NOVEL NEXT Chapter 112: Threnody of Dubious Inchoation
8 years went by in a flash. Aeburgh's development had dramatically accelerated thanks to Bayren. With his Calamity constructs, he could carve ice with surgical precision and brace the cavern walls with equal ease, allowing engineers to build proper supports without risking collapse. The fledgling town soon took shape around a forest of massive pillars, each one shielding the settlement from the crushing weight of tons upon tons of compacted ice overhead. The research center had also grown quite large, the structure pouring deeper and deeper into the Pit of Styx, ever closer to the territory of adult Carboxarax.
Aeburgh had been established near the rim of an active ice diapir: a region where warm, ductile ice welled upward from deeper strata in slow, bulbous plumes. These rising pockets became the heart of local study—accessible, stable, and teeming with an astonishingly rich ecology. Here, researchers found carbosynthetic organisms resembling a hybrid between lichen and kelp, their fronds whispering around columns of effervescent bubbles. Pearly, plant-like growths clung to the diapir walls, laying the foundation for an entire biome that nurtured juvenile Carboxarax. And while "juvenile" was a relative term, the creatures still stretched over 14 meters. They lacked the adults' thick, insulating pelt of ice-melting filaments. Without that mantle of bio-silicone fur, they remained mostly incapable of breaching the upper ice, lingering instead in the warmer diapir chambers.
A group of researchers slowly crept along a vein of ice that linked the Pit of Styx with the Gherman Diapir. Their expedition was a modest but varied group: 8 researchers, a towering Diodecian, 4 rookie rangers, 2 veteran rangers, and a pair of mechanoids trudging behind with their equipment packed neatly across reinforced backs. The icy vein was lit with strong Kyyr lamps drilled into the walls—each one casting a cool edge-blue light that pushed back against the otherwise void-black tunnels, turning the oppressive darkness into a beautiful shimmering display of glittering ice. And though there was beauty, there was a dire undercurrent of dread as the group took measured breaths from their helmet's respirators.
At the front, a veteran ranger and a senior researcher moved with deliberate precision. Taking turns, they pulsed their Kyyr into a specialized Spectrolidar Array—a spined, disc-shaped instrument that sent out sweeping waves of spectral vibration, searching for any signs of life tunneling through the surrounding ice. Trailing behind them, another researcher periodically stopped to check the status of dart-like devices pressed deep into the ice in order to check the structural stability of the tunnel.
To increase safety even further, everyone present had devices on their helmets that swept the surrounding ice with lidar, giving everyone a personal but less accurate 3D map of their surroundings.
The journey to the Gherman Diapir was a dangerous, day-long journey into lightless depths—a harsh trek even for seasoned locals, and far worse for anyone from beyond. Near the back of the line, a young ranger drew a strained breath, struggling to hide the tremor in his chest. His first outing into the deep ice was proving far more brutal than he'd imagined.
Even with Himadri's gravity at only 38% of Vivant worlds, the strain wore on him. The frigid cold seeped through the joints of his suit, the claustrophobic squeeze of the armor pressed down on his ribs, and the tight, winding tunnels swallowed every step in the starry darkness of the shimmering ice.
"How're you kids holding up?" the veteran ranger asked, glancing back at the 4 rookies trailing behind him.
"Nervous! But striving to live up to your expectations, Captain Corren!" one of them announced proudly, straightening up.
Corren huffed a quiet laugh. "Locke, your spirit never fails, huh?"
"Never, sir! It's been a dream of mine to face the depths of the Pit of Styx, sir!"
Corren smirked. "What about the rest of you?"
One of the rangers groaned. "I'm starting to really feel my choice in my leg muscles… I didn't realize I'd get stationed on some miserable ice planet going on extreme nature hikes."
Locke spun toward him, aghast. "WHAT!? How could you regret such a spirited journey of scientific discovery? Rusk—that isn't very manly of you!"
"Ugh… Manly my ass. Freezing my ass off in some dingy monster cave isn't manly."
"But it is!" Locke declared, voice rising. "Venturing into the depths for the sake of others is beyond manly! It's true I wish to see the Sea of Beasts—but I'm also here to proudly protect the brave researchers expanding the library of human knowledge!"
Rusk had already dissociated with the conversation as he stared at the glowing ice around them.
