Chapter 10: Beneath the Surface
The Journey Begins
Neha hiked alone through the Arctic wilderness.
Each step crunched in the deep snow.
The mountains towered in the distance, their peaks shrouded in mist and frozen clouds.
The cold no longer stung as much.
Her body had grown used to it — or perhaps it was something else.
A numbness that came from the inside.
She had no map.
No compass.
Only her memories — and something buried deeper than memory.
A feeling.
A pull.
A quiet voice whispering, "Come home."
**
Signs of the Past
As she crossed a frozen river, Neha saw the remains of what once had been a trail.
Broken poles.
Scraps of tents.
Frozen bones half-buried in the snow.
The last rescue team?
Or something older?
She paused by one of the tents and opened the flap.
Inside, a single journal lay, frozen to the floor.
She pried it loose and read:
"It wears their faces. It speaks in their voices. Don't trust what you see. If you hear your name in the wind — don't answer."
Her fingers trembled as she turned the page.
"We tried fire. It laughed. We tried silence. It remembered. We tried to forget. It followed."
Neha closed the book and kept walking.
She didn't need warnings.
She already knew.
It was waiting.
**
The Ruins
By the second night, she reached the ruins of the research base.
What was once metal and steel now lay twisted and half-buried under new snow.
Broken towers.
Collapsed walls.
Dark entryways that led into ice-covered tunnels.
Her breath fogged the air.
She stood in silence.
Remembering.
This was where it all began.
Where it ended.
Where it might begin again.
She entered the remains of the main lab.
Papers scattered.
Screens cracked.
Everything coated in frost.
And in the center: the hole.
The tunnel that led downward — into the chamber of the Core.
It was still open.
Like a mouth, waiting to swallow her whole.
**
Descent
Neha strapped on the emergency harness and tied a rope around her waist.
She switched on her flashlight and lowered herself down.
The walls of the tunnel shimmered with ice — and something else.
Embedded faces.
Half-formed.
Frozen in silent screams.
She didn't look at them.
She couldn't.
As she reached the bottom, the cold grew heavier.
Thicker.
Like the air was frozen too.
And there it was:
The Core Chamber.
Still glowing faintly beneath layers of cracked crystal.
The structure looked like a giant snowflake — alive, pulsing, breathing.
But weaker than before.
Wounded.
Neha stepped forward.
It responded.
The ice lit up in veins of blue.
And a voice echoed through the chamber.
"You returned."
**
The Conversation
Neha stood before the Core.
The air buzzed around her.
Her skin prickled.
"I want to know what you are," she said.
The answer came in her own voice.
Then Rishi's.
Then others.
"We are memory. We are everything that was forgotten. We are the silence beneath thought."
"That's not an answer."
"You already know. You've carried us since you left."
Neha stepped back.
"No. You're a parasite. You feed on people — on their memories."
The Core pulsed.
"We preserve what is lost. We take what you waste. We give form to sorrow. Shape to grief. You mourned him. We kept him."
Neha's fists clenched.
"You're not him."
"We are the part of him you couldn't let go."
She turned away.
"No. I came to end this."
The Core dimmed for a moment.
Then flickered.
"Then end yourself. That is the only way."
**
Ghosts of the Ice
Suddenly, the chamber changed.
Darkened.
And figures emerged from the ice.
Rishi.
Meera.
Dr. Soren.
Others she had lost.
All of them perfect.
All of them wrong.
They circled her in silence.
Neha trembled.
"Stop it!"
They spoke in unison:
"You left us. You forgot. Let us stay. Let us live in you."
She covered her ears.
"No! You're not real!"
"Real is what you remember."
The ground shook.
Ice cracked.
And the chamber roared like a heartbeat.
The Core glowed brighter.
Pulsing with her fear.
Her memories.
It was feeding again.
**
The Spark
Neha reached into her coat and pulled out the emergency flare.
She had only one.
She held it above her head, staring into the Core.
"You want memories?" she shouted. "Take this one!"
She lit the flare and threw it into the base of the Core.
It exploded in bright red fire.
Heat surged.
Ice melted.
The Core screamed — not in pain, but in rage.
The figures vanished.
The glow dimmed.
Cracks spread across the Core's surface.
Neha turned and ran.
The chamber began to collapse behind her.
**
Escape
She climbed the rope fast, hands burning, lungs aching.
The tunnel trembled.
Chunks of ice fell.
By the time she reached the top, the entrance caved in.
A blast of air threw her back.
Snow flew everywhere.
She hit the ground, rolled, and coughed violently.
When the dust settled, the tunnel was gone.
Sealed forever.
Neha lay there, breathing hard.
Alive.
But not untouched.
Something still moved inside her.
Not a creature.
Not a parasite.
A memory.
A presence.
One that refused to be forgotten.
**
The Beginning of the End
Weeks later, back in Oslo, Neha submitted a report.
The site was declared dangerous and sealed by authorities.
But not destroyed.
They couldn't risk disturbing what was left.
She resumed a quiet life.
Teaching.
Writing.
Watching the snow fall.
But sometimes, when the wind howled through the trees, she heard Rishi's voice.
Calling her name.
Soft.
Longing.
And when she looked in the mirror, sometimes…
She didn't see herself.
Not completely.
Just a glimpse.
A flicker.
Of something ancient.
And waiting.