Intermission
The Front of the Planet Hall
The instant Cryonix woke up from his heat induced slumber brought about by the Sun God, he felt the wonderful chill of his lord passing over the world, wiping out the disgusting corruption of the Sun God in the process. But then he realized that he appeared to be buried in the ground, so he simply flexed the muscles all over his body and shattered whatever it was that entombed him, soon finding himself in some sort of concrete jungle. One where strange objects with warm ones could be seen flying through the air and others across the ground.
It was disgusting to see.
Of course, it didn't last long before they all stopped flying, crashing into the ground with all of the many bright lights around the concrete jungle shutting off as well as his lord's power swept over it all. Then the shards came. Transmitters holding the cryo energy of the universe.
Cryonix wasn't sure what had happened after the Sun God took control of the universe, but he was sure of one thing. Everything was returning to how it should be.
That is, until the creature deemed an 'intelligent frozen one' by the humans it had encountered and slaughtered found an irregularity. A creature neither a warm one nor a frost denizen. One that seemed to stop in the middle of the transformation process into a frost denizen.
An excellent gift for lord Cocytus when he arrives in the future.
Or he would have made one, if the second class denizen had done its job. Instead the inferior creature was put down like the pest it was.
Cryonix had thought the thing was all he'd need, but it would appear as if he had either underestimated the irregular, or overestimated the power of these newly born denizens. Both very likely possibilities.
But still...
The highborn denizen narrows his glowing blue eyes on the glowing red forms of the warm ones he can see through the walls.
How did the warm ones grow so weak over time? And why are there so many of them? There couldn't have been even a fourth of this many on any single planet before our slumber... although there are those delectable ones that have the strange organism inside of their bodies.
Cryonix continues to stare at the building for a few seconds before glancing to the inferior creature kneeling to his left with his head down. The creature is one of those very delectable warm ones. Ones who are much stronger than the others, most likely because of the strange organism that appears to have integrated itself into them.
Did the warm ones begin relying on symbionts to grow in power? Is that why most of them are so weak now?
The warm one in question shivers as he feels the creature's gaze on him, only to eventually raise his head to meet Cryonix's gaze.
"Tell me of the Sun God," Cryonix asks, not bothering to waste words as his eyes practically drill holes in the man. And he can't help but notice the confusion that arises from the term 'Sun God'.
A few seconds pass, then the man asks in a stern tone of voice that defies the fear Cryonix can smell wafting from him, "I apologize, but what is the Sun God?"
Cryonix can't help but feel a strong sensation of surprise as he listens to the man's heart and doesn't hear it skip a beat or show any signs of lying. But despite that, he repeats the question, "Tell me of the Sun God ruling over the warm ones."
This just makes the man even more confused as he says, "I don't know of a Sun God, or any ruler."
Once again, the highborn denizen finds the man to be telling the truth. Which only serves to confuse him even more.
Did the Sun God perish? Or perhaps she chose to allow her people to be free from her guidance and control?
Before Cryonix can think of any other possibilities, he finally notices the tiny chip in the back of the man's neck. And more specifically, the heat energy inside of the device.
So the denizen immediately reaches for the warm one, grabbing the creature's entire head in his enormous hand before lifting him up as it screams in defiance. But he simply ignores that to turn him around and bring the back of the warm one's head closer to his own face.
There it is. So the Sun God does still have a measure of control over her flock. But how does this work?
He continues staring at the device for a few seconds, ignoring the warm one's distress in the process before eventually deciding to turn his attention to the dozen frost denizens of the second class that had stayed behind with him as he says, "Bring me another warm one with heat energy devices in their necks."
Cryonix then ignores the half dozen denizens who immediately begin rushing off towards the large building as he turns his attention back onto the warm one while still studying the device. But he doesn't take it out of the warm one yet.
No. This one is the only one that's bothered answering my questions as of yet.
The more Cryonix studies the strange device though, the more he can't help but glare at it, not understanding much of anything about it beyond that it has heat energy inside of it. So he eventually turns the warm one around again, the man having finally stopped fighting his grip after both giving up and realizing he wasn't going to kill him right now.
"Answer me. What is this strange device in your body? And why does it have heat energy in it?" Cryonix asks while bringing the warm one's face to his own.
This action appears to frighten the human even more, to the point that when he answers there is actual fear in his voice this time, "I-it's t-the terminal given to e-every soldier in t-the Terran Empire. It connects us to t- the mother terminal and everything else we n-need in the Empire."
