Beneath the Ice

The following events occured in early May of Year 96 AE, shortly after access to the island of Ari'Ken'Katel was made available.
==Part 1==
This part of the story is told from the perspective of Randy Pitch, a Varren miner stationed on Ken'Ka.
Well, another day, another empty field of ice and snow. I've been on this frozen island for a few weeks now, just mindlessly mining away at the weird ass ice that makes up the land. Its not particularly glamourous, but they pay me pretty well. Plus, this suit I have to wear is extremely comfortable.
"Hey Randy," my partner, Mike Neum, shouts from the top of an ice shelf, "Come here a minute."
"What is it?" I ask, "Find something? Let me guess, is it ice?"
I climb up the shelf, and see him staring at an ice wall.
"And 10 points Randy." I say, "Congratulations, you struck ice."
"Not that you ass." He says, "Look closer."
I walk up next to him, and notice that the ice is transparent in a few spots. It almost looks like theres an open space behind it.
"Well thats certainly the most interesting thing Ive seen all week," I say, "Want to crack her open and take a look?"
Mike nods, and we both swing our picks at the ice wall. I don't know whats so special about this damn ice, but its harder than stone. It takes us a good few minutes to bash a hole large enough for us to climb through. Sure enough, theres an open space behind the wall. Not the biggest room, probably about big enough to fit a small house in.
Mike climbs through the hole in the ice. Well, Im curious too. I climb through the hole and find... well nothing. Sure its a cavern, and sure its all sparkly inside, but its all just... ice.
"Well, thats a disappointment," I say, "I was expecting something different. Seriously, does this island have anything besides ice?"
"If youre sick of the ice," Mike says, "Could always wander to the other island. I hear its pretty toasty over there."
"I think I'll pass on tha-" I cut myself off after noticing something in one of the walls.
"What is it?" Mike asks, "Why did you stop?"
"Hey uuuh," I say, "Is it just me, or is there something in this wall?"
I can't tell exactly, but it almost looks like theres a large object inside of the ice. Its big, but the ice is so clouded that I can't really make out any details.
"Yeah theres definitely something there." Mike says, "It almost looks like... one of those old Llysian metal walker things."
"Or maybe..." I wipe my hand over the surface of the ice. My through the ice becomes a bit clearer, and I can start to make a bit more detail out. Hes right, it does kind of look like a Llysian walker. Or maybe...
"Hold on, that thing almost... looks more like one of those construct walkers they have back at base." I say, "What the hell is it doing in that wall?"
"Oh god.." Mike mutters, "Is that.... is that a person?"
I look again, and sure enough, hes right. I can see what is most certainly a human shape inside of the constructs cabin. He isn't moving.
"What the hell?" I shout, "Well quit standing around, we've gotta get him out of there!"
Mike and I start bashing our picks against the ice, but theres way too much space between us and the construct. Theres no way we'll be able to mine our way through with just the 2 of us.
"Go get help." I say to Mike, "We might need everything for this one."
Mike nods, and quickly climbs out of the hole in the wall. I keep bashing my pick against the ice for a good 20 minutes before Mike comes back with a bunch of other people.
"Randy!" Mike yells, "Get out of there!"
I turn around, and notice one of our own constructs is standing outside. I decide not to argue, and climb out of the cavern. After I get out of the way, the construct starts tearing up the outer wall a bit more with its large drill. Once the hole was big enough for it to fit through, it climbed into the cavern and began drilling at the inner wall.
A few minutes pass before the construct climbs back out. I peer in, and notice it had drilled a hole all the way to the inner construct. We all charge in and start breaking away at the ice surrounding the glass windshield. Up close, I can make out a bit more detail.
It looks like the cabin window shattered, so the inside of the cabin is frozen over. The man inside is completely coated in ice, but at least hes not buried. If hes been directly exposed to the air here, its likely we won't be able to save him. Even so, I refuse to just leave him here.
It isnt long before we break through the cabin windshield. Mike climbs in, and starts shifting the body carefully. Thats probably a good idea, theres a chance we could literally break him when hes frozen like that.
It only takes us a few minutes, but we managed to get the body out of the cabin, and out into the open air. Despite being completely covered in ice, his limbs still seem to be usable, as he bends and contorts like a normal person.
"We'd better get him back to base." I say. "We probably won't be able to save him, but it would be good to at least figure out who he is."
