Spells and Louds
Chapter 149: Siberian discovery
(Siberia Russia, current temperature: Way below zero)
Neil is looking through his binoculars around the frozen wasteland.
He scans the perimeter and all he sees is snow, so he switches to heat vision mode, then when he turns he's startled by a man sized heated figure in front of him.
"Oh my god!" he drops his binoculars. It was Leon in heavy winter clothing.
"What the hell are you doing in front of me?!" said Neil as he picks up his binoculars.
"Why are we here again?!" yelled Leon as he tries to stay warm.
Neil goes back to scanning. "Reports of seismic activity within the icy lake that we are currently standing on."
"Okay, but why are we doing this?" asked Leon who is still cold.
Neil looks at him confused. "Dude, I know it's freezing…."
"IT IS BELOW ZERO!" yelled Leon.
Neil tries to calm him down. "Okay, it is below Zero, but we're here to find out whats been disturbing the lake and whats been spooking some of the locals."
Leon looks at him confused. "What locals?! There aren't any villages for miles!"
Neil then points behind him less than one hundred yards away. Leon sees some lights in that distance. "Oh, that Village."
"You're just upset because you can't sustain yourself in this weather" said Neil as he goes back to scanning.
Leon is wearing heavy winter gear, Victor is there wearing the same thing, but for some reason he's okay with the cold.
Lori/Volcana is there and creating a heat aura to warm up the Tiger Tank.
Luna and Dana are there because, well you all know why.
Sergei is also there not wearing any winter gear alongside Neil. Why? Sergei was first found in Siberia and Neil has DeathWing and Zerg DNA inside of him.
"So, why did you tag along man?" asked Neil.
"I thought we were going to do a simple mission. This is not fucking simple" said Leon.
"Then go stand next to Lori and stay warm" replied Neil.
"Fine, why isn't Becky here anyway?" asked Leon.
Dana then arrives after patrolling. "Becky may be fire, but her healing flames can't handle this kind of weather. Go and stand next to Lori Leo."
Dana kisses his cheek which feels warm. "Thanks." Leon stands next to Lori who is leaning against the tank and texting.
Lori notices him. "Winter sucks huh?"
Leon just sits and leans onto the tiger tank. "Damn right!"
Sergei with Luna patrol another area on the frozen lake.
Then Sergei stops and touches the frozen ground.
Luna notices this. "Dude, what's wrong?"
Sergei then goes wide eyed and stands up. "There's something under the ice!"
"What?!" said Luna.
Sergei backs up. "We have to fall back and tell the others, it's not safe here and I think it may be looking for anything warm."
Luna and Sergei run back to the tiger tank.
Neil is still looking around with his binoculars, then Victor approaches him. "No sign of anything here. Maybe the locals just saw things, this winter can make you hallucinate."
"Good! Can we go home now?!" yelled Leon.
Neil puts his binoculars down. "Yeah. Let's get the hell out of this desolate place."
Then he spots Luna and Sergei running towards them.
"What the heck has gotten them all riled about?" asked Victor.
"Something's not right" said Dana.
Then Neil touches the frozen ground and he can feel something moving in the water, something bigger than a whale. "Oh no."
Then the ice under the tiger tank starts to shake, Lori and Leon back up. "What the heck?!"
Then it stops and the cracks on the ice follow where Lori and Leon are, so Leon pushes her out of the way and something giant breaks out of the ice and eats Leon.
The creature is snake like, huge, a burning horn and multiple eyes.
Then it submerges back into the water.
"LEON!" yelled Dana.
Luna and Sergei saw what happened and they all go to the hole in the water. "What on the hell was that thing?!" yelled Neil.
"I don't think it was aiming at Leon. I think it was after me" said Lori.
"No kidding dude" said Luna.
"Can someone explain what the hell is happening?!" said Victor.
"Whatever that thing is wants anything with the same temperature as it's horn. Probably Lori of course" replied Sergei.
Then they hear loud groaning sounds and coming out from the ice a few yards away from them is the same giant creature, only Leon is on its head screaming. "Holy Fucking Shi-" And back into the water.
