Chapter 26 — Apocalypse Delivered by the Ravens
1. Cradle of Ice, A Battle for Life and a New Dawn
The abandoned submarine base in the Arctic Ocean. Months had already passed since Kai and Lilith, guided by the 'Noah,' had arrived here, at their own 'Brook Cherith.' The hellish pursuit of the 'Cerberus Protocol' seemed, at least for now, unable to penetrate this fortress of ice and steel at the ends of the earth. Outside the base, an eternal silence of absolute zero degrees and relentless blizzards reigned supreme over the world.
Yet, within that white silence, another kind of desperate and sublime battle was being waged: the birth of a new life. To bring a child into this extreme, isolated land, without doctors or proper medical facilities, felt like a challenge more desperate, more impossible, than any crisis they had faced thus far.
As Lilith's due date approached, the air inside their small, makeshift bunker crackled with a taut tension. Kai, day and night, pored over the vast medical database last transmitted by Lilith's AI, Cassandra, alongside the minimal medical supplies he had urgently requested and received via the 'Raven' drones.
And on that fateful night, as a colossal aurora danced across the Arctic night sky, a bizarre yet beautiful ballet of light, like God's final blessing or perhaps the prelude to a tragic destiny, Lilith's agonizing labor began. The small space they called their 'ondol room' (a room with Korean underfloor heating), where they had barely maintained warmth with their shared body heat, instantly transformed into a stark, solitary battlefield between life and death.
Kai, his hands trembling, wielded a sterilized scalpel and gauze, desperately following the emergency childbirth protocols displayed by Cassandra on a makeshift holographic screen.
How much time had passed? Or perhaps, the very concept of time had become meaningless in that abyss of extreme pain and exhaustion. Finally, a slender cry, yet more powerful and hope-filled than any sound in the world, miraculously pierced the suffocating silence of despair. It was a boy.
Kai, his own face a mess of blood, sweat, and hot tears, received the small, fragile life into his trembling hands. He pressed a fervent kiss onto Lilith's sweat-soaked forehead as she lay near collapse, and managed to whisper, his voice hoarse and cracked.
"We… we did it, Lilith… It's our son… He's… so strong, so beautiful… just like you."
Lilith, her eyes fluttering open weakly, gazed alternately at the tiny, squirming life nestled in her arms and at Kai's tear-streaked face, a small, yet more beautiful than anything in the world, smile gracing her lips.
2. The Raven's Sustenance, Whispers Beneath the Aurora
A stealth drone, appearing silently out of the blue pre-dawn gloom as if an old friend paying a visit, precisely dropped a small supply container onto a designated coordinate above their base. Inside were several days' worth of concentrated rations, purified water, minimal essential medicines, and… several soft cloth diapers and nutrient-rich formula for their newborn son, Naru, items Lilith desperately needed. The drone, its mission accomplished, immediately ascended in a direction completely different from its arrival path, self-destructing in a small burst of flame against the dawning Arctic sky, erasing all traces of its existence.
Thus, once a day, sometimes two or three times without warning, nameless 'Ravens' delivered the sustenance of life to the three souls isolated at the end of the world. The small 'ondol room' in their ice kingdom became a cozy cradle, shielding them from all the storms of the world and the hideous shadow of the 'Babel Empire.'
Time in the Arctic flowed on endlessly, yet at its own pace. Three harsh winters had already passed. Naru, once a helpless infant, was now an energetic three-year-old boy, toddling and running around the confines of the ice fortress, which was his entire world, his only playground.
One night, as a colossal aurora, as it often did, filled the night sky with a mystical dance of light, Naru stood transfixed, his small mouth slightly agape, gazing endlessly at the breathtaking spectacle. Kai gently stroked his son's small head and began to speak in a low voice, as if recounting an ancient tale. His voice was as calm as the Arctic night wind, yet the meaning contained within it was as deep and vast as the cosmos.
Kai: "Wow~ Naru, look up there. Even today, angels in silk dresses have come out to dance, just for our Naru to see, so you can have beautiful dreams. Can you see them?"
Naru, gurgling incomprehensibly, pointed a small finger towards the sky. The dancing lights of the aurora were perfectly reflected in his clear, dark eyes.
Kai: "That, my son, is like a secret letter sent only to our Naru, from the great fire orb that rules the day, so very, very far away. When that fire orb takes a big 'breath,' its scorching sigh travels all the way here and gently tickles this cold sky-blanket. And then, the sky-blanket gets so, so ticklish that it laughs in those beautiful green and pink colors."
He continued, his voice a mixture of paternal tenderness and profound insight into the world.
Kai: "And Naru… those angels of light, you see… they are actually protecting our Naru, and this small Earth, from the too-hot, too-frightening power of that great fire orb. It's like a gentle, comforting wink from the heavens, showing us, 'It's alright, I'm here, I'm shielding you…!' When we eventually leave this place and see the true face of that fire orb, its light might be too strong, too blinding for our eyes. But… don't you worry, because there's always a greater power watching over you. The sky sends us these beautiful letters every night to remind us of that."