All of us nod, and we carry the body back to the base.
==Part 2==
This part of the story is told from the perspective of Osiris Bu'kain, a Varren researcher stationed in Ockthain's lab.
Of all the things I expected to find down in this lab or on that island; a person was not among them. Yet here he is, in frozen solid. I'm getting ahead of myself, let me start from the beginning. About 30 minutes ago, one of the miners that was sent to Ari came back carrying what I thought was a well carved human shaped ice sculpture. It wasn't until he explainded hismelf that we realized it wasn't a sculpture, but an actual man that had been frozen.
None of us expected the man to be alive, but we've still been trying multiple methods of thawing him out. So far, all we've managed to do is clear the ice that was covering his body, but his body itself is still painted white. Well, aside from his hair, which is a very dark shade of blue. What really draws my attention is the condition of the body. 
He isn't one of our men, nobody here recognizes his face. This would mean the man has been on that island, frozen for at least a few months. Even considering that, his body is perfectly preserved, as if he had only died seconds before. I have heard freezing bodies prevents them from decaying, but I had never seen it myself.
On the topic of who we think he is, there are several theories going around the group. He isnt one of ours, which would mean hes likely involved with the New Monitor in some way. He could be one of the artificial soldiers that I had heard were inside of the New Monitor's fortress on the island. However, I find this unlikely, as I had seen one of them and he looks nothing like them.
Someone suggested he might have been a New Monitor agent that screwed up, considering the fact that the island seemed to be a dumping site for failures. I have no better ideas, so this is the one Im leaning most towards.
"I think that did it!" One of the men that was working on the body said.
Sure enough, the colour seemed to be returning to his skin. However, his hair didnt seem to be changing in the slightest. Not important, but this is good progress.
I notice something out of the corner of my eye, and turn my attention to it. Was I just seeing things? Yeah, must have been. Theres no way I just saw his finger mo-
It did it again. I rub my eyes, just to make sure Im not seeing things. I'm not. The man's fingers are... twitching slightly.
"By the makers," I mutter, "He... hes still alive!"
Nervous chatter begins to break out in the crowd, can't say I blame them. If this guy really is some sort of New Monitor agent, he mighte be combat proficient and try to kill us. Even worse, theres nobody down here thats highly trained in combat, just a few explorers that had seen action a few times. Wait, didn't I see the project lead down here a little while ago? Tabarinth Savegaze? Is he still around here?
My attention returns to the man, as I see his face scrunch in, and his eyelids quiver. However, before he can even open his eyes enough for me to see the whites of them, small blue lightning bolts crackle out of them. His face winces, and he quickly raises his hand up to his face, grabbing his eyes. Whatever that was, it certainly woke him up quickly. Wait, is that blood pouring out between his fingers?
The man struggles a bit, eventually rolling off the table and landing on the floor. All of us back away, too afraid to get any closer. He looks forward, and opens his eyes a bit more. Theres a lot of that blue lightning cracking in his eyes now, but I can make out more details. His eyes are dark grey, with a bright cyan circle in the center. Now that I think about it, they almost look like those gazer lens eyeballs hanging up in one of the upstairs rooms.
He winces again, cupping his face, and pushing himself onto his feet. To my surprise, he starts walking forwards. The group on front of him scatter, almost making a path. He keeps walking forward, even managing to not step on the small objects scattered around on the ground. Its almost like... he knows where hes going.
We all watch cautiosly as the man approaches the stairwell to the upper room. He taps his foot forward, eventually hitting one of the stairs. Theres no way he had seen those stairs from the angle he was at the last time he opened his eyes, yet he knew exactly where they were.
He started running up the stairs, pulling the turns at exactly the right time, all without lifting his hand from his face. Seriously, who is this guy? And why is he so familiar with the layout of this lab? It doesn't take him long to reach the room we referred to as "The Trophy Room." We aren't entirely sure if it had a function, but there were a bunch of Ockthain's various inventions hanging on plaques along the wall. Aside from the trophies, there was a large object sort of resembling a chair in the center of the room along the wall, but we were never sure what it was for.
To everyone's shock, the man reached out, and perfectly grasped one of the objects hanging on a plaque. He twisted his hand a bit, turning the object. But wait, those things shouldnt be turnable... it was almost like... a mechanism.
After twisting the object, the man let go, walking over to the other side of the room before grabbing and turning another object. Immediately after turning the second object, the strange chair structure in the middle flipped open, revealing a box. Has that box been there the whole time?
