Ashes of the Silent War: Shadow of the Leviathans
Chapter 2 – The Frozen Graveyard
The Northern Ice Zones were a dead land.
An endless white wasteland stretched across the horizon, where frozen winds screamed like ghosts across shattered glaciers. Nothing lived here anymore—only the frozen scars left behind by ancient wars.
A military transport aircraft roared through the blizzard.
Inside the cargo bay, Kael Varden stood near the open ramp, his heavy winter cloak whipping in the freezing wind leaking through the hull. His armor was reinforced for extreme cold, but the temperature outside could still freeze exposed skin in seconds.
Behind him, Lyra checked the power cells in her sniper rifle.
Five elite soldiers from the Crimson Legion prepared their gear silently.
The pilot's voice crackled over the comms.
"Commander… we're approaching the outpost."
Kael walked toward the cockpit window.
Below them, the ruins of Northern Research Station Delta-9 appeared through the storm.
Or what remained of it.
Half the facility had been ripped apart.
Communication towers were snapped like broken bones. Steel structures lay scattered across the ice as if something massive had torn the base open from beneath.
Lyra narrowed her eyes.
"This wasn't weather."
Kael nodded.
"No."
The aircraft descended slowly onto the frozen landing zone.
The moment the ramp opened, an arctic wind slammed into the team like a wall.
Kael stepped out first, boots crunching into thick ice.
"Move out."
The team advanced toward the destroyed facility.
Everywhere they looked, the damage made no sense.
Buildings weren't simply collapsed—they were split open, as if something enormous had clawed its way out of the earth.
One of the soldiers knelt near a broken wall.
"Commander… you need to see this."
Kael walked over.
Buried beneath the snow was a massive bone structure.
Lyra brushed the ice away with her glove.
More of the skeleton appeared.
Ribs.
Spine.
And a skull the size of an armored truck.
Her breath froze in the air.
"Kael…"
Kael stared at it silently.
The skeleton stretched across the ice for nearly two hundred meters.
It looked like a Leviathan.
But older.
Much older.
The bones were fossilized and blackened like ancient stone.
"This thing has been here for centuries," Lyra whispered.
Kael studied the enormous skull.
"No."
He pointed toward a jagged fracture along the rib cage.
"It was killed here."
Suddenly—
The ground trembled.
The soldiers immediately raised their weapons.
A deep sound echoed beneath the glacier.
Not an earthquake.
Something moving.
The ice cracked.
A massive fissure ripped across the frozen ground, splitting the Leviathan skeleton in half.
"BACK!" Kael shouted.
The team sprinted away as the glacier exploded upward.
Ice and snow blasted into the sky as something enormous began rising from beneath the frozen earth.
A monstrous shape emerged.
Its body was covered in black crystalline armor.
Its limbs were longer than Leviathan claws.
And its glowing eyes burned deep blue through the blizzard.
Lyra whispered in disbelief.
"That's not a Leviathan…"
Kael's voice hardened.
"No."
The creature let out a roar that shook the entire valley.
The soldiers opened fire immediately.
Energy rounds slammed into the creature's armor—but most of them shattered harmlessly against its black shell.
"Fall back!" Kael ordered.
The monster lunged forward, smashing through a radar tower with terrifying strength.
Before the team could reposition—
A voice echoed across the battlefield.
"Fascinating."
Kael spun toward the ridge above the outpost.
Several figures stood there wearing long white coats and black tactical armor.
Their leader stepped forward calmly.
A tall man with silver hair and cold eyes.
He smiled faintly.
"Commander Kael Varden."
Lyra raised her rifle.
"Identify yourself!"
The man gave a polite bow.
"We are the Architects."
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"You're responsible for this."
The man shook his head.
"Oh no."
He gestured toward the monster tearing across the ice.
"We simply awakened it."
The creature roared again and slammed its claws into the frozen ground, sending shockwaves across the battlefield.
The Architect looked back at Kael with quiet amusement.
"Allow me to introduce you to humanity's first Leviathan prototype."
Kael's voice turned deadly calm.
"What is it called?"
The Architect smiled.
"Abyss Alpha."
The monster charged directly toward Kael's team.
Kael drew his combat blade and raised his rifle.
"Crimson Legion!"
His voice cut through the storm.
"Form attack line!"
The soldiers spread out across the frozen battlefield as the enormous creature thundered toward them.
Lyra took position on a shattered tower and locked her sniper scope onto the monster's glowing eyes.
Kael stepped forward into the blizzard.
The ground trembled beneath the creature's massive steps.
The Second Leviathan War had begun.
And humanity had just met its first nightmare.