"Ian to base, we came to the last location of the C-12 expedition" a male voice said on the communicator.
Two men dressed in orange cold weather suits stood at the bottom of an ice gorge somewhere in the middle of Antarctica. In front of them lay a faint, red blinking transmitter left behind by a previous expedition that had failed to return to base.
"We found the transmitter, it still works. But there are no people around" said the same man again, then turned off the communicator.
In front of the two men there was a narrow entrance to an deep ice cave. Ian looked at his companion.
"I think Mark, they went inside to take shelter from the blizzard, maybe we'll find them still alive."
"Or crushed by ice" Mark replied
"Or…"
They both went inside, Ian took out a flashlight to be able to illuminate the road, and moved forward. Icicles and ice walls surrounded them. On the ground, they could see the footprints of members of the lost expedition.
"Yes, they definitely hid here, the question is why they went deeper instead of waiting at the entrance… And why did they leave the transmitter?" Mark said inquiringly.
"I was a rescuer at Mount Everest, people do very different things for very different reasons. If I told you everything you wouldn't believe it," Ian said calmly.
"Sorry, but is it true that sometimes you don't pick up a frozen corpse and… it becomes a landmark in some way?" Mark asked in a slightly awkward voice, immediately realizing what question he was asking.
"Yup" Ian replied calmly again.
"Damn."
As they continued walking through the frosty, icy corridors of the cave, they noticed another strange thing. A penknife, stained with blood, was spread out on the ground. And in front of it was an inscription carved in ice.
"Something is written here… San…rvif? Sanrvif? Sanrvif, I think," Mark said, looking better at the inscription. Ian stepped closer and wiped the writing with his hand, it flashed blue for a moment.
"Yes… Sanrvif. Ice Queen," Ian said softly to himself.
"Huh?" Mark asked, unable to hear the tip
"Nothing" Ian replied.
They moved on. Passing footprints from the previous expedition and traces of frozen blood to the walls. Ian took out his communicator.
"We have entered the cave where the previous expedition entered, most likely at least one person is injured. We couldn't find them… Base? Hello?" he said, surprised by the lack of a response from the other side, slightly shook the communicator, a heavily deformed, incomprehensible voice and hum answered him "Mark, we have lost contact with the base."
"I know that engraved name from somewhere…"
"Maybe, it's not one of the more popular beliefs," Ian and Mark continued on. "I once heard about them from a shaman, the siblings of two deities, Sanrvif and Senrvif, a snowstorm and an arctic fox. According to their beliefs, they were separated, Senrvif to the north, Sanrvif to the south. Once every 50 years they meet, all winters except the Arctic and Antarctica are then spread by their offspring. "
"Wait, offspring? They weren't siblings sometimes?" Mark asked, a bit disgusted.
"These are not folk beliefs if there is no sick family tree. See Norse and Loki himself."
"Yeah… But why this inscription is engraved here"
"I have no idea," Ian replied in a completely calm voice.
As they went deep, they heard an echo coming from the depth, the work of tools forging ice. Ian stopped abruptly and turned to Mark, then shoved the communicator into his hands.
"Get out of the cave, notify base we didn't find them. Don't wait for me."
"What, but-"
"No" Ian replied, then grasped the wrist of his right hand tightly. Mark, when he looked there, noticed a red light trying to penetrate the Arctic suit.
"May I know what's going on?" Mark asked a little louder.
"No, get out of here if you want to live," Ian said, pushing Mark to leave and then started walking towards the noises on his own, still holding his wrist.
As Ian disappeared around the corner, he carefully approached the source of the sounds. He let go of his wrist and began to unscrew the flashlight, walking on without light. Quickly modifying it in his hand, he changed it to a bony sword with gold ornaments. He took a deep breath of the frosty air around him, then exhaled, there was no water vapor in the air. He took off his backpack and coverall for freedom of movement, the temperature was doing him nothing, his longer brown hair turned white. He took out the bandage and began to wrap it around his right wrist so that no red light was released. He continued, moving the sword in his hand. Finally he reached the place, a gigantic ice cave appeared before his eyes, containing houses carved in the ice, they belonged to long considered extinct Antarctic Yerens. On the dais there was an icy soaring throne on which the figure sat, while under the throne, the figures dressed in orange expedition suits forged runes in a rim resembling a portal. Ian started walking towards the throne with a calm pace. Looking left and right, he saw the frozen corpses of the Yerens in a prayer position, as well as rock paintings depicting a beautiful, pale woman in blue robes and an ice scepter. When this one was halfway there, the portal was finished.
"Who has finally arrived?" He heard a woman's voice from the throne, and the members of the expedition turned to face him.
Six people, their skin was pale as snow with a slight hint of blue. Their eyes were blue, and their hair was silver. Glancing past the portal, he noticed the body, it was fresh. They belonged to an old Yerenian woman in blue robes. The body was dry, as if all its energy had drained from it, it was killed by cuts with a pocket knife.
"If you want to get rid of the scar, you're looking in the wrong place," said a female voice.
Looking at the throne, Ian noticed the seventh member of the expedition, but instead of the suit, she was wearing a dress made of ice. She started going downstairs.
"Together, we have a common goal, don't you think? You've been deceived, I want power, and the same obstacle stands in the way."
Ian grabbed his wrist again, but noticed that the bandage had been completely burned out, the black tattoo of the seal was clearly visible and shone with intense light. Despite his great effort to resist him, Ian only managed to let out a defeated groan of pain and everything turned black.
Everything is back. Ian looked around, out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw the tentacle retracting, he looked to his left hand, still holding the bony sword. But he was now covered in blue blood and stuck to the head of the expedition member lying on the ground. He looked around, there were the cut and torn corpses of other people lying around. The portal, on the other hand, stood open, letting in cold from other layer of reality. He looked immediately towards his wrist, a fleshy tentacle ending with fangs was retreating to it.
"Ahh, how many years have we not heard each other?" He heard Ian's severely deformed voice.
"What do you want from me!? I could do it on my own," Ian replied fiercely.
"You've finally reached one of the portals, come in. We'll be together again, we'll be able to overthrow him again and take his place, giving back to the people what theirs, Ion" said encouragingly, the deformed voice growing more by becoming feminine and inviting.
"I chose my side many years ago," he replied, and then plunged the sword into the frame of the portal, it flashed white and golden light, breaking the passage and destroying it like a glass mirror.
"What are you doing!?" An increasingly deformed voice answered, the tentacles protruding from the tattoo to grab the sword and pull it out, but retracted as if burnt upon touching it.
"You revealed yourself too soon, but maybe that's okay, you'll know sooner that I am coming." Ion pulled his sword from the portal frame and raised it above his right hand, "I'm coming for you… and for all the rest!" Ion shouted, cutting his right arm off the elbow, it began to burn on the ground with a golden flame. He let out a powerful scream and then began to destroy the rest of the portal with quick cuts of the bone sword, then stabbed the sword into the heart of the already dead woman in ice robes.
"I couldn't help you… but you will definitely help me."
Her blue life essence began to fly towards where the passage was located, then disappeared immediately. The slightly thinner at this point the barrier between the two layers of reality has been strengthened.