Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

The Crimson Cathedral

There wasn't much sound over the rhythmic thudding of their ice picks echoing up and around the massive ice cave, bouncing off the walls and vanishing away into a warren of ice tunnels, which Adam couldn't be sure were naturally made or otherwise. He wasn't an expert on ice caves, and didn't know if the structure was the result of a natural phenomenon.

Or if it had been built.

Then again, he saw aliens everywhere he went, quite literally, so his thought process was only natural. Behind them, Etium floated along on the back of his gun for all the world like he was taking a float down a lazy river. If he had looked any more comfortable, Adam might have considered tipping him off and into the freezing water below, but he refrained.

Light filtered down from above painted in varying shades of blue and blue green mottling the ice before them in a strange patchwork of colors that was not so different from stained glass. They were underneath a thick overhang of ice, and the light around them was a deep blue fading towards black, and the tunnels before them were lost in darkness.

In the distance, Adam thought he heard a piece of ice break off one of the glaciers and tumble down into the water. WIth part paranoia, he looked over his shoulder, half expecting to see that some sort of strange monster had risen silent out from the depths of the sea and was reaching for them with its waving tentacles. The thought process was stupid considering he had gone head to head with behemoth and won, and now he was worrying over a potentially fake giant ocean squid thing that lived under the ice?

In his head he knew it was irrational, but there was just something about the deeper depths of the ocean that unsettled him. Space was, bast and open and never ending, and it was incredibly empty, but at the same time it sure didn't feel that way when you were floating in the middle of it. Despite the ocean being full of life and water, its crushing weight was more inhospitable to humans than the vacuum that space was.

"We have a tunnel here."

Adam let those thoughts fall away and clambered upward, digging the tip of his blad into the ice just beyond the crest of the cliff, and allowed Maverick to pull him the rest of the way. Once done he turned and helped both Ramirez and Sunny with the last few feet. Adam could have flown the whole way with his jetpack, but he was one of the only ones in the group that had considered bringing the attachments required to fly. Maverick had opted for a full survival kit, and Ramirez had volunteered to take the beacon,. The item was large and incredibly clunky, taking up half of his torso, but they would need something powerful to get through the meters of ice, if that was even possible.

Adam sure hoped it was.

The Empyrean herself may have been out of range from connecting with Adam's suit, but she could at least see them by way of a beacon which was continuously transmitting their vitals for the ship to monitor and assess.

Krill also had access to that information if he were needed to consult after some manner of injury, but otherwise they were mostly alone.

There was another clattering echo as another chunk of ice founds its way to tumble downward and into the water below with a distant splash. The group of them turned in unison to observe their surroundings, but when they saw nothing, they continued on. The cave ahead of them was large and oval, wider than it was tall, but still big enough to fit Sunny comfortably inside.

They walked together in pairs of two with Etium bringing up the rear and Adam taking point. Sunny stuck at his back like glue and Maverick turned every so often to cover Etium.

A low wind whistled through the tunnel, and touch he could not feel the cold, he could certainly imagine it. The walls and floors glittered in the light of their helmets lighting the path before them with a shallow beam of yellow light that didn't do much to cut into the darkness before them. No one said a word cautious not to make their presence to obvious wo whatever might be lurking in the cave beyond.