The Harvest of Souls

CHAPTER 50

EKSTREMALNY ISLAND

21.01.8462 - 12:59 AM

Ekstremalny Island is located north of the territory of Tachlovicka. It is an island completely covered by ice in all seasons, a place that stayed six months in a constant night and six months in weak sunlight that was not enough to warm its territory. A red helicopter crossed the icy waters of the North Sea and was already flying over the terrain of that large, barren island, approaching a floodlit helipad. The wind was strong, with snow, which made manual driving to the helipad necessary.

Inside the helicopter, escorted by three Arkadian agents and three Global Police agents, Fernand began to imagine the possibilities of that helicopter crashing between the island's mountains. He didn't know which sound was more frightening: the noise from the helicopter's engine or the snowflakes hitting the fuselage. The aircraft began to shake frantically and rapidly lose altitude, which drew a startled scream from one of the agents. The helicopter landed abruptly at one end of the circle on the helipad, the thud startling everyone, who had their heads thrown down as the clatter of metal echoed through the freezing night.

As soon as the sound of the engines slowed down, one of the Arkadian agents opened the helicopter door, and Fernand found himself dragged, pushed, and pulled out of the aircraft by different agents. As soon as he left the aircraft, he realized he had never felt such cold weather before. He had already heard about the Ice Prisons, mainly from Lélia, but what he saw that day surpassed any description. The agents guided Fernand through a paved path, which had recently been cleared of snow, to connect to a small, square, low-rise building just ahead. Fernand would never have been able to see the building if not for lights on in a room. As he got closer, he noticed that the building had only three floors and was very simple. He never stopped to think that that prison still held prisoners, all of them for at least four decades inside, and therefore, someone should work in that place to keep order. As soon as they entered the building, Fernand could see that all the rooms were divided by metallic doors painted in blue.

"Where do I check-in?" Fernand asked.

"Silence, sir," said one of the agents, opening a second door with his security badge.

As soon as the door opened, Fernand faced a long corridor, which undoubtedly had more than two hundred meters. From what he had seen from the outside, the building was much smaller than that. There was no way it could have a corridor that long.

"How big is this building?"

"Silence, sir," said the same agent.

"Look at the size of this corridor," said Fernand.

"It's not a corridor. It's a tunnel," answered the agent.

Fernand then remembered: the prison had been built inside a mountain. "The building must have been on a steeper part of the mountain, and it certainly went into the ground". They followed the corridor until they turned right, where they continued for several more meters to a narrow iron staircase. The agents began descending the stairs, leading Fernand down eight floors. On each floor, Fernand observed a long corridor full of completely sealed doors. The place was claustrophobic and unventilated. In the background, Fernand could hear someone screaming, apparently a good few floors below:

"So bist du meine Schwester nimmermehr," the desperate voice went up the stairs.

"Apparently, the person does not know the lyrics very well," said Fernand. Being easygoing was his failed attempt to face his own bleak fate.

When they reached the hallway with a sign showing the number eight, the agents continued while the screaming voice grew farther away until they reached a door with the number 8116.