Mother terminal? Could that be the Sun God?
"Where is this 'mother terminal'?" Cryonix asks.
The man seems to regain some of his composure from earlier after getting over his initial shock, proving his value to the highborn denizen as he answers, "It's in the head of the emperor. Just like my terminal is behind my ear."
Ear? The thing is in his neck, not his ear. So why... interesting.
After searching more, Cryonix manages to find a small chip behind their ear that appears to be connected to the device at the back of his neck. But while the device on the back of his neck seems slightly more biological with heat energy in it, the one behind his ear is just made out of metal, just
like the strange technology that stopped working during the initial spreading of his lord's power.
However, before Cryonix can say anything else, his head jerks upwards as he senses a familiar scent. One belonging to the irregular.
It's back.
Chapter 76
Arrival of a New Player
Alexander North
After finding and entering one of the secret entrances for Planet Hall, I quickly begin sprinting through the halls of the place until I reach the stairs and begin to find frozen ones. Although all of these at this point are rather weak, so I deal with them quickly and move on after absorbing their energy.
While I was doing so, I can't help but notice that my terminal is still working.
Terminal, why aren't you locked up? I disobeyed a direct order from my captain.
|This unit does not follow the same chain of command anymore and therefore is not beholden to orders from any other terminal unit|
That statement alone surprises me enough to stop moving.
Say what?
That's... how did a little mutation to you lead to that?
|Answer to Alexander's query is unclear, however, this unit
believes that the energy making up the foundation of the terminal has been corrupted and turned into something entirely different|
Energy? What energy? Aren't terminals just running on electricity or something? Some sort of tiny generator in my body inside of the chip?
|Incorrect. This unit – prior to mutation – ran on an energy very similar and yet completely opposite to the energy running through Alexander's body. Now, however, the energies have fused into one, creating a new power source that disconnected this unit from any chains of command previously set|
Wait, does that mean there's something else out there that could cause another Eternal Winter? And it has energy in our bodies?
|Incorrect. This energy is on the opposite side of the spectrum from the energy in your body as while the energy behind the Eternal Winter
is based on the cold, the one in your body is the opposite and is based on heat|
I frown at that, only to shake my head and continue running up the stairs.
Whatever. I can deal with that info dump later.
Terminal, bring up the map of the building my father sent over.
The terminal does just that, displaying it minimized in the corner of
my vision. And just like dad said, the map has a small dot marking the last point where the captain contacted headquarters according to the captain's own words, seeing as the GPS is down.
I continue running all the way until I get to the floor they were on at the time, which is the third floor, but I don't find a single heat signature on it. So I move towards the stairs for the next floor, getting more than a little frustrated that the stairs aren't all in just a single stairwell. Especially since they were supposed to be in a single stairwell in the other secret entrance, but that secret entrance was already used by someone else. Most likely the captain. So it was sealed.
And when I tried breaking the door down? I just found rubble on the other side, blocking the way.
Damned annoying building layout.
I still don't find anyone on the third floor aside from frozen ones that I continue slaughtering before finding the stairs and moving up. This process then repeats several times until I finally begin to run into more powerful frozen ones that stall me for longer.
But then the terminal gives me a rather ominous warning.
|Energy hereby designated as 'heat energy,' as opposed to the 'cold energy' in Alexander's body, has been detected building up in the atmosphere|
And right after I hear that, I do begin to notice things starting to heat up ever so slightly. Meanwhile the frost coating the walls begins to melt in some areas, only to recover again soon after as if there were two energies fighting over dominance.
What the fuck is happening now?!
Out of nowhere, I see a lot of the incredibly weak frozen ones – the ones with less than half a point of energy – dying off in what looks like extreme agony. The flying ones having fallen out of the air to convulse on
the ground, while the ones on the ground simply start to convulse, losing their footing in the process for the ones on the walls and ceiling.
But the frozen ones with energy higher than about half a point simply ignore the changes and continue rushing towards the stairs like they're mad. I personally don't feel anything weird happening to me, so I eventually
just ignore the weirdness to continue running. Since any second wasted could be the end of one of the team.
It only takes me stepping into the next stairwell and finding a window there to stop again as I see parts of the storm just vanished at random with what looks like sunlight streaking through. But those parts continuously appear to be warring with other parts, with neither of them gaining any ground.
