“How much longer do you think we have?” Finn asked Orion as he rubbed his hands together, trying to create a little bit of warmth, albeit it wasn’t much.

Orion sighed. He paused and looked into the distance. The vast tundra covered in snow with not a person to be seen. Frozen lakes and trees blanketed in snow. It was a sight he loved, but now…well he wasn’t sure. The beauty of this frozen piece of Earth was something that was also cruel. The bitter cold and harsh winds gifted them with frostbite and no way to get back to the rest of the world. “I’m not sure, Finn. I’m not sure,” was all Orion said. He took off his backpack and checked the contents. Finn heard Orion sigh again.

“We don’t have much rations left? Am I right?” Finn asked. Orion silently shook his head. “The radio is still down I bet, and the avalanche destroyed our shelter. Overall, I think we’re doing just fine,” Finn said sarcastically, contrary to his useful cheerful self, as he plopped down into the cold snow.

Orion glanced over at Finn and said, “Well, what do you want me to do Orion?” He regretted ever convincing Finn to come here. Now they were both stuck in this situation. He didn’t blame him for being upset. He thought they could do it, but it seemed that nothing was working for them.

“Meh. Someone might find us. You never know,” Finn replied, seemingly unbothered.

“Aren’t you upset?” Orion asked. “I convinced you to come here and now we’ll both probably die! All because of my foolishness,” Orion said, slouching over.

“Are you done wallowing in self-pity?” Finn asked.

“What?” Orion said in surprise. “I’m not…” he began.

“Yes you are,” Finn said. “What we should be doing is attempting to get to our destination,” he said.

“You know we won’t be able to make it,” Orion said.

Finn smiled, “I guess, it’s just going to have to be a one-way trip.”

“You sure?” Orion asked, startled.

“What are friends for?” Finn asked as he got up. “We’ve gotten this far already. How can we stop? We are adventurers. We must do what we have to do. We can’t return home, but this doesn’t mean that we need to just give up on our goal. This is for the betterment of humanity…and I might have left my job,” he added, ending his dramatic speech.

Orion chuckled and said, “You look like an idiot.”

“Well then, as my job as the idiot friend, I will do the doing and you will do the thinking for me,” Finn said.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Orion said, his enthusiasm back.

“We should make it, as long as we don’t see any polar bears,” Finn said with a shiver.

Orion also shivered. “Oh, gosh. Don’t even mention the polar bears,” he said.

“We should get moving then because I can’t even feel my toes right now,” Finn said as he began walking.

Orion chuckled and pulled out a map that was tucked away in his pocket. “If we’ve been going the right way, we should be there soon. Let’s just hope that we haven’t been going the wrong way this whole time,” he said.

“You’re literally named after a constellation. There’s no way you could lead us the wrong way,” Finn said.

“What does my being named after a constellation have to do with my sense of direction?” Orion asked as they walked.

“Everything, Orion. Everything,” Finn said. “If you had a normal name, I don’t think I would have been able to trust you as much,” he added.

“You know, Finn? Sometimes I just don’t understand you, but I’ve just learned that I’m not going to even try anymore,” Orion said.

“It’s because I’m an enigma,” Finn said.

“You don’t even know what an enigma is,” Orion said.

“Nope,” Finn replied merrily. Finn looked around and said, “This place looks different compared to everywhere else, we’ve been. Everywhere else looked almost exactly the same, but it’s different here.”

Orion smiled wide as he said, “We're getting close. I know it!”

Finn ran forward as he said, “Let’s go then, we’ve got no time to waste. I knew we could trust your grandpa.”

“I never believed him until now!” Orion called to Finn. “Hey, don’t get too far ahead, and don’t forget to take pictures. We have to document everything,” Orion said.

Finn slowed down and said, “You really think we’ll find something?”

“I bet no one’s been here before,” Orion said. He paused seeing something in the corner of his eye. He reached out his hand to signal Finn to stop. He lowered his voice to a whisper and said, “You see that, Finn. I told you we would find something.”

Finn squinted his eyes before they went wide with surprise. He grabbed his camera that was hung around his neck and began to take pictures. He was glad that he had spent all that money on a high-quality camera that was silent. “Gosh, you scared me. I thought it was a polar bear or something,” he whispered.

“What do you think it is?” Orion asked, observing the small animal.

“No idea, never seen it before,” Finn said, focused on taking pictures. “Alright I got the pictures,” Finn said.

“I wish we had time to observe it,” Orion asked, his voice sounding regretful.

“I know, but we don’t have enough time,” Finn said. He now was focused on taking pictures of this place. The more they walked, the more the terrain changed. It had been just a flat, frozen, terrain, with sheets of frozen water, but now it was different. The snow was softer and appeared to be more new, but Finn knew that wasn’t right. Orion’s grandpa had said that this place was one of the oldest and unexplored places on Earth. Finn looked up as he felt something fall onto his face. “Snow!” he exclaimed. Typically, even though it was freezing cold, it rarely snowed in this place, since it was practically a frozen dessert, known as a tundra. At least that’s what has been documented.

Orion looked at the snow with wonder as he said, “It’s only snowing here. Nowhere else.”

“I can’t believe this place is real,” Finn said.

“I didn’t think this was even possible. I thought my grandpa was just telling a story,” Orion said writing in his notebook, as they continued to walk forward.

“The snow isn’t stopping, nor is it getting heavier. It’s remaining constant,” Finn said.

“Finn. Look!” Orion called with glee. Finn said looking at the scene in front of him with awe. Who knew that they would find a place like this in the middle of an artic dessert? He looked at the clear, shimmering blue water, in front of him. He took a couple of steps forward and reached his hand forward into the water.

“This water is warm, Orion,” Finn muttered.

Orion ran over and reached his hand into the water. “This shouldn’t be possible,” he said.

“Well I’ll say, we’ve made it to the end of the Earth, Orion. We’ve done it. We really have!” Finn exclaimed.

“What are you, a flat-earther? This can’t be the end of the earth,” Orion said, though the happiness evident on his face.

Finn pulled out one of those small, hand-held flags from his bag that he had prepared for this moment and a marker. He wrote “The end of the Earth,” and stuck it into the ground. “Too late,” he said, “I’ve already done it.”

Orion chuckled, “We have to document everything.” The two got to work, making sure to take pictures and write down notes based on everything they saw here. “We’re probably one of the first two people to have ever been here,” Orion remarked.

“Your grandpa knew about it, so someone must have been here before,” Finn replied.

“Maybe, it’s been a story passed down in my family for generations,” Orion said.

Finn plopped down in the snow, right by the water, and let out a big sigh. Orion sat down next to him and said, “We’ve done something amazing today. I’m glad you convinced me to continue.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Finn said with a smile before saying, “It would be nice if we could share this knowledge with the world though.” Finn tried to be optimistic, but he knew there was a slim chance of them returning home. “I wish someone would find us; my fingers have also gone numb now,” he sighed.

Orion looked over at the camera hung around Finn’s neck and felt for the notebook tucked away in his pocket. “Maybe…Just maybe,” he muttered as he lay down, looking at the clear sky above him.