Corren looked past the two bickering rookies to the pair walking farther back. "What about you two? How's the ice treating you?"
The taller one spoke first. "It's a lot spookier than I'd envisioned… It's starting to really hit me how scary reality is compared to our training."
Locke puffed his chest. "Truly! But without fear, there can be no courage! So let us rejoice in our successful training!"
Corren shifted his attention to the last rookie. "What about you Pax?"
"It's hard… and cold. And there's no turning back anymore." Pax gave a small smile behind his visor. "But… It's kind of exciting."
"YES! YES! YES! 100% Little Pax!" Locke shouted, his voice echoing off the tunnel. "Turn fear into courage! The ice may be cold and the air unbreathable—but our souls burn hot even in this darkness!"
Corren gave him a tired half-smile. "Keep your spirits high, but stay primed for action. The closer we get to the Diapir, the more alien life we'll encounter."
"Yes Sir!" Locke shouted, to the dismay of his fellow rookies.
The descent grew monotonous as the vein expanded—wider, wetter, and heavier with each passing meter. Meltwater slicked the walls in slow, trembling rivulets. Older expeditions had left behind anchors, rail lines, and climbing rigs for the steeper slopes, but the route never stayed the same for long. The restless movement of Carboxarax beneath the ice and the constant seismic breathing of the sheet above ensured that every trip required fresh maintenance. What had been stable a week ago could be warped, half-flooded, or sheared open now.
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The vein widened further still, its ceiling rising, its floor dipping into irregular shelves of polished, glassy ice—until, at last, the tunnel spat the group out into a cavernous void. A yawning black expanse opened before them. The only thing dividing the darkness was a line of dim man-made lights, casting a pale spine of illumination across a narrow metal walkway that stretched forward before vanishing into the abyss.
"Woah! What is this place!?" Locke rushed ahead of several researchers, boots clanging across the metal grating that formed the floating path through the cavern. "Yo, guys, there's water here!"
A nearby researcher stepped up beside him. "This used to be an underground lake. Thanks to Lord Bayren, we managed to drain it and lay down this fancy bridge."
"Woah? Are there animals here?"
The researcher's tone shifted, darkening just slightly. "Sometimes… so stay sharp."
The group continued deeper, their footsteps ringing through the vast chamber. The echoes rolled outward, swallowed by the blackness as a few rookies angled their helmet-lights upward—only to find themselves staring into a ceiling so high it dissolved into an unreachable void.
The tall rookie, Keiran, tapped Pax on the shoulder. "Yo. Check the 3D map." He held out the display built into his wrist unit. "This place is huge."
Pax leaned closer. The map showed the cavern spanning out into a titanic hollow—black water pooling around the walkway with depths between 100 and 200 meters, and above them a vertical maw of darkness stretching nearly 600 meters high.
"That's insane… How much water was even in here?"
Ranger Corren overheard them. "A lot," he said simply. "We're not really supposed to ask, but… I still wonder how he did it. How the hell Lord Bayren drained all that water—alone." His gaze drifted upward into the void. "I've worked under other C.E.s before. And every time, I walk away feeling… off. Like I'm pointless."
Pax's eyes traced the ripples of black water licking against the metal struts beneath them. "Yeah," he murmured. "I get that."
The leading ranger raised a fist, signaling for the unit to halt. Their boots clattered to a stop along the metal grating, and his voice came through their comms instead of barking out into the cavern.
He spoke softly. "Organisms up ahead—9, 12, and 3 o'clock. Looks like a pod of Typhrollites. 5 individuals. Keep your Kyyr up and fall into formation."
The team shifted immediately. Researchers pulled back toward the center, while the rangers repositioned themselves in a loose defensive crescent. The Diodecian took the front—towering, broad-shouldered, and built like every member of his species: muscular, imposing, and crowned with the head of a shrimp. He and the lead ranger, Thale, dialed up their helmet-lights, flooding the path ahead with a harsher, more focused glow.
There—about 23 meters ahead—pale shapes drifted into the edge of the rangers' lights. Long-bodied and coated in thick pelts of silicone fur, the creatures sat lazily on the metal path, their forms dominated by a massive mouth that stretched all the way back to where a tail would normally begin.