"Okay, what the fuck is going on here?" I ask out loud, starting to lose any sense I had of the situation at hand. Of the Eternal Winter, the frozen ones, the symbionts and terminals, and everything else going on here.
|Massive heat energy source approaching from the skies|
I raise my head at that to look up, only to find what looks like a small glowing orangish red dot approaching. Or at least, small for several more seconds as it continues to grow larger and larger until it's practically just a blazing sun right in front of me that's scattering away the majority of the Eternal Winter.
At this point I think I'm numbed to the events that seem to be destroying the laws of physics, so I stare at the thing before the sun shrinks till it's just a single person. A single creature.
Very clearly not human, but still humanoid. It has glowing gold and red eyes, with the whites in its eyes replaced by gold and the irises replaced by red with more gold in the place of the pupil, along with several glowing golden rings floating in circles around it and a cold expression on its face as it looks down at the intelligent frozen one standing in front of Planet Hall.
Then the intelligent frozen one begins to float itself until its on level elevation with the new creature.
Chapter 77
Reunited
Alexander North
"So the Sun God is finally making her move?" the intelligent frozen one's voice echoes seemingly throughout the entire city as I watch wide- eyed from the window. "Don't you think it's a little bit too late for that?"
The new entity frowns but doesn't say anything in response.
"Shall we forgo the talking then?" the intelligent frozen one asks after a few seconds of silence, and the new being immediately nods its head, still not saying a word. "Very well then."
A shockwave bursts outwards from the two as they clash in midair, too fast for my eyes to see, despite my senses having improved greatly since losing my humanity.
Holy fucking shit... just where did this thing come from? And is it really on the side of humanity?
Considering that it has the energy that the terminal found in my, well, terminal, it might be. But it may also just be some sort of force trying to control humans as well for all I know.
The most important thing right now, is that it is fighting the intelligent frozen one. That's all that matters.
I turn around and begin running right as the two beings begin wrecking parts of the city in their battle, sending waves of heat and frost in each clash. I climb up the stairs, focusing on each floor for any heat signatures I may find.
And eventually, I do manage to find some behind a wall. So I step back before ramming into the wall, smashing a hole through it into the other side to find some familiar faces along with a lot of unfamiliar ones all turning around and tensing while raising swords in my direction. But when my team sees it's me, they quickly lower them.
"Alex?!" I hear Cynthia shout in shock, and I nod over to her after finding her without a helmet on. In fact, none of them have any helmets on,
and their weapons are all damaged along with their armor. But what catches my eye the most are the significant number of frozen one corpses lying around the room, many of which seem to have no injuries.
I let out a sigh of relief.
My relief doesn't last long though as I look through my team, only to find a few of them missing.
"Where are Victoria and the captain?" I ask, directing my gaze towards Cynthia, but I feel a pit developing in the back of my throat as soon as I see her face. One of sorrow, regret, and fear.
No one answers me, and the soldiers behind the remainder of my team continue standing stiffly with their weapons raised, each of them looking directly at my inhuman eyes. But I ignore them as I step forward two steps and repeat, "Where are they?!"
Silence remains, with the only sounds being that of the loud explosions and crashing sounds coming from outside the building, caused by the fight between the two beings.
Eventually Cynthia finally answers, crushing my hopes of the two still being alive, "The captain and Victoria died giving us time to escape a lower floor."
My eyes narrow immediately, and I feel a powerful hatred surge up towards that intelligent frozen one outside. But I still retain enough sanity through it to understand just how suicidal it would be to fight it. So I take a deep breath, flexing and unflexing my hands in the process as my claws continuously pop out on their own, an apparent side effect of my anger.
This appears to make the other soldiers even more cautious, but eventually the princess calms them down by explaining who I am.
After several more seconds of deep breaths, I calm myself down completely, returning to my normal, neutral thoughts. Simply blocking out the emotions for now until I actually have the time to process them.
"Do you know what's going on?" Cynthia asks, having seen that I've returned to my senses.
I shake my head and quickly answer, "Not entirely. But here is what I've been able to discover so far..."
And so I spend several minutes simply telling them almost everything that has happened since we split up, except for the girl. Mostly because I don't want these other soldiers knowing about her for some reason.
Maybe because they may choose to take her existence as a threat assuming they do so towards mine? And she can't defend herself like I can, so.
Everyone stays silent for my words, explosions sounding from outside the building along with tremors as I do so until I reach the end and silence ensues.
