Prologue-

Dr. Nick West stepped out of the Humvee and looked at the cave that was revealed by an Earthquake. A week ago an Earthquake happened in Antarctica and a large part of the mountain about 40 kilometers away from the camp collapsed. It was a catastrophic natural event that nobody had anticipated. The Earthquake was on the 7.3 richter scale. Everyone in the camp was scared to their deaths. But fortunately it happened very far from the camp, so there was no damage to the camp. It all happened in the night.

In the morning a team of 15 was selected to survey the area and get data about the landslide. But when the survey team returned they had pictures of a man made structure inside a cave that was exposed due to the landslide. It was a whole new discovery, everyone in the camp was excited to explore the ancient structure. So an exploration team was formed to go inside the cave and find out about it, Nick was one of the selected Geologists.

So three days later the team boarded the Humvee and arrived at the site. The landslide was massive. Wherever you looked you could only see the fallen rocks and giant boulders size of a small house. They had been in this area before many times but because of the fallen snow and rubble the land was elevated and looked nothing like it had looked before Earthquake.

Nick and and his colleagues climbed over the rocks and reached the cave entrance. The cave was huge from the inside. Nobody had expected to be a cave here, let alone a man-made structure. They approached the structure. It was a simple door carved out of the stone, made in a natural wall. It was about 10 feet tall and weighed half a ton. It took them almost an hour to open it. As they opened it a gust of wind entered through the door. The roof of the hall was about 70 meters high and many chandeliers were hanging from it. Everything was covered with dust.

Nick and three more people were the first to enter the hall. He was astonished. Mark quickly called Dean and asked him to prepare the lights. In few minutes later lights were placed inside the hall. Dean pushed the switch and the hall was bathed in the bright light after a very long time. Now would begin the most exciting part, unraveling its secrets.

Two days later the team cleaned all of the dust in the hall. They made a temporary camp about 1 kilometer away from the site and Nick was as the Camp Leader. On the third day a team of Archeologists was coming. Here in Antarctica everyone were scientists, so they had to wait for experts to arrive. The Archeologists arrived in the evening and stayed at the temporary camp. In the morning Nick lead them to the site. Nick and his team called it ‘The Frozen Cathedral.’ The Archeologists unpacked their equipments and started their research.

It took them 9 days to completely analyze the hall. In those days few more teams of Archeologists and Historians from different universities arrived. Nick thought it was funny to see them chatter nonstop about what new thing they found today.

On the ninth day they found a door hidden behind a fake wall. As the camp leader Nick also went with the Archeologists in the newly found corridor. It was a very long and dark tunnel. There were scones on the wall in the corridor. After walking for about 10 minutes, they saw faint glow coming from the other end. They hurried towards the light. The light became bright as they neared the exit. They exited the corridor in a 10 foot high room. There were multiple crystal Chandeliers hanging from the roof and the blue light was coming from it. The whole room was bathed in the blue light. They were mesmerized by it. Suddenly Dr. Sofia Flores, one of the Archeologists gasped loudly and pointed towards the other end of the room. Nick’s heart skipped a beat at the scene that was ahead of him.

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In front of them was many stone tables and on those tables were human bodies with a blade sticking out of their chests. Along the walls were also bodies hung on the blades sticking out of their chests. The bodies looked like they were killed not very long ago. Dr. Herbert Weber went to a body hanging on the wall and touched it. As her touched it the body crumbled to dust even bones turned to dust, only the wooden mask remained.

“Weber! What’re you doing? Don’t touch anything, you idiot! Get back here before you cause more damage.” Dr. Hugo Russell the oldest and most experienced Archeologists yelled at Weber. “Sofia, get that camera rolling. I need every corner of this room recorded. Jones, Start writing and don’t mention the blunder Weber made. West, take this camera and start taking pictures. Basu get those lights ready.” He ordered everyone in the room and Everybody started doing what they were told.

Nick started taking pictures of the bodies. The blade was sticking out of the left side of their bodies, it pierced their hearts. They were wearing robes with golden lining. They were barefoot and barehanded. The masks they were wearing were unique. Every mask was different from the other. Nick went to the end of the room where was a circular silver disk reflecting the light adorned the wall and below it was another body. What was different about it is that it was lying on the floor facing the roof unlike others who were lying on the tables. Second, he wasn’t wearing any clothes. There were tattoos all over his body. And he wasn’t wearing any mask, but his face was rotten. He took the picture and looked the mirror hanging on the wall. Upon inspection it looked like the mirror was embedded in the wall and wasn’t hanging.

He looked at his reflection in the mirror. Suddenly he noticed something behind him in the mirror and turned back, but there was nobody there. Everybody was doing what they were told Hugo was helping Sofia, Weber was helping Dr. Suraj Basu and Dr. Jones was sitting cross legged on the floor writing their in his Laptop. He turned back and his reflection was gone, there was no reflection in the mirror. Panicked he touched the mirror and his hand went through and something grabbed it. He screamed and pulled his hand with every bit of force he had in him. His hand came out but something was holding it also came out.

A pale ghostly hand had gripped Nick’s wrist. “Weber, help me!” He shouted to Weber. When he screamed everyone in the room was horrified because Nick’s hand was submerged in the mirror and when he pulled it out, a ghostly hand was gripping his wrist. Weber hesitated to help Nick.

“Why did you touch the mirror West?” Hugo was angry.

“This is not the time for that Dr. Russell, help me out. Get me away from that thing. It is cold, my hand is going numb. Hurry!” Nick shouted.

That brought everyone to their senses. Weber and Jones grabbed Nick by the waist and started pulling while Basu was hitting the ghostly hand with the glow stick. In that commotion they stepped on the body lying there and it turned to dust. Hugo clicked his tongue.

Finally they managed to pull the being who was gripping Nick’s hand. The being was a very pale humanoid figure. As it was pulled out of the mirror it dropped on the floor and lay their unmoving. It’s head was bald and red tattoos were painted all over his body. It was somewhat transparent.

Suddenly a voice came from the figure. It looked up at the Basu and Basu fell on the floor like a marionette without strings. Weber next to him fell on his butt, horror clearly showing on his face. Nick saw his eyes roll back before he became like Basu. The being then looked at Russell and he started cumbusting. His cry of pain filled Nick with despair. He regretted touching the mirror. He looked at Sofia and saw her walking towards the being in a trance like state. He wanted to call her, but no voice came from his mouth. Jones tried to run away, but he also dropped dead on the floor. Sofia reached the pale being and it placed its hand on her head. Its eyes glowed bright gold and a smile appeared on his face.

“Hello, Dr. Nick West it is nice to meet you. I am Royun Nikatha. A being of ancient time. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, even though I have no heart. You released me from my prison. As a reward I will take your body as mine and rule this world with your face.” The being introduced itself.

Upon hearing those words Nick felt sinking in the sea of despair. He lost all the hopes of survival and hung his head as his consciousness faded away.