Darkness Beyond The Ice 4 (STORY)

— — Chapter 3<< >> Chapter 5

### **The Fortress of Screaming Crystal**

Tiamat is not a city — it is a **living paradox**. Its spires pulse with light stolen from dead stars,

while its foundations groan with the weight of collapsed dimensions. Anunnaki warriors, their azure skin etched with scars from battles fought in other realities, train in courtyards where time loops endlessly. Ethan’s healed chest burns as he passes a mural of the **serpent-and-compass**, its coils crushing a galaxy.

Enkidu leads them to the **Throne of Fractures**, where **Queen Ninhursag** waits. Her form shifts: one moment a warrior-queen clad in blackened armor, the next a spectral being of light and shadow. Her voice echoes from the walls:

*“Chainbreaker. You carry the stench of Known Earth. But you also carry… hope.”*

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### **The Queen’s Bargain**

Ninhursag offers a pact:

**Anunnaki armies** to storm the Custodians’ Martian stronghold, **New Eden**.

- **Technology** to sever the lifespan farms siphoning human energy.

- **The Price**: Ethan must retrieve the **Gigalmu**, a relic buried in the corpse of **Third Earth**, a dimension where even light is cannibalized by entropy.

Jax steps forward. “What’s the Gigalmu? Another weapon?”

The queen’s laughter cracks the air. *“Weapons are for mortals. The Gigalmu is a *seed* — a fragment of the **Yuga-Sleepers’** prison. Plant it in New Eden’s core, and their chains will shatter.”*

Enkidu leans close to Ethan. *“Do not ask what happens when the Sleepers wake.”*

— -

### **The Vision of Third Earth**

Ninhursag forces Ethan to gaze into the **Mirror of Unmaking**, a portal to Third Earth. What he sees defies sanity:

A sky of **rotting stars**, dripping black fluid onto a desert of bone.

- **Shayatin**, Custodian abominations, feasting on the remains of Anunnaki legions.

- The Gigalmu itself — a pulsing black orb — embedded in the chest of a dead titan, its face a mirror of Ethan’s own.

*“Third Earth is your future,”* Ninhursag whispers. *“Unless you rewrite it.”*

— -

### **The Blood Oath**

To enter Third Earth, Ethan must undergo the **Rite of Unbinding**. Anunnaki priests strap him to an altar of humming crystal.

Enkidu carves a rune into his palm — **the serpent-and-compass, inverted**.

*“This mark will let you walk in dead worlds,”* Enkidu says. *“But it will also call the Shayatin. Survive, and you become more than human.”*

As the ritual peaks, Ethan’s mind fractures:

- He sees **Alden Voss** on New Eden, his body dissolving into Custodian biomass.

- He hears **Captain Rhea’s** voice from the *NSS Horizon*: *“The Custodians’ pact with Mars… it’s not a treaty. It’s a* recipe.”*

- A glimpse of **First Earth’s leaders** signing the lifespan pact, their hands clasped with creatures made of shadow and static.

— -

### **The Custodian Counterstrike**

Mid-ritual, Tiamat shakes. Custodian warships phase into reality, their hulls stamped with the inverted serpent. They bombard the fortress with **chrono-bombs**, erasing chunks of the city from time itself.

Enkidu roars, mounting his steed. *“Go! Take the portal to Third Earth — NOW!”*

Jax hesitates. “This is a trap! The Anunnaki are using us to clean up their war!”

Ethan grabs his arm. “We don’t have a choice.”

— -

### ** The Mirror of Unmaking…**

They leap into the Mirror of Unmaking.

Third Earth’s air claws at their lungs, thick with the stench of decay. The Gigalmu pulses in the distance, guarded by Shayatin that *recognize* Ethan.

One creature hisses: *“Little key… you will open the door… and we will feast…”*

Jax loads his pistol with Anunnaki grenades. “You sure about this?”

Ethan stares at his inverted rune. *“No.”*

They charge toward the corpse of the titan.

— -

**Next Chapter Preview: Ch5: The Third Earth’s Wound**

Ethan and Jax battle Shayatin in a necrotic…

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* Next Chapter in Thursday 27/3 or here.

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* This story originally posted on medium: here