"Oh good lord" said Neil.
It surfaces a few yards away with Leon screaming again. "Motherfuck-" into the water.
"So, should we do something?" asked Victor.
Surfaces again a few yards away. "Son of a B-" into the water.
They all group huddle. "Alright, we need to figure out how to fully lure that thing out of the water and rake it down" said Neil.
Surfaces again a few yards away. "Somebody hel-" into the water.
"Not to mention my boyfriend is on that thing!" said Dana.
Surfaces again a few yards away. "This thing is ugl-" into the water.
Lori then gets an idea. "That thing is looking for any source of heat right?
Surfaces again a few yards away. "Guys!" into the water.
"Okay, so we have the plan set. Lori will act as bait, Sergei will enter the Tiger tank and ready the ensnaring round, Victor and I will use our electric powers to stun it and then Luna and Dana will be ready to freeze it" said Neil.
"Good, let's do this dudes!" said Luna.
They all went to their positions all while Leon keeps resurfacing and diving back into the water screaming and holding onto the creature with a knife. "This is really scary!"
The creature underwater spots Lori's heat signature and surfaces. As it surfaces it gets hit by a tank round that opens into a net.
But Leon is caught in it. "Guys?!"
Neil charges up his ancient zerg electricity and Victor charges up his Tesla powers and they shock the creature but Leon is still on it! "For the love of Chrysler!"
Then Luna and Dana freeze it in place. Leon sees this. "Oh shit!"
And the creature is enveloped by icy fog.
Soon the fog clears up and they see the monster is nothing more than just a frozen statue. Also the blizzard has been cleared out.
"Woo! That was awesome!" said Luna.
"Not easy, but cool" said Victor.
"Nice job team!" said Neil.
Sergei comes out of the tank. "Umm, guys?" he points to the monsters head and they all see a frozen Leon screaming.
"Oh boy" Dana makes an ice road and reaches the top, she then melts the ice and frees Leon, who then screams.
Then he realizes he's free. "Are you okay Leon?" asked Dana.
Leon steps off the ice monster and slips and falls onto the snow below him. Dana gasps.
"I'm okay" replied Leon.
"Well, that's done. But who cleared out the blizzard?" asked Lori.
Then they saw Gyro approach them. "Sorry I wasn't here to help. It was not easy flying through thi-" he then spots the frozen monster.
"That is a Leviathan" said Gyro.
"A what now?!" asked Luna.
"From an alien planet that seems to be comprised of mostly water and used to have civilization. But this Leviathan is winter based. What the hell is this thing doing here?" said Gyro.
"Better yet, how did it get here?" said Victor.
"Can we please just go home" said Leon as he is being helped up by Dana.
"Alright, let me send this thing back then we can head on back to Royal Woods" said Gyro. He opens and portal and the leviathan is sent through.
"You all did well today and only brought the specific heroes for the job. Well done Spellman" said Gyro.
"Actually Lincoln and Linka were the ones who made the operational call" said Neil.
Gyro chuckles. "Tactical twins, still are."
"Okay, let's get going" said Victor as he hops onto the tank.
They all hop onboard but notice Sergei was missing.
"Where's uncle Sergei guys?" asked Luna.
Neil then spots Sergei standing and looking at something a few feet from them. "Hey Sergei! We going or what?!"
Leon comes out of the tiger. "Sergei! This thing needs her driver comrade!"
Sergei doesn't respond, he just walks towards whatever he is looking at.
They all get off the Tiger Tank and follow him.
"Sergei, what the hell?!" said Victor.
"Where the heck are you going?!" asked Lori.
"Something isn't right" said Neil,
Then they see Sergei stop in front of an old log cabin with a name on its door in Russian, but Leon and Victor could understand what it said. "Sergei Dragunov."
"That's my name. Why is it marked on this log cabin?" said Sergei.
Neil touches the ground. "This house is standing on a lone island in the middle of the lake. Far from civilization."