Naru, whether he understood or not, simply gazed up at Kai with shining eyes and snuggled deeper into his embrace. Lilith, sitting beside a small heating unit a little distance away, watching this scene, finally couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.
Lilith: "Honestly… Kai, you're incorrigible. What does a three-year-old understand of such profound astrophysics and theology lectures, for heaven's sake? Honestly… Just saying 'The aurora is so pretty, let's be strong, my son!' would have sufficed. You talk way too much, now as always, truly!" Though her tone was feignedly scolding, a warm, happy smile played on her lips. He held Naru even tighter. The mystical light of the aurora cascaded over the father and son, bathing their faces in its ethereal glow…
They received fragmented information about the chaos of the outside world through the 'Ravens.' The 'Babel Foundation' had officially classified Kai and Lilith as 'eliminated threats' and had, at least publicly, ceased all pursuit. However, the 'Cerberus Protocol' was still active, its unseen claws scanning the globe, already moving towards new targets. The world, still caught in their colossal, invisible grip, let out ever-deeper groans of suffering.
And in the spring of their third year, an unbelievable change, yet one that was perhaps inevitable, began to visit their ice kingdom – no, the entire planet. The Arctic ice began to melt at a rate faster, more ferocious, than any record in the past decades, or even centuries. The thick ice walls surrounding the submarine base receded visibly each day, the hours of daylight grew noticeably longer, and in a sunny spot on one side of the base, the permafrost, **which had slept frozen for millennia like an ancient face of the Earth**, finally thawed, revealing its black, damp underbelly.
3. The Thaw's Warning, and the World's Screams
Kai suddenly looked up, his gaze fixed on the rapidly melting ice wall and the anxiously shimmering horizon beyond. A deep concern, along with a certain ominous premonition, creased his face.
Kai: (Taking Naru's small hand, approaching Lilith) "Lilith… this place is melting too, now. I can see that ice wall receding, not just daily, but hourly. I never thought it would be this fast… Hmm~"
An irrepressible anxiety was laced in his voice. This was no mere seasonal change. It was an undeniable sign that the entire global climate system had passed its tipping point and was collapsing completely.
Before Kai's low sigh could even dissipate into the cold Arctic air, a barrage of red warning lights erupted from the data packet just delivered by a 'Raven' drone – their only link to the outside world. Lilith urgently activated the holographic screen. It was no longer fragmented information. It was a horrific live broadcast of global catastrophe. No longer a prediction or a possibility. It was a horrifying reality, already here, and spreading uncontrollably across the entire world.
(News Footage 1: Sinking Paradises, Screaming Migrants - South Pacific / Indian Ocean)
Anchor (Voice cracking with emotion): "The Republic of Kiribati and the government of Tuvalu have officially declared their nations' demise to the international community! Rising sea levels have submerged most of their land, turning hundreds of thousands of citizens into boat people overnight, stripped of everything! Australia, New Zealand, and neighboring Asian countries are currently holding emergency meetings regarding their entry, but a humanitarian catastrophe is imminent as nations haggle over прием(acceptance) quotas, driven by political calculations and self-interest! In major coastal cities worldwide, from Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to Alexandria, Egypt, tens of millions have already abandoned their homes, making a desperate exodus inland, further inland! This colossal 'Climate Exodus' is only just beginning!" (Visuals: A half-submerged airport runway, people screaming and clinging to small boats, clashes between refugees and military police at borders, satellite images of coastal cities transformed into vast pools of water – a rapid, shocking montage.)
(News Footage 2: The Black Fever, A World Ground to a Halt - Siberian Permafrost-borne Pandemic)
WHO Emergency Briefing (Geneva): "It has been confirmed that as the permafrost in Siberia's Yamalo-Nenets region thaws rapidly, ancient microbes and viruses, dormant for tens of thousands of years, have been released into the atmosphere! A new, virulent disease, tentatively named 'Archaic Flu' , believed to have originated in this region, has already spread to over 70 countries across 6 continents with terrifying speed! The initial fatality rate for infected individuals is approaching 40%, with over 8 million official deaths worldwide to date, and no existing antiviral drugs or vaccines have proven effective! Governments worldwide have completely sealed their borders, indefinitely suspending international air travel, and major cities are once again transforming into ghost towns, overshadowed by fear and death! This is the most horrific reprisal humanity has ever faced from an ancient, slumbering Earth! At this very moment, we have begun a desperate, and perhaps hopeless, war against an invisible enemy!"
(Visuals: Empty international airports and highways, soldiers in hazmat suits enforcing city-wide lockdowns, makeshift field hospitals overflowing with an endless stream of patients, the despairing faces of medical staff staring into cameras, people watching the last moments of their loved ones via video calls, wailing in grief.)
