Darkness Beyond The Ice 5 (STORY)

— — Chapter 4 << >> Chapter 6

**The Necrotic Wasteland**

Third Earth’s air is a suffocating miasma of decay, thick with the stench of necrotic flesh and ozone.

Ethan and Jax crouch behind the ribcage of a dead titan, its bones fossilized into jagged obsidian spires. Above them, the sky weeps black fluid from festering stars, pooling into rivers that hiss and writhe like living shadows.

Jax grips his pistol, loaded with Anunnaki grenades. “This place isn’t just dead — it’s *digesting* itself.”

Ethan’s inverted serpent-and-compass mark pulses on his palm, a cold fire searing into his veins. The Gigalmu calls for him from the titan’s chest, its resonance syncing with his heartbeat. *“We’re close,”* he mutters, though every step deeper into the wasteland feels like a betrayal.

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### **The Shayatin’s Feast**

The Shayatin swarm.

Born of Custodian experiments and Third Earth’s entropy, their bodies are grotesque patchworks of flesh and machine — jaws unhinging into serrated wheels, limbs elongating into barbed wires. They chant in a guttural tongue: *“Key-bearer… the door… the feast…”*

Jax fires grenades into the horde, their explosions splattering acidic viscera. “They’re not trying to kill us! They’re herding us toward the Gigalmu!”

Ethan’s mark flares, repelling the creatures momentarily. “They want it too. Move!”

— -

### **The Titan’s Heart**

At the titan’s chest cavity, the Gigalmu pulses — a black orb veined with golden light.

Ethan’s reflection warps in its surface: his face aging, decaying, reborn in a loop.

Jax spots the trap too late. “Ethan, don’t — !”

Ethan grabs the relic.

Third Earth *screams*.

— -

### **The Gigalmu’s Truth**

Visions rip through Ethan’s mind:

- **The Yuga-Sleepers**, formless entities chained in a void, gnawing at the roots of reality.

**Queen Ninhursag** laughing as Tiamat’s gates seal, abandoning Terra Infinita to the Yuga Protocol.

- **Alden Voss** on New Eden, his Custodian-fused body dissolving into biomass, fueling a portal to **Fourth Earth**.

The Gigalmu’s voice booms: *“The seed does not break chains — it transfers them. You have freed the Sleepers… and bound yourself.”*

Ethan’s mark spreads, cracking his skin like porcelain. “We’ve been played.”

— -

### **Jax’s Sacrifice**

Shayatin close in, frenzied by the Gigalmu’s energy. Jax shoves Ethan aside, detonating his grenade belt.

“Tell the Skythians… I drank their damn sky-whale blood after all!”

The blast tears through the titan’s corpse. Ethan falls through a rift, the Gigalmu fused to his chest.

— -

### **The Abandonment**

Ethan crashes into the Blood Plains, now a warzone. Custodian warships rain chrono-bombs, erasing chunks of Terra Infinita. Above, the sky fractures — a jagged tear revealing **Fourth Earth’s** cybernetic hellscape.

Enkidu’s severed head lies at his feet, its holographic eyes flickering: *“Ninhursag… betrayed us… Yuga Protocol… it’s too late…”*

— -

### ** The Ice Walls Fall **

Ethan staggers toward the serpentine mountain, the Gigalmu’s energy corroding his body. The mark has spread to his face, his eyes now twin voids.

In the distance, the Ice Walls of First Earth crumble.

From the fissures, **Yuga-Sleepers** stir — their whispers unraveling the stars.

A hologram of Captain Rhea flickers on his wrist: *“Ethan… the Sleepers are awake. And they’re hungry.”*

— -

**Next Chapter Preview: Ch 6: The Siege of New Eden**

Ethan rallies the remnants of Terra Infinita — Skythians, rogue Anunnaki, and Custodian defectors ….

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* Next Chapter in Thursday 03/4 or here.

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* This story originally posted on medium: here