Icebreaker Chapter 13 Novels & Stories

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. This story is not affiliated with any institutions mentioned in the chapters. This book contains spoilers for book 1: Reclaim the Ice Crown. *** “Can we take a break?” Arth asked, interrupting Maester Irvine from explaining the history of Stone Glacier Ruins. He had his chin rested on his palm, legs bouncing involuntarily under the table. Then he yawned.

"If the Prince won't lead the Dynasty, then we will delete the 'Infrastructure' and start the story from Chapter 1. Delete Leo. Delete Meilin. Clear the cache." A massive, white beam of light—the Eraser-Tool—began to charge at the tip of the flagship. It wasn't a bomb; it was a total digital scrub. "No!" Elian screamed, lunging for his staff. But as the white light began to descend, a new voice—a voice that sounded like a thousand pens scratching on paper simultaneously—boomed from the very center of the void. "STOP. THE CHAPTER IS OVER-LENGTH. THE READERS ARE VOTING."

"She only sees you as broken. She doesn't understand what we've become." I straightened up, meeting Alpha Zero's empty stare. "You're not smarter than me. Just older." Alpha Zero raised her other hand. Golden-white energy exploded from her, shaking the entire chamber. The ground cracked under us. Pipes burst along the walls, filling the air with steam. Kieran tried to shield me, but the blast knocked us both backward. Subject 13 slammed into the wall and slumped to the floor. Alpha Zero walked through the chaos like it was nothing. Her head tilted as she studied me.

And maybe worse— Since I realized I’d burn my entire future down before I let anyone hurt her again. Dangerous thought. Very dangerous thought. “Scouts from Chicago are here,” Cole says casually while taping his stick. “And New York.” Marco whistles. “No pressure, Captain.” Pressure doesn’t bother me. Never has. Pressure is easy. Pressure makes sense. People? People are complicated. And Harper? She’s become the most complicated thing in my life. I grab my helmet and head for the ice. The second I step through the tunnel— The noise explodes. Lights.

Elysia knelt beside them, panic in her voice. Alex’s eyes snapped open, glowing faintly with the same fiery light as the anchor. “She’s getting stronger,” they said hoarsely. “And she knows where we’re going.” The group exchanged uneasy glances, the weight of their mission heavier than ever. End of Chapter 30 This chapter intensifies the stakes as the group claims the first anchor while confronting both physical and psychological challenges. Morgana’s presence looms larger than ever, setting the stage for the journey to the next anchor in the Sapphire Depths.

"Inject the damn code!" "I’m trying!" Pim roared back, her voice raw with terror. "But it’s fighting back. Every time I open a terminal, it locks the port. It’s learned my patterns. It knows how I think, Chalida! It’s using my own predictive models against me to keep me out of the kernel!"

Red spread through the river. Eve stood behind me, holding half of a broken beer bottle, her face pale with terror. “Emma, move! They’re coming!” she screamed. I could hear shouts from a distance. People from the village were closing in. My heart raced as I frantically paddled, but the boat still moved painfully slow. The footsteps grew louder, and my heart sank into despair. Were we really not going to make it? Suddenly, Eve stood up. She smiled softly at me, her lips curving with a gentle warmth. “Emma, you have to live—for me and your mom.”

I squealed as I watched blood seep out of my finger. I placed my thumb in my mouth and sucked away all the blood on my finger, and then tried to loosen the lock once again. Another tear streamed down my face as I placed my throbbing thumb into the lock once again. After applying enough pressure the lock opened up enough for me to slide my wrist through. I got up and ran toward the door only to be faced with a long dark and isolated hallway. I closed my eyes and try to think about what was on the other end of the hallway as I slowly walked through.

**Flashback starts** Last year of high school, on our date to park at night, we both are kidnapped by an unknown person to me but the person surely knows Zion. He surely knows that Zion is rich and has lots of money and his parents aren't with him. "Nan!" he calls me with his voice being clogged in the piece of cloth on his face. My heart jumps with joy as I hear his voice in that dark world where I can see nothing but space and hear nothing but only a vacuum. I cry in fear and anxiety but I know his clogged voice is comforting me and telling me that I should stay strong. He is going to take me out of here in any situation.

He has bound his shoulder with a strip of his own ruined shirt, one-handed, and he is already back to the cold arithmetic that is the truest thing about him. “Surface, and we go up eleven thousand meters of open water with a wounded hull and a Sovereign aboard, straight through a net that has had our scent since the beach. It will have a hunter on us before three thousand. We will not survive the climb.” “And down?” “Down, the crack grows and the plate might hold and there is exactly one structure in this trench with a pressure-rated door we could reach before either kills us.” He lets that sit. “Sector Seven. The place we came to break into. We stop trying to sneak up on it and we fall onto