The Eternal Winter - Book 1 - Intermission 3.0 (Patreon)

                                                 Somewhere in space, far away from planet Arran

A lone planet stands somewhere in between another planet and a now-dead sun.

This lone planet is known by the name Cocytus, and it has been a major tourist attraction for the Arctic Empire for millennia now. But now it is constantly radiating an eerie, pale blue light, and is the very center of the Eternal Winter, with its entire atmosphere being made out of the endless storm. Various frozen ones of all sorts, both fish, birds, insects, and even larger, more terrifying creatures such as the long-thought extinct dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures can be seen leaving the planet’s atmosphere. Some of these creatures are seen flapping their wings along their way through the air, while others are simply floating with the snow and ice of the Eternal Winter creating a path for them to move through.

Meanwhile, the planet close to Cocytus that used to be known as the Capital planet of the Arctic Empire is now a barren wasteland, completely covered in ice and lacking in any uninfected life thanks to its close proximity to the Eternal Winter’s source.

Out of nowhere, a woman suddenly appears wearing a special armor meant for space travel. This woman is one of the three dozen Tier 5 combatants, and one of the two space adapted symbiont hosts amongst the Terran Empire.

“Diane Hartrite reporting in,” she says, speaking through a direct connection with the general of the military. “The Arctic Empire’s capital is absent of any signs of human life. I will now scout out the next target location, Cocytus.”

After getting an affirmation from the general through her terminal, she travels straight through space with a narrow blue sphere around her towards Cocytus. And once she gets close to the atmosphere, she begins to swat away some of the frozen ones leaving the planet, sending them flying through space and out of sight in a mere instant with just a single touch.

“Millions of frozen ones confirmed leaving the frozen planet’s atmosphere.” She says without pausing in her killing spree. “Preparing to break through the atmosphere and land on the planet’s surface.”

“Proceed.” General Edward North responds through the terminal connection.

The special ranked soldier immediately creates a shockwave as she increases her speed, immediately smashing apart the frozen ones near her in the process before she breaks through the atmosphere and stops just above a large cloud of pale blue energy. She then floats in place and watches as pale blue shards occasionally get formed from amongst the clouds that appears to span across the entire planet from where she is floating. These shards then float away from the planet and begin shooting out into the universe.

Meanwhile the few dozens of shards that do go after her are all shattered the moment they reach the sphere around her body.

“The source of the shards has been located. It is a large cloud of radiation formed high above the planet’s surface, beneath the atmosphere.” The woman says, only to narrow her eyes and add a second later, “Proceeding through the cloud may not be possible without getting infected in the process.”

Several seconds pass in silence before the general responds, “See if you are able to clear a section of the cloud without making contact with it. One large enough to pass through.”

The woman’s brows furrow beneath her high tech helmet as she answers, “Roger that.”

She then takes a deep breath and lets it out again while pulling her fist back. After a second of holding her fist in place, she launches a punch with all of her strength straight at the cloud, sending a shockwave from the force of her blow that pushes the cloud of radiation away from that spot for several dozen meters.

Diane narrows her eyes at the barren wasteland of ice now showing beneath the cloud, along with all of the frozen ones walking around the ground and flying through the air to leave through the cloud. And after making sure that there isn’t any radiation on the surface itself, she immediately passes through the hole she had created before it fully seals itself back up.

“I’ve made it-” Diane begins, just to cut off as a notice from her terminal notifies her of the direct connection having been cut off the very second the cloud finishes reforming behind her. “Damnit.”

‘Looks like the energy can block direct connections as well, as long as it’s in enough concentration and completely surrounding you,’ she thinks with a glance towards the cloud above her. She then turns back to face the hordes of frozen ones now beginning to rush towards her location.

None of them manage to hurt her though as she easily moves away from her spot with a speed too fast for the regular human eye to see and wipes them all out. But despite this, more and more continue to appear from further away, followed by even more who begin to dig out of the ground or exit caves on the surface and head directly towards her.

By now Diane can be seen with sweat running down her brow from fear, but she continues eliminating them all with ease.

Until a few humanoid ones never before seen on any other planet show up.

The first frozen one has shards floating around its shoulders, with a monstrous looking face and a strange crown on its head. It’s wearing a set of armor made from a metal never before seen in the known universe, with some of its chest and torso exposed through the armor and a strange light blue crystal seemingly implanted in the center of its chest as its glowing blue eyes gaze up at the woman from the surface.

The second frozen one has an appearance similar to the wendigos, except with purely glowing blue eyes and a strange blue energy in liquid form dripping down its front torso. It’s wearing a different set of armor than the first one with the same type of metal and has an occasional sphere of radiation forming on random parts of its armor.

Meanwhile, the moment the woman’s eyes land on the third and final new frozen one, she feels a strange surge of terror. A feeling she – as a Tier 5 symbiont host – is not used to feeling. And she immediately turns around to flee, but the first new frozen one raises its hand and then clenches it in a fist, causing a surge of pale blue energy to move out through the air to capture her without actually harming or infecting her.

Diane tries to fight against the energy pulling her towards the third new frozen one by the first, but to no avail as she soon finds herself floating directly in front of the creature with thousands of other frozen ones moving around them in swarms.

The third frozen one simply stares at Diane with its narrow, glowing blue eyes unmoving. It has several large spikes poking out of the armor it’s wearing at its back, along with a T shaped flow of radiation running through its front torso, and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth to match the sharp, tentacle like spikes sticking out of the back of its head.

After several seconds of silence, with the special ranked officer finally managing to regain her calm, the frozen one opens its mouth and says in a tone somehow both wispy and growly at the same time, “The master wishes to see this warm one.” It then turns around as it finishes, “Bring it with us.”

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