In the ice chamber.
The cold greeted him even before the door fully opened.
A wave of frost-heavy air blasted outward, biting through his already torn uniform.
Kael stood still for a moment, gripping the frame of the doorway as if steadying himself for a battlefield charge.
His ribs ached. His arms felt like lead. His jaw was still stained with dried blood.
But he stepped inside.
Whirrrr—clink…
The mechanical hum of the ancient cooling arrays echoed around the cylindrical chamber.
Pale blue crystals embedded in the walls pulsed weakly like the chamber had a heartbeat of its own.
Kael dragged the door shut behind him.
"...Just… one night," he whispered to himself. "One night… I have to be…"
He turned on the machine.
A sharp metallic click.
Then—
Fwoooosh—
Dense fog burst from the vents, spreading low across the ground until it reached his feet and coiled around him like a ghostly tide.
The temperature dropped instantly. His breath became white clouds.
