Chapter 4 - THE HEART OF WINTER
Ethan slammed the journal shut.
“You’re not touching anything.”
Voss almost looked amused.
“You still think this is an academic expedition.”
“It was supposed to be.”
“No. It was supposed to find the entrance your father sealed.”
Maya stepped between them.
“You used us.”
“I funded you.”
“Same thing.”
Voss ignored her.
“The object beneath that cavern produces more energy than any reactor on Earth.”
Ethan remembered the glowing lines beneath the eggs.
“You mean the prison.”
“I mean the Heart.”
According to Voss, Helix scientists had detected a stable energy source hundreds of feet beneath the nest.
It generated no measurable radiation.
No combustion.
No fuel.
Yet it had remained active for thousands of years.
“Unlimited energy,” Jonas whispered.
Voss nodded.
“A technology that could end dependence on fossil fuels.”
Maya folded her arms.
“And make Helix the richest company in human history.”
“That too.”
Ethan opened his father’s journal again.
One passage had been underlined repeatedly.
THE HEART IS NOT A MACHINE.
His stomach twisted.
“You’re wrong.”
Voss tilted her head.
“My father said the Heart isn’t technology.”
“Your father became unstable.”
“He understood this place better than you.”
“He also disappeared.”
Ethan flipped through several pages.
Drawings showed a large crystalline object beneath the chamber.
Around it were dozens of black shapes.
Then he found a sentence written in red ink.
The Heart is alive.
Before Ethan could read more, alarms sounded outside.
A technician rushed into the tent.
“Ma’am, pillar eight just lost power.”
Voss’s face changed immediately.
“How long?”
“Maybe six minutes ago.”
“Why wasn’t I told?”
“The signal dropped during the helicopter approach.”
Ethan grabbed his coat.
“We need to get back.”
Voss stopped him.
“My team will handle it.”
“You don’t understand what that pillar does.”
“And you do?”
“No, but the dragon does.”
That argument ended the debate.
Within fifteen minutes, they were descending into the cavern again.
The dragon was pacing violently.
Ice broke beneath its claws.
Its eggs glowed faintly.
One egg in particular—the smallest—had developed bright blue veins across its shell.
“The seventh egg,” Ethan whispered.
Voss walked closer.
Her scientists began placing sensors around the chamber.
The dragon growled.
“Tell them to stop,” Ethan said.
Voss didn’t.
One soldier approached a black pillar.
The dragon whipped its tail.
The man flew twenty feet and slammed into a wall.
Weapons came up.
“NO!” Ethan shouted.
The dragon opened its mouth.
Blue light burned between its teeth.
Ethan stepped directly between the soldiers and the dragon.
Maya stared at him.
“Are you insane?”
“Probably.”
He raised both hands.
“Easy.”
The dragon’s eyes locked onto him.
Ethan remembered something his father had written.
They recognize intent before movement.
He lowered his head.
Not submission exactly.
Respect.
The dragon slowly closed its mouth.
Voss stared.
“How did you do that?”
“My father taught me.”
“He never brought you here.”
“No.”
Ethan looked at the dragon.
“But maybe he left instructions.”
He walked toward the damaged pillar.
A section had broken away.
Inside was not wiring.
Not metal.
It was bone.
A huge white bone carved with symbols.
Maya touched it carefully.
“This belonged to a dragon.”
Ethan nodded.
The pillars weren’t built around the dragons.
They were built from them.
Voss suddenly called out.
“We found something.”
A scanner showed a chamber beneath the nest.
At its center was a pulsing blue object.
The Heart.
Voss smiled.
“Drill.”
Ethan spun around.
“No.”
The dragon roared.
The seventh egg cracked.
Everyone froze.
May you like
A tiny claw pushed through the shell.
And every remaining pillar went dark.