The man walked over to the box, opened it, and pulled something out. We all backed away, afraid he had grabbed a weapon. Instead, it looked like he had grabbed... more gazer lens? At least, I think those are gazer lens. They definitely match the shape of the other ones I had seen, but the cyan iris that all other gazer lens had was instead dark blue.
The man lowered himself down onto 1 knee, setting one of the gazer lens down. He let go of his face, and appeared to take a deep breath. Without hesitation, he reached up and ripped out one of his eyes. He screamed in pain, dropping his old eye to the ground. Now that I had a better look at it, the eye was horribly cracked all over, with blue lightning crackling out of the cracks, forming bubbles in the blood that now soaked it.
The man stopped screaming and caught his breath. Again, without hesitation, the man ripped his other eye out, once again screaming in pain and dropping it. This second eye was identical to the first, cracked and crackling.
After catching his breath again, the man shoved one of the gazer lens he had pulled out of the box into his eye socket before doing the same with the other. He shook his head, and blinked many times. His eyes were no longer cracking, and he seemed to be regaining his eyesight.
His attention turns to those of us that are watching. We all step back, afraid hes going to attack us. Instead, he just stares at us curiously, blinking every few seconds.
"Bodau dynol?" He says. At least, thats what I think he said. I can't understand the language, but it sounds familiar somehow...
"Pam fod yna bodau dynol yn fy labordy?" He says. Wait a minute, I recognize that language now. I've seen it written all over this lab, hes speaking Ranovid!
"Err, hello." I mutter, almost too afraid to open my mouth. "Do you... speak Tavrosian?"
"Tavrosian?" He mutters, "Rwy'n dyfalu thats eich iaith ddynol?"
I look back towards the crowd, "Does anyone here speak Ranovid?"
Everyone behind me quickly shakes their head.
"Whats all the commotion over there?" A voice from behind me shouts. I turn around and see Tabarinth Savegaze walking towards me.
"Good timing!" I shout, "We found this man on the island, frozen. He seems to only speak Ranovid, though. Don't you speak it?"
"Frozen on the island?" Tabarinth asks, "And yes, I do speak it. Allow me."
Tabarinth pushes his way past me, and stares the man down.
The perspective now changes to Tabarinth Savegaze.
"Who are you?" I ask.
"Who am I?" The strange man asks, "I haven't quite decided yet. Tell me, how did a human find their way down here? Better yet, how can you speak the language of the Ranovitrians so fluently?"
"My name is Tabarinth Savegaze." I say, "We found the door to this place buried deep underground, but it was already open when we got here. As for how I speak the language, I have had many friendly dealings with the remaining Ranovitrians, as well as extensive time working in the ruins of the Southern Trikash who also spoke it."
"Tabarinth Savegaze huh?" The man asks, "You say your dealings with the Ranovitrians were friendly, but why should I believe that?"
"Do you have a reason to disbelieve me?" I ask, "And why would I have learned their language if I intended to do them harm?"
"I can think of many reasons," He says, "but thats besides the point. Now, what I really want to know is why."
"Why... what?" I ask.
"WHY are you down here?" He asks, "You found the door open, but why were you digging there? Why are you still here? Why are you even on this land in the first place."
"You certainly ask a lot of questions." I say, "Though thats not very surprising, given the state you were found in."
"State I was found in?" He asks, "What do you mean? Who found me, and where?"
I turn around, and ask the man who had been speaking before, "You said he was frozen on the island, right?"
"Yes," he replys, "Frozen inside one of the constructs on the frozen side of the island."
I turn my attention back to the strange man, "We found you frozen on the island of Ken'ka, an island that Im sure you know about, considering where you were found on it."
"First you humans find your way into this lab, and now through that teleporter onto the island?" He asks, "And frozen? I don't.... I don't understand..."
"Take it easy," I say, "Don't think too hard on it, youll go mad."
"You're right," he says, "Thank you. Now, I believe there was 1 question you asked that I hadn't answered yet."
"Was there?" I ask, "I think you've answered all of them."
"You asked me who I was." He says, "I wasn't sure telling you would have been a good idea, but after listening to you... I feel like I can."
The man closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath.
"My name is Ockthain Krivos." He says, "And you're currently intruding in my house."
Category:New Voldrania Category:Story