Sergei opens the door and they all head inside, it was pretty cold. Lori sees a fire place and some fresh still good wood in a chest, so she lights it up.
Gyro is still outside looking at the structure. "It can't be."
With light in the cabin they can see what was inside.
They see some Taxidermy animals, some old World War 1 guns on the wall, pictures of people and wood carved statues.
"This place looks homie" said Dana.
"Feels homie too" said Victor.
Leon opens a chest and inside was meat, all well preserved. "Wow! Fresh meat."
Neil was impressed by the giant fish mounted above the fire place.
Then he sees Sergei looking at a picture on the table.
They all approach him and see on the small picture was Sergei, in black and white, next to some Russian soldiers with guns.
"Okay, what the hell is going on?!" asked Leon.
Sergei then looks to the other pictures, they all had him on it.
Fishing, Hunting, Friends, building the cabin and a picture of Sergei with a crew on a T-34 tank in World War 2.
"Sergei, what is this?" asked Neil.
Sergei just looks with a deadpan look. "It's all me, this is where I lived. Where I survived."
"Guys" they all look to Luna who shows them a picture.
They all look at it and see, a Man with a mustache, he is Russian and has hair on his sides and back and some winter gear. Next to him is a woman one foot shorter than him also wearing winter clothing and has short brown hair and between them is an eleven year old boy. Smiling and holding a large fish.
"That's me" said Sergei. "And my parents."
They were all shocked.
"This doesn't make sense, this looks like it was taken during the late 1900's!" said Victor.
Lori was confused. "But that could only mean that-"
"He's not from this timeline?" asked Gyro who stepped into the cabin.
They all look at his stern face.
Sergei puts the picture down and approaches him with a stern look. "Guardian, what did you do? Who am I?"
Gyro goes to the fireplace. "You were born in March 4, 1923. The time when World War 1 was over."
"So, I'm from another timeline" said Sergei.
Neil steps in. "That shouldn't be possible! I found Sergei during my expedition in Siberia!"
"That's when I dropped him off" said Gyro.
They all gasped.
"I didn't expect you to find him that early Neil" replied Gyro.
Sergei then stepped in again. "Tell me, what happened?"
Gyro turned around. "Your father was a World War 1 soldier, but he couldn't be part of civilization after the last Tsar was overturned by Lenin and Stalin. So with his wife and his new born son, they built a small cabin on an island in the middle of the Siberian Lake. They still make contact and trips to the nearby village, your mother was an excellent wood carver and your father was a skilled hunter, he put his marksman skills to the test."
"You're parents taught you all you needed to do to survive in the frozen wastes and warned you of the new power in Russia. Then on March the 1st, 1934. You're mother and father took a boat to go to the woods and look for some lumber and animals, but they never came back."
They all felt uneasy hearing that. "What happened to them Gyro?" asked Sergei.
"You were eleven at that time, and you wanted to go and find them. So you did, you took a small boat and went into the woods, only to find that your parents have been shot by the NKVD."
Sergei's eyes went wide. "Stalin's officers."
Gyro sighed. "You didn't scream, but all you could see were your mother's eyes looking at you. Almost like she's telling you to run and survive. You went back to your boat and hid inside of the log cabin. For years you have lived your whole life inside of that structure, completely unnoticed by anyone but the people in the village. They all knew what had happened to your parents, they all wanted to help you. But you denied they're help and wanted to do it alone. That and you didn't trust anyone at that time."
"You put your fathers hunting and mothers wood carver skills to their best and made a good living out of it. You never found love, you grew into a strong man with the determination of a Siberian tiger, in which you also fought when you were hunting. But you always bowed to them when you defeated them or they defeated you."
They were now confused. "I'm sorry Sergei fought tigers?"
"He did and they respected him as he respected them" replied Gyro.
"So, why were they fighting?" asked Leon.
"Hunting grounds" replied Gyro.
"That makes sense and it is kind of odd" replied Luna.
"So, when did it all turn to shit?" asked Sergei.