One of the soldiers apart from my team speaks up first, asking, "How do we know you're telling the truth." And that immediately has the members of my team scowling at him. But I just send him an indifferent look before saying, "Why should I care if you believe me?"
At this point I think the most important thing to me is the survival of myself, my friends, and that kid and Snow. The other soldiers here and the civilians, they aren't anywhere near as important to me. Trillions of people have already died in this hellscape, and even more are following suit. The best I can do is protect those I care about now.
The man opens his mouth to say something, seeming offended for a second, only for Cynthia to snap, "Lawrence, that's enough. The person you're speaking to is both a second lieutenant and a North."
His mouth snaps shut without another word.
I glance at the insignia on his shoulder indicating his rank, just to find that he's a sergeant. Meaning I outrank him by two ranks.
Putting the guy to the back of my mind for now, I glance at the other soldiers to find that most of them are all around the same rank as him. But in the corner I also find two captains, both injured pretty badly and seemingly dying with no one taking care of them beyond keeping them comfortable as we speak.
I wince slightly at that with a sigh but decide against mentioning anything.
Doesn't look like there's anything we can do for those two.
I return my attention to Cynthia, only to finally notice a scent coming from her, designating her in my mind as a symbiont host. Which means her emergency symbiont was shocked to action.
That's good. It'll keep her safe.
"Let's go," I tell them before turning around and walking through the hole I made in the wall, soon hearing the others marching after me.
Chapter 78
The Lesser Archon
Alexander North
We make our way through the building with me and Cynthia dealing with the still surviving frozen ones before I eventually remember the captains who were lying down in the room. But when I turn back, I find that only half of the soldiers in the room not part of our team actually joined us, the rest likely remaining behind with the captains.
Whatever. Not my problem.
My only responsibility is my own team and Cynthia.
The tremors from the fight outside continue to shake the building as
we walk through the floors, repeatedly passing by windows every time we reach the stairs, showing the previously vast buildings of the city having been crushed and destroyed in the two being's fight. And each time we pass, I can't help but equate the beings to what I would've assumed a god was like before. But if these two are referring to other beings like they have been throughout their fight as gods, then how powerful are those 'gods?'
One of them is being referred to as the Winter God and the other the Sun God. And if I had to guess, then I'd say the Winter God was probably woken up or something by the Arctic Empire on the planet known as Cocytus. Since that's really the only thing that makes sense given what dad's told me, along with that emergency announcement.
Once we reach the first floor of the building, we all make a beeline straight towards the closest secret entrance, not a single one of us saying a word the entire way there. But after we arrive at a large training hall that's holding the secret entrance on one side of the room, we find something unpleasant inside.
"More warm ones?" a large creature with glowing pale blue says while standing amidst a pile of bisected human corpses. The creature has a sort of crown on its head, with some sort of metal sticking up in four corners, each with a silvery, grayish blue sheen to them, some rather coarse looking hair,
and completely blue skin. It has various glowing shards floating around it, each of them much sharper than any shards I've seen before, and it's very obvious that those were what cut the humans in half. And the moment its eyes land on me, they narrow, and it tilts its head, muttering, "The irregular?"
I frown as I take in the humanoid creature. It's wearing some sort of blackish grey metal armor that reminds me a little bit of the metal worn by the infected symbiont host.
The creature raises one of its armor covered hands, making the shards begin spinning rather slowly in place as it calls out, "Irregular. Come with me without a fuss and I will consider letting the other warm ones have a head start."
Almost immediately, the soldiers not with my team book it for the edge of the room, attempting to skirt around the monster. But it just waves its hand in their direction, sending several shards – one for each person – their way that then cut straight through them before returning to the creature again.
I can't help but grimace at the sight and sound of parts of their bodies falling to the ground in a splatter as the frozen one continues staring at me unblinking. And the soldiers can't even get out more than a simple cry before ice spreads from the impact of their wound, freezing them solid.
"You have ten seconds to decide," the creature says, the shards slowly spinning around it as it does so.
Terminal, what is that creature's energy level?
|Intelligent frozen one is determined to have an energy level of 6.1. Combat with it is not recommended unless absolutely necessary|
My grimace takes a turn for the worse at that answer.
After a few seconds of silence, I glance at Cynthia, only to sigh. Then I whisper, "Run," and immediately turn around and sprint towards the frozen one, startling everyone in the room who's still alive.
