Chapter 17: The Fire Beneath the Ice
The cold cut through the layers of Aria's coat like knives.
They stood on the edge of a glacier in southeast Iceland, wind howling across the ice shelf, the sky above them pale and bruised.
"This is it?" Aria asked, raising her voice over the wind.
Damien nodded beside her. "Site Zero. The original breach point. Your father sealed it and erased all records. Only three people knew it existed."
"Let me guess. He was one of them."
Damien looked grim. "He was the last."
They stared across the landscape — a vast, frozen expanse of jagged ice and glittering snow.
It looked desolate.
But Aria could feel it.
The heat beneath.
Not physical warmth. But something ancient.
Something alive.
They trudged toward a rise in the glacier, where the snow seemed unnaturally smooth.
Kestrel's voice buzzed in their ears. "Satellite coverage scrambled. You're off the grid. Magic's heavy there — I can't track your vitals. If something goes wrong—"
"Then it goes wrong," Aria replied. "Stay sharp."
As they reached the ridge, Damien crouched and brushed away a layer of snow. Beneath it, a circular hatch glinted faintly — engraved with the Vantier crest, half-covered in ice.
"No mechanical locks," he said. "Only a blood seal."
Aria stepped forward.
Took a breath.
Pressed her palm to the center.
The crest glowed.
The ice hissed and melted instantly.
Then the hatch opened — inward, revealing a spiral staircase of black stone descending into fire-lit darkness.
Damien stared. "He built this under a glacier?"
"He built a lot of things he never talked about."
They descended.
The air grew warmer as they moved down the steps.
Warmer — and heavier.
The scent of burnt metal. Ozone. And faintly… ash.
As they reached the bottom, a stone chamber unfolded before them, glowing with quiet flames embedded in the walls.
And in the center of the room stood a pedestal.
Upon it sat an orb.
No bigger than a human heart.
Inside it, a swirl of orange-gold fire moved like liquid.
Aria's breath caught.
She knew this magic.
She'd felt it as a child — when her father touched her forehead after her nightmares.
"It's part of him," she whispered.
Damien looked confused. "What is it?"
She stepped forward, eyes wide. "It's his soul. A fragment of it."
Damien stiffened. "How's that possible?"
"He knew he would die," she said quietly. "He didn't trust the board. Or the Veilkeepers. He left a message."
She reached out.
And touched the orb.
Light exploded behind her eyes.
A voice filled her head.
"Aria."
Her father's voice.
But not just sound.
Memory.
Images poured into her mind:
Him building this chamber with blood and runes…
Signing false documents to hide the breach…
Refusing Hollow emissaries when they came offering power…
And then—
His murder.
By Rhys.
No illness. No accident.
Her father had been slain by the very creature he once hired as a financial consultant — a Hollow shade in disguise.
The vision broke.
Aria fell to her knees, shaking.
Damien caught her. "What did you see?"
She looked up, fire in her eyes. "He didn't die of a stroke. That was a lie."
Damien's face darkened.
"Rhys killed him. Hollow magic — slow and undetectable. He wanted the company."
"And the breach," Damien said grimly. "Your father stood in his way."
Aria's gaze flicked back to the orb.
It pulsed faintly in her hand.
"He left more than memories. There's knowledge in here… spells. Warnings."
She looked up. "We need to bring this back."
Damien hesitated. "What if taking it out releases something worse?"
Aria closed her fingers around the orb.
"It's not the flame that corrupts," she said softly. "It's what people do to claim it."
Suddenly, the chamber shuddered.
Cracks split the stone walls.
A roar echoed from above.
And the staircase collapsed.
Damien spun around. "They found us."
Aria turned to the far wall. "There's another exit. My father wouldn't build a death trap."
She ran her fingers across the stone — and felt a glyph pulse beneath.
A second seal.
With a whisper, she spoke the ancient Vantier phrase.
The wall slid open.
And behind it: a tunnel lined with frost, leading into deeper ice.
They ran.
As the ground shook and smoke billowed behind them, they raced through twisting ice caverns and ancient runes. Fire flickered through cracks in the ice. The Hollow were coming.
At the final bend, light shone ahead.
A crack in the glacier, opening to the frozen cliffs of the fjord below.
Aria and Damien emerged, wind biting at their faces.
A Vantier extraction drone hovered nearby — Kestrel's doing.
"Get in!" her voice snapped through the comms. "Now, now, now!"
They leapt aboard as Hollow shadows swarmed the ice behind them.
But too late.
The drone lifted off.
And the glacier behind them cracked in half.
As they flew, Aria stared down at the shattering ice.
"It was never about the company," she said softly. "Or even the breach."
Damien looked at her.
She held the orb tightly in her hands.
"It was about me."
Back in Reykjavik, under heavy security, Aria sat alone in a fire-lit room, orb resting in a silver cradle.
Her father's voice still echoed faintly within.
She whispered:
"You tried to protect me. You died for it. But now…"
She closed her eyes.
"I'll burn them all for what they've done."