Deliquesce By Ezekiel Kincaid
Dr. Devin Howard tracked the light pulsating in the white void. He knew it couldn’t be the sun’s rays; they don’t thump like that when reflecting off ice. An anomaly for certain, but not near as abnormal as how he got here. He and his team of six traveled by boat between the islands of Sevemaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land. Colorado University sent them to measure the melting rate of the ice caps in the North Pole. They anchored the boat, and Kara stepped onto the ice to begin her measurements. The rest gathered the equipment. They all turned when Kara screamed, only to see her flailing body sink into the ice.
Dr. Howard remembered leaping over the side of the boat and on to the ice. His next memory? Trekking through the snow. He didn’t black out, nor faint. One moment he ran to rescue Kara, and the next, he trudged through icy terrain. He had no inclination as to how much time elapsed, the location of his crew, or his whereabouts.
Howard paused and took a few breaths. The cold air burned his lungs, as if each atom came wrapped in razor wire. His tongue felt like rock salt. Somehow, he lost his gloves and scarf. The tips of his fingers tinged black, like they’d been dipped in coal. The skin on his face felt rubbery, as if any moment it would drip like wax from a candle. Frostbite and dehydration had set in, a damnable combination.
He lifted his binoculars and scanned the perimeter. Blue reflected through the lenses. Ocean water teemed in the distance. He remained on an island. A block of ice in the arctic circle? Some piece of land between Zemlya and Josef? He didn’t know. Right now, getting to the pulsating light pressed his mind. It might be Kara or one of the others. He tried his walkie again.
“Kara. Wilson. Grady. Anyone there? Over.”
Crackling static.
“Hello!”
More static.
“Shit.” He holstered the walkie.
Howard focused on the light with the binoculars, its origin baffling him. He let the binoculars fall around his neck and proceeded through the frosty wasteland. Each step, like walking across a bed of smoldering needless. He marched on and noticed something flake to the ground. A small, black ball. He fetched and inspected the dead flesh, then flicked it to the ground and rubbed his palms across his face. His nose felt sharp at the end. A slight panic tingled up his spine. The black ball was the tip of his nose. He knew other pieces would soon follow. He raked his palms down his lips and pulled them away. A waxy substance stuck to his hands. Oh God, my face. Howard wiped his hands on his pants and moved faster.
I must be getting closer. The light…so bright now. His head pounded. White and black spots ran across his vision, making it hard to focus. He ate the ice to try and prevent dehydration, but it proved fruitless. The cold would take him first. So close. So very close. The light now twenty yards away. Howard stumbled toward it. As he did, the light died.
“No!” Despite the subzero temps, his blood boiled. He didn’t track the light and risk life and limb, only to have it disappear.
Howard waddled to where he last saw the light. He dropped on all fours and flung snow, like digging for buried treasure. Nothing. He struggled to his feet and screamed, then looked down. The white powder evaporated. He stood on ice, clear as crystal.
The ground under Howard moved. He went to his knees, examining the ice. Something laid under it. He studied, mind racing. He leaped to his feet to get a wide-angle view, staggering in a circle, gawking at the ice. Logic told him no, but his vision didn’t lie. An eye, around six feet in circumference, stared back at him from under the ice. He sprinted ahead fifty yards and gazed at the ice again. Another eye. He moved twenty yards down. A suction, from a tentacle. Something hid under the ice. No, somethings.
The entire island quaked, cracking the tundra. Howard dashed out of harm’s way as the ground opened. Something like a mountain peak emerged. It rumbled upwards and Howard fell to his knees, shielding his face with his arms.
The structure advanced toward the sky. “My God!” Howard gasped. The edifice resembled a cylinder, with markings engraved on its surface. The arctic air became visible as it circled in a funnel cloud around the structure. The sky above turned a blackish gray. The cylinder pierced it, and lightning strikes flowed forth.
Six tentacles descended from the clouds and submerged into the cyclone of arctic air. Howard removed his arms and peered into the whirlwind. Shadowy figures materialized from within. They made their way out, eyes pulsating with light, like the one he tracked. He stood to his feet. A shadow figure drew closer.
“Kara!” he said. No, something resembling her.
“We’re all in here, Devin.” Her voice sounded robotic.
Howard glanced beyond her and noticed a tentacle attached to her back. His bleeding lips trembled, but not from the cold. “Kara …”
“When the ice cap melts Ag-Selardi will arise. Followed by Yarikh and Nikkal in his wake.”
Howard beheld the cylinder, his eyes shuddering with each lightning flash. Scurrying down the cloud came another tentacle. It wrapped around Devin and hoisted him into the air. He ascended above the arctic cyclone and into the storm. He whipped past the pinnacle of the cylinder, meeting an enormous eye in the middle of the cloud. Its sclera shimmered a dark blue. The iris burned with the color of the sun, and the pupil stared back at him, a black hole threatening to engulf him. As the tentacles brought Howard closer, his body sung with serenity. The eye, a portal to worlds beyond, he thought. Yes that, or a doorway to The Infinite.
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