It only takes my team and Cynthia a single second before they all begin running, spreading out to cover both sides of the training hall as I get close enough to the frozen one to raise my hand, my claws extending in the process. Meanwhile the frozen one in question still seems surprised by our actions and doesn't move fast enough to avoid my claws, which tear a streak straight across its armored chest, digging in maybe an inch or so into
the thing's armor. But the armor then repairs itself right after as the creature stumbles backwards and looks down at where the wound was.
"You..." it mutters, the voice sounding masculine, but the creature not having a human body makes it difficult to tell. "You attacked me?"
I don't bother giving it time to recover from its surprise, simply striking at it again as the others all run around the edges of the training hall towards the secret exit which is currently standing wide open on the far wall, letting in a small amount of snow mixed with sunlight.
|Alexander's actions do not make logical sense. User Alexander is recommended to abandon this fight and escape|
Too bad. I'm not just gonna leave my cousin or my team alone. Not to mention that I doubt I'd be able to anyways.
The creature in question raises its head to look at me, its eyes narrowing as it asks, "I'm to take this as you refusing my offer?"
I don't say anything in response, just throwing a kick at its side before clawing at it again with my hand, the creature still too stunned to offer a response.
"Very well," it states, the shards beginning to spin around again at much faster speeds now. "If that is your decision, I will humble you for a time. It may just give an idea of what you're capable of that I can bring to my master."
I frown at that, but continue attacking the creature anyways.
Its master is likely the frozen one outside fighting that other entity. And it's obvious that that thing wants me for some reason.
Doesn't mean I'll just sit down and turn myself in though.
Before either of us can attack though, a loud crash shakes the building – likely caused by the two beings slamming into it. Dust quickly begins falling from the ceiling, following which cracks appear on it and the walls.
"Leave!" I shout at the others while rushing forward again with my right clawed hand raised into the air, and they immediately leave through the emergency exit without much hesitation, making me let out a breath of relief. But then another loud crash echoes and the ceiling cracks right at the same time that I feel a sharp pain in my gut from where the frozen one's shard slices through me.
I cough out a mouthful of blood but don't stop my attack as rubble falls down from the ceiling, covering both entrances of the room in the process, along with a good half of the room, just barely missing the two of
us. The frozen one's eyes then widen with a small amount of rage when my claws once again cleave through its chest, but unlike the other time, I jab my other hand straight through before it can heal, dealing even more damage and getting my hand inside of its body.
A shocked expression appears on my face when I feel the core at its chest though, because the thing won't budge no matter how hard I tug. And eventually my hand is just forced out of the wound as it heals itself, the armor healing along with it before the frozen one staggers slightly and almost falls to its knees while sucking in a gasp of breath.
"What the fuck are you anyways?!" I shout while looking between my clawed hand which is coated in blue blood with a color similar to the ice around us and the creature who is glaring at me from its place on one knee.
"Me?" it asks as rubble continues falling down from the ceiling, getting close enough to us that I have to dodge out of the way of a massive chunk of it. The creature begins standing up, its eyes flashing with a cold blue light even brighter than before. "I am a member of the Vanguard. The first forces of His Excellency to arrive at planets controlled by the Sun God meant to bring his domain and spread the eternal frost to all." It pauses when it reaches its full height, spreading its arms out and making the shards around it begin speeding up as more and more rubble continues to fall around us. "I am Hailion, third in command of the one thousand five hundredth and sixty-first Vanguard, and direct subordinate of the Vanguard himself, Cryonix!"
I blink once, then twice in silence after his introduction before saying, "I'm Alexander North," and rushing at him again without another word, startling him in the process.
Guess he thought I was gonna be impressed or give some sort of fancy introduction of my own.
We clash over and over, my energy healing the wounds his shard gives me and his own healing the wounds my claws deal to him, all while the building crumbles around us. Eventually though the space grows so cramped that we can't fight very well anymore, everywhere we look being covered in rubble from the above floors, and nowhere around us showing a way out of the training hall.
Huh. Looks like I'll be dying here.
But at least I could save Cynthia and the others.
I suddenly grin while panting in exhaustion and staring at the frozen one called Hailion.
"What is that look for irregular Alexander?" Hailion asks while also breathing heavily with parts of his armor finally slowing down in healing itself.
"Nothing much," I respond, my grin growing wider as everything around us collapses, intelligible and unintelligible screams echoing outside the building from both humans and frozen ones, and even more loud noises coming from the two beings' fight filling the rest of the area. "Just thought that if I'm gonna go down here anyways, I might as well do everything I can to take you with me."