"It was during the time Hitler set out operation Barbarossa. You were 19 at the time and wanted no part in Stalin or Hitler, but when you heard that many people were killed it sparked the Russian World War 1 soldier your father once had. Then your door was knocked by Colonel Oleg Isacovitch, he had orders to assign all strong men to join the fight. You didn't wanted to be put into conscription, but the colonel said that you are not going to be a conscript. They can see how strong you are and they have heard from the village that most of the time you help them with their vehicle problems and you also acted like a leader, but only when you were feeling positive. So you accepted the offer, but you told the colonel that you weren't doing this for Joseph Stalin. You told him that you were fighting for Mother Russia and her people, not for the tyrant. The Colonel understood, because he was also fighting for his motherland and not for Stalin."
"So they put me into a Tank" said Sergei.
"They did. You were the captain of a T-34 85mm Medium Tank, the newest in Russian armor divisions to knock out German Panther Tanks. You had three crewmen with you, Stephan Vasilyonok the driver, Serafim Lonov Ammo Loader and Demyan Volchok the machine gunner next to the driver. And of course you, Sergei Dragunov, Tank Commander and Gunner."
They all looked to Sergei with shock.
"Sergei, are you okay?" asked Victor.
Sergei looked to the guardian. "What happened to my crew?"
Gyro then made an image of Stalingrad in the fire. "After the red army claimed the rail yard and the outer city of Stalingrad. You and your lone T-34 drove through the debris of the city, it was laid to ruin after Katyusha rockets barraged it. You were sent to scout for possible Germans and you found plenty. 25 infantry kills and ten vehicles destroyed. You formed a bond with your men, in fact you were all against Stalin and were just doing this for Russia, not the Soviet Union. Then when you were all about to leave back to base, a Pak43mm Anti-tank gun spotted you. You turned your tank and spotted the gun and it was too late. You and your tank crew died."
They watched as the Tank in the fire exploded into flames. "Why am I here then?" asked Sergei.
"That would be my doing" replied Gyro.
They all gasped.
"I was sent by the immortal fates to come and rescue you. I knew that you were still alive in there, so I pulled you out before any German or Russian could make it. I took the privilege of burying your fallen comrades nearby and used my powers to restore your life, but your brain was heavily damaged. The Anti-tank shell hit the ammo box and scattered shrapnel."
"And that's how I ended up in the snowy wastelands of Siberia with no memory at all" replied Sergei.
Gyro looked at him and sighed with sadness. "I am sorry Sergei, I know that you wanted to die amongst the men you called family. But I did what I had to do."
Sergei then smiles. "All is good, I know now, that maybe by some stupid miracle. I was chosen to stay alive and keep on fighting and look where it led me now."
They were shocked to see how well Sergei took it.
"So you're not angry?" asked Dana.
Sergei turns to all of them. "I now remember what my mother said to me "When faith gives you a chance to live, take it and do good with it, do not stray away to darkness. Do not let Chernoboug claim you" it was also what my father said" replied Sergei.
They all gasped.
Neil and Leon felt happy for Sergei, but at the same time confused to the fact he's supposed to be very old.
Victor was having a hard time processing all of this. "Chernoboug is the Slavic god of darkness and if you died at the age of nineteen. Then right now shouldn't you be-"
"Ninety Six years old and possibly dead, though I was supposed to die amongst my men" replied Sergei.
Then Neil looked to Gyro. "Guardian, what else are you hiding from us?"
They all looked to him with confusion and stern faces.
Gyro sighed. "It does involve Leon, Martin and Victor. And it all came down with the immortal fates."
Neil sighs. "We're going back home. You need to tell this to everyone."
But before they leave Sergei picks up the picture of his parents with his young self and brings it with him. "I will always remember you, both of you."
He then puts out the fire in the fireplace and locks the door. But he did not notice the ghostly apparitions smiling at him from the living room chairs, both whispering the name in Russian. "Our little Cub, has returned home."
To be continued ….
Looks like they're all about to find out the origins of all of them. The Leviathan is from the game Subnautica: Below Zero and the Tank crew is from the crew from the movie T-34. Leave a review and tell me what you all think.