From the sides of this elongated mouth-body jutted 3 pairs of appendages that could easily be mistaken for limbs. But on Himadri, these were nothing more than highly specialized radulas—scraping organs that had evolved convergently into arm-like organs. At the tip of the mouth, what resembled a head was actually a sharp beak used to burrow through the ice. Trailing from the rear of that stretched mouth, its body transitioned into a segmented, nubby thorax, ending in a muscular foot. This foot had further adapted into a flexible tail-organ decorated with delicate, veiled structures that emitted a faint, seemingly purposeless mint-green glow.
These creatures, though similar in appearance to the Carboxarax, were nothing more than a fascinating case of convergent evolution that mimicked the much larger species.
The pod didn't react to the approaching lights. One snapped its beak once, a soft metallic clack echoing through the cavern, while the rest simply lazed across the path in idle stillness. Each creature was roughly 3 meters long—sleek, low to the ground, and unnervingly unconcerned with the intruders.
The Diodecian, Villo, clicked his mandibles thoughtfully. "Odd… I've never seen them this far up."
Thale studied the creatures for a moment. "Yeah, it's strange, but not unheard of. They might've burrowed up from the Diapir."
"Indeed." Villo's voice carried a faint rumble. "Shall I remove them?"
Thale glanced back at the researcher running the Spectrolidar. "Are we cleared for removal?"
The researcher gave a simple thumbs-up.
Thale nodded. "Alright. Keep your Kyyr to a minimum—we don't want to draw any unwanted attention."
"Roger," Villo replied, padding forward with slow, deliberate steps. The Typhrollites snapped their beaks at random, utterly unbothered by the approaching Diodecian. Villo coalesced Kyyr on his fingertip, a green flame pulsing in the bleak half-light. He pointed at the creatures clustered on the metal path and raised the fire's temperature.
A single wisp of green fire drifted free from his pointer finger. It floated forward with eerie grace, wafting through the air until it hovered just above the snout of the nearest Typhrollite.
Villo narrowed his eyes and snapped his fingers.
The wisp ballooned into a bright, swelling orb of green fire.
The Typhrollites rattled in alarm, their bodies shuddering in a flurry of silicone fur as they scrambled to flee the heat. They skittered off the path in a panic, their sleek forms crashing into the black water below before vanishing into the murk.
The group waited in tense silence, listening to the echo of crashing water until it lulled into suffocating silence.
Villo stepped forward to inspect the damage. The metal railing was bent, and several of the walkway lights had been shattered. He exhaled sharply—a tired, annoyed sigh—before gesturing the all-clear to the rest of the unit.
Rusk shuddered in his boots. "Fuck. Those things were huge…" he said, as he glanced around, eyes settling on the black water.
"And they're considered small," Corren teased.
"For real!?" Locke exclaimed in excitement. "Life is ever fascinating! Don't you agree, comrades!"
The group ignored him as they walked along.
Corren checked his gear as he walked. "We're getting closer. Gherman Station's only 2 hours out from here."
"Only?!" Rusk complained. "Just 2 freaking awesome hours? Wow! So close!" He nudged Pax. "We're practically there, huh?"
"Woo…" Pax answered weakly, failing to match his energy.
They continued along the metal walkway, the dark narrowing around them as they were swallowed into another icy tight tunnel. Their path was threaded with dim lights and old sensor units left behind by previous expeditions. Step by step, they pressed on, until—
"Stop," Commander Thale ordered over the comms.
Rusk groaned. "Now what…?"
At the very front, Thale knelt, his visor light sweeping over the ground. "Sweet Symbols…" he muttered. A trail of ice screws—once marking a secure route—now terminated abruptly at the edge of a massive, gaping pit of absolute black.
The lead researcher clipped his harness onto the last intact ice screws and leaned forward, letting his visor-light trace the darkness upward into the ceiling far above the pit. His breath caught. "It can't be… at this depth—? U-unbelievable…"
Thale turned to his companion. "You think it's an adult?"
The researcher thought for a second. "It has to be… the pit's berth… it's enormous."
"Do we turn back? It's not like we can cross this."
The researcher shook his head quickly. "No. We need to contact Lord Bayren. A situation like this is invaluable—for us, and for him. Let's regroup near the lake entrance and set up a temp-camp while I contact Aeburgh."
Thale gave him a curt nod, though he lingered by the massive pit as he pulled out a small laser measuring tape. He frowned at the measured diameter. 86 meters… By Enlil's light… How massive can they get?