The frozen one's eyes narrow, but I just rush forwards, my claws out and a grin still on my face.
Only for a loud cracking sound to echo through the remainder of the training hall before the remainder of the ceiling and what looks to be several ceilings above it shatter and begin raining downwards. I ignore this still to take advantage of the frozen one's distraction, my death no longer being something I care about as I rip my way straight into its chest and wrap my hand around the core located where its heart should be. And this time, I manage to tear the thing out – likely due to the lack of energy in its body.
The creature looks down in shock, clearly not having expected me to be able to pull it out. But I just smirk at it and then kick it, sending it flying into a rock that is then squashed by a part of the ceiling with the remainder of his body along with it, and sending me backwards as well to just barely avoid a piece of rubble that lands where we were standing.
After landing, I begin to climb to my feet, only to feel a sudden wetness begin dripping down my front. So I look down to find half a dozen large shards embedded in my torso in various locations.
I cough out a mouthful of bluish-red blood before collapsing to the ground on my front.
The rubble continues falling down all around me, and soon enough I can see the massive pieces getting close, just seconds away from crushing me and the rest of the training hall. But I drag myself only a meter or so over using the slight surge in strength I feel coming from the core of that frozen one gripped in my hand before rolling over onto my back once I'm underneath another pile of rubble.
"Looks like everything was for naught..." I mutter with another cough as my analysis updates to show the effects of absorbing the intelligent frozen one's core. "At least the others got out of here."
I don't get the chance to read the updated analysis page as everything goes dark the moment the rubble hits the ground and my canopy of rubble, burying me alive with the shards still in my torso.
Epilogue
Outside of the Planet Hall
Things weren't supposed to turn out like this... why the hell did he have to sacrifice himself?!
"We have to save him!" Michelle shouts as she tries digging out the rubble of what used to be the Planet Hall. And Cynthia is struggling not to join her herself.
But she can't.
Cynthia looks up at the two entities fighting while destroying the city, only to focus on the clashing fiery energy and cold energy in the air that's both freezing and melting portions of the city alongside their fight.
"We have to go," she mutters, feeling a stabbing pain in her chest from what she suspects is her heart breaking at the thought of abandoning her cousin.
Michelle doesn't listen and instead continues trying to dig out the rubble, with little to no success. Instead ending up with bloody hands in the process without managing to move a single piece of rubble.
"Michael," Cynthia mutters while glancing at Michelle's twin, who quickly nods his head and begins to drag her away with some struggle.
Damnit...
Cynthia looks up at the battle between the entities for a moment again before frowning at the rubble in front of her. But after letting out a sigh and clenching her fist so hard that her fingernails dig into her palm, she turns around and begins leading her cousin's team away from Planet Hall.
I will come back. And I will find you, Alex. I swear on that.
The two entities continue battling for nearly an entire week, clashing back and forth seemingly with no end, and devastating the majority of the city in the process. Meanwhile the few remaining humans all abandon the
city entirely, heading towards the neighboring cities and military bases instead.
Eventually the eternal winter around the planet begins to abate as part of the world fills with heat energy instead, making various large patches of eternal winter slowly pass over the world, with the remaining parts acting just like they were before the eternal winter came. And the two entities who were locked in battle for a week's time?
Neither of them were seen again, presumed too injured to appear by the remaining humans of the planet.
However, one and a half weeks after the entities began battling, a group of three can be seen approaching the former Planet Hall. Amongst these three, one of them is wearing worn out military armor with the aura of a Tier 1 Symbiont Host, while the other two consist of a young girl with stark white hair and pitch black eyes ringed with glowing blue circles, and a large wolf whose fur is made partially out of ice.
"Are you sure he's still there?" Cynthia asks with a frown before adding, "And still alive?"
Cynthia had tried searching herself multiple times over the last week, but even with her strength as a Tier 1 Symbiont Host, she couldn't dig enough, the rubble proving to be too much for her. And none of the other Symbiont Hosts at the military base she and the others had taken over as a base of operations and shared with a surviving councilman wanted to help her.
Damned selfish cowards are too afraid to risk their own lives going to the capital of the planet...
Ever since the battle, none of the survivors ever saw the beings again. Why that was true, no one knows. But some of the other survivors are assuming that the two creatures are slowly biding their time, recovering in Planet Hall or somewhere else in the capital.