(News Footage 3: Burning Cities, Frozen Civilizations - Climate Cataclysm in Major Global Cities) Anchor (Face gaunt with exhaustion, voice almost a sob): "The Arctic is melting down. The final trigger for the Earth's entire climate system has, it seems, been pulled. Currently, Rome, Italy, and Seville, Spain, are literal infernos of hell, with murderous heatwaves exceeding 50 degrees Celsius and uncontrollable mega-fires engulfing entire cities. Conversely, London, UK, and Paris, France, are completely paralyzed by an anomalous cold wave and blizzards descending from the Arctic, triggering a catastrophic energy crisis. California, USA, after a decade of relentless, extreme drought, has seen the complete cessation of drinking water supplies to major cities, while China's Yangtze River basin is experiencing record-breaking mega-floods, displacing hundreds of millions. Experts are screaming warnings that this… this is merely the beginning of the end of human civilization…"
(Visuals: The Colosseum in Rome engulfed in flames, the River Thames frozen solid around a snow-covered Eiffel Tower, the cracked, turtle-shell-like bottom of a vast, dust-blown reservoir in LA, the skyscrapers of Shanghai barely visible above a sea of floodwater – a rapid, unbelievable, and horrifying montage of the world's major cities in utter ruin.)
The torrent of despairing reality pouring from the holographic screen was vivid proof of how quickly, how brutally, and how totally the world had collapsed while they had been hidden away in the Arctic ice. Lilith unknowingly bit her parched lips, and the furrows of anguish on Kai's brow deepened even further. They could only watch helplessly this colossal self-destruction humanity had brought upon itself, this overture of chaos that perhaps even 'Babel' could no longer control in any way, or perhaps, was even fanning the flames of.
(4. Babel's Subterranean Bunker, A Belated Register of Penitence)
At that very same moment, thousands of meters deep beneath the Swiss Alps, in 'Asgard Prime,' the final fallout shelter of the 'Babel Foundation,' Lucian Drake, Julian Adler, Anja Sharma, and the other core members of the 'Inner Circle' were staring, with eyes wide with terror, at an identical, or perhaps even more horrifyingly detailed and analyzed, global catastrophe status board, relayed through their 'Kairos Engine.'
The global financial markets, which once danced to their every whim, had long since vanished without a trace. Their vaunted 'Human Misery Forecast Model' and 'Disaster-Linked Securities,' painstakingly constructed over decades, had become utterly useless scraps of paper before the unpredictable tsunami of terror, rage, and the complete collapse of the entire system.
"This can't be… This cannot be happening! The mutation and spread rate of the 'Archaic Flu,' its fatality rate, is exceeding our worst-case scenarios by several dozen times! The climate catastrophes as well… all predictive models of our 'Kairos Engine' are completely off! This… this is no longer a controllable variable!"
Anja Sharma shrieked, almost tearing at her hair, her voice a raw, hysterical cry. Her once-perfect algorithms and data could no longer find any meaningful patterns, any solutions, in this colossal chaos. The 'Disaster-Linked Securities' she had designed with such lifelong devotion were, one after another, declaring default on the screen, flashing warning lights like bloody tears. The cold, hard numbers they had worshipped for so long were now mocking them, jeering at their downfall.
Julian Adler stared with empty eyes at the screen, which alternated between images of Rome's Colosseum engulfed in flames and London's Big Ben (the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster, the Houses of Parliament, in London) encased in ice. In his mind, the face of one man, whom they had believed 'eliminated' by their own hands long ago, yet who, like a persistent ghost, had continually plagued their heels, surfaced with chilling clarity. And the words he had uttered, like a curse, or a prophecy: 'After the Red Horse, comes the Black Horse, and after the Black Horse, the Pale Horse… and at the end of all things, there will be judgment, inescapable and absolute.' Adler's lips trembled uncontrollably.
"Judgment… This… is this the inescapable judgment he spoke of… Kai… That damn bastard said, 'There will be no more chances'... Damn him to hell..." He bit his lip until it bled.
Lucian Drake struggled to maintain his composure until the very end, but his tightly pressed lips and the fine tremor in his fingertips could not conceal the extreme terror and despair raging within him. The arrogance of one who had once sought to become a god, who had believed he could perfectly design and control the world according to his own will, was shattering into a million pieces.
(5. The Arctic Resolve, Towards the Last Ember)
Lilith broke the silence first. "Kai… what do we do now? If 'Babel' is also collapsing like this… does our fight… still have any meaning? Or… is this really the end of everything?"
"We cannot stop the apocalypse. But it is not without meaning, Lilith."
His voice was low, yet it resonated with a profound resolve, as if foreseeing the dawn of a new era. "Babel's fall does not mean the world will automatically be saved or find peace. We must become a message of hope for those who remain until the very end. That, perhaps, is the only thing we are meant to do."
"What… what is that, Kai?" Lilith's gaze fixed on him, desperate.