that we try.”

From that day, the City at Sea became a symbol — the last living heart of mankind’s defiance. Steam and prayer, machine and soul, bound together against the endless ice.

❄️❄️❄️❄️🥶❄️🌊🏰🌊❄️🥶❄️❄️❄️❄️

Ventos frios que nos cercam

Nosso império congelou

Mas no mar uma verdade

Somos tudo o que restou...

Sopro gélido nas ruas

Engrenagens a girar

Correntes de água fria

Santuário a flutuar

Cidade no mar resiste

Vapor nos faz viver

No gelo a vida insiste

No oceano vamos crer

Máquinas que não param

O vapor gera o calor

No horizonte sempre atentos

Com esperança e fervor

Chama do futuro

Sonhos ainda têm

Cidade no mar perdura

Ao oceano e além!

Cidade no mar resiste

Vapor nos faz viver

No gelo a vida insiste

No oceano vamos crer

Sob um escuro céu noturno,

As Estrelas a brilhar,

Ecoando antigas preces,

Que o vapor faz despertar!

Chama do futuro,

Sonhos ainda têm,

Cidade no mar perdura,

Ao oceano e além!

Cidade no mar resiste,

O sol ainda vai nascer...

No gelo a vida persiste —

E voltamos a ascender!