So no one ever goes here.
The frozen ones returned in mass right after the entities vanished as well, so many assume that the frozen one won the battle. But Cynthia believes otherwise.
Why would there be so many warm patches on the planet now if the other one was actually defeated? It's more likely they came to some sort of a draw.
"Yes," the girl – Cynthia believes she introduced herself as Alexia – says, not saying any more than that.
The only reason Cynthia believed her in the first place was because she was with Snow, who Cynthia knew trusted Alex more than anything. So she couldn't have been a bad person. And Snow herself seemed to be partially leading the way along with her, so Cynthia decided to trust them.
She better not be lying when she says she can sense his energy though...
The group continues walking until they reach the same spot that Cynthia had tried digging at before, making Cynthia frown at the sight of it. But they don't stop there and instead continue moving a little bit further down until they find a small opening that shocks Cynthia into halting her steps.
This was here all this time!?
Alexia continues walking, ignoring the symbiont host as she enters the opening with Snow. Which serves to rush Cynthia into catching up, soon finding herself inside of the training hall. Or what's left of it.
The princess then watches Alexia and Snow slowly begin picking up their pace, as if in a hurry as they get closer and closer to the center of what used to be the training hall, occasionally having to pause for the three to work together in clearing out rubble in their way. And eventually, they find a faint glowing blue light shining out from underneath a portion of the rubble, making Cynthia's heart skip a beat.
Is it really him...? Please be him...
Cynthia picks up the pace as well until the three finally manage to unearth the source of the glowing light, finding Alex lying on his back with various massive wounds covering his torso, with even more spots on his body having been crushed underneath the rubble.
"No..." Cynthia mutters, feeling all the hope that had begun building up being pulled out from under her in an instant as she collapses to her knees next to him.
"He's still alive," the girl says before suddenly sobbing, making Cynthia's head shoot up to look at her with shock on her face. She then focuses on Alex's body to realize that he wouldn't be letting off a blue light
if he were dead. So she gets closer and puts her hand to his neck, only to realize that wouldn't work since he doesn't have a heartbeat thanks to his artificial heart. So instead she moves her hand up to his mouth.
The moment she feels a very faint breathing pattern through her hand, tears begin to leak down from her eyes. But then her eyes are drawn to his wounds which she only now realizes are very slowly healing. At least, the bruises and wounds from the rubble.
Out of nowhere, Snow lets out a light growly whine sound and bumps her nose up against Alex's hand.
I just hope the other wounds heal as well...
Cynthia shakes her head, snapping her out of her stupor as she reaches down to pick Alex up, the girl quickly helping her.
"Do you have anywhere to bring him?" Cynthia asks Alexia, knowing that bringing him to the base would be a bad idea in case the councilman ever found out about him.
The girl nods her head.
"Alright, then let's head there," Cynthia says, a light smile stretching across her face for the first time in who knows how long.
Don't worry Alex, you're not dying on my watch.
The three proceed to leave Planet Hall behind before heading in the direction of the city outskirts, where Alexia brings her to a bunker that is surprisingly still intact. She then points Cynthia to a bed and asks, "Can you leave him there?"
Cynthia does so, feeling slightly surprised by how calm the child is. But also taking some small measure of comfort as she realizes just how similar to Alex she is acting.
Just who is she anyways?
Her answer doesn't come anytime soon, as soon after she puts Alex down, her terminal rings with a message that has her frowning. She then turns to the child and says, "Please watch over him whenever I'm gone. I have to deal with something at the base."
The child nods but doesn't take her eyes off of Alex as she clutches his hand.
Cynthia's smile grows slightly at the sight.
I think he'll be safe with her.
She then turns around and leaves the bunker.
Now I just have to deal with that idiot of a councilman...
Author's Note
Hello! Thank you so much for taking the time to read Eternal Winter's Reign, Book 1, Infected!
If you enjoyed the book, then please consider leaving a review! It helps me a lot as a self-published author!
Not as much to say in this author's note since I just released The Undying Magician book 2 last month, but in case you don't read that story,
I'll repeat some of it.
This upcoming year is my last year in college before I graduate, so I'll
have even more time to write afterwards.
Next up, Dungeon from the Void Book 4 will be coming out late next month, followed by book 1 of a new series The Calling of Wrath in the
month after that!
And then the plan is for The Rise of the Winter Wolf book 5 either one
or two months after that.