Ghosts in the Fog

Rime stood in the cold place. It was always cold here. Not like the cold air that was her namesake that only came through the vents every so often. Cold-Wind-Freezes-Rime-Across-Metal. The little bit of frost that gathered on the vents was nothing compared to this place.

It was always. Cold here. Ice and frost crept slowly over everything that it could touch as though it were alive. She knew that if it could, it would likely consume everything outside the cold place as well. The fog that poured from the room whenever someone came in or left was evidence enough of that. Luckily, by some method that she didn’t - and would never - fully understand, it was contained.

Her breath came out in small puffs of clouds as she gazed calmly at the frozen husk that had once been a source of great fear for her. Now it was almost...comforting, in a way. A morbid sort of way. The bones and decayed flesh housed inside the sheet of unmelting ice were like old friends.

She’d seen its face, once. When the power had failed for a long time, and the cold place had melted. The ice turned to water, all except on the outside. That ice never melted, and continued to contain its rotten contents.

Its face was a horrible, sunken thing. Some of the flesh had fallen away to reveal bloodstained bone. She’d been almost glad when the power returned and the ice froze again, distorting the view of what was held within. Then it was just bones and flesh again.

Rime exhaled forcefully, shaking herself to stave off the biting chill that slowly circulated through the cold place. The wind was artificial, as everything else was in this place. It came from holes in the wall, slowly turning the fans that covered them. The dacens guarded their plants so jealously. Did they know that the carnivores they so valiantly fought off were starved for living things that weren’t each other?

Rime shook her hide again, her quills rattling against each other. The cold wasn’t as bad as it used to be when she first came down here. She walked slowly and carefully, watching her every step so that she didn’t trip over a fallen container or crash down to the floor if she tread on black ice. It was a familiar path that she had walked countless times before, steeped in memory.

Everyone came to see the old ones at least once in their lives. Often when they were still very young, they were brought by their parents to the cold place to bear witness of those that came before. The ones that were subject to the whims of the humans. How such small, fleshy things with no quills or spikes or fangs or claws could contain creatures such as themselves, who were so much larger and more powerful, she would never understand. Her “friend” was proof enough that they had, though, and all the others housed behind their sheets of unmelting ice.

Their life was hard. They were hungry, and cramped, and fought over the smallest things. They ate each other when there was no other food to be found. The largest dacen were too much of a threat, and the smallest and weakest knew that they could avoid her kin by staying in the heart of the second zone. On rare occasion, they managed to catch a young one. Eat the hatchlings so that they could survive instead.

Rime caught sight of her reflection, rippled and distorted by a sheet of ice that had slowly climbed up one of the walls. She paused, studying her reflection. It didn’t truly reflect how she looked, she knew that. It hid that her ribs were visible, that her tail was too thin, that there were shadows on her hips that she knew weren’t meant to be there.

When they were young, they were brought to this horrible, unnaturally quiet place. They were shown that no matter how bad things got, and things would get bad, at least they were free of the humans. They would never know such cruel things that lead to her kin being locked away behind the unmelting ice.

A sound caught her attention, and Rime tilted her head. The quiet click and whir of the fans turning off. They did, every so often. Never for very long. It had to stay cold.

The unnatural silence returned, broken only by a faint hum that always danced through the walls. The air was still. Her breath lingered in the air when she exhaled, undisturbed by the artificial wind.

Peace.

Rime closed her eyes, basking in the silence. At least here, she didn’t have to fight just to survive. No one wanted to linger in the cold place for very long, even those that sported feathers instead of quills. She felt as though she had been made for it.

Something shattered the silence and Rime’s eyes snapped open, a snarl rumbling deep in her throat as she looked back through the halls of unmelting ice towards where she had come from. She bet it was those trespassers that had come from outside. As if they didn’t have enough to put up with from the dacen’s aggression from above and Nidhogg’s gluttony from below. Now they stepped into this sacred place, where she and others of her kin had been taught one of the earliest lessons of life, and for what? “Exploration,” she’d heard some say?

There was nothing here for them.

She heard them before she saw them. Careless, thoughtless footsteps. Unconscious of the perils of black ice should they step in the wrong place, or if the wrong dinosaur heard them. Everyone had been so polite to the outsiders. Starving as they were, and they were so kind. They stopped the outsiders when they sought to go even further into the facility, trying to protect them from Nidhogg’s wrath. Rime would have let them pass. It kept Nidhogg occupied while more of her kin and those on the floors above filtered out. The outsiders would realise sooner or later that it was pointless to go further. They didn’t belong here.

Rime was crouched in the corridor of unmelting ice, unmoving as she stared towards the sounds of approaching strangers.

“Do you really think he made it this far? It’s kinda dark and...creepy in here.”

There was a snort.

“He could be anywhere. That’s why I’m looking.”

“I’m just trying to help.”

“You can help by keeping an eye out for Leirsteinn. I’m sure he’s somewhere around here. Watch it!”

There was a thud. One of the strangers had found a patch of ice and hit the ground. Rime felt a hint of spiteful satisfaction. They didn’t belong here. That was proof enough.

“I’m okay. I’m okay.”

There was another snort, accompanied by the scuffling, shifting sounds of someone getting to their feet. A moment of silence followed, as though one voice was judging the other.

“Okay, I’m good, let’s keep going.”

Rime swallowed a snarl. She wanted them gone from here. This was the one room that she could go to be alone for any length of time. The cold place was not for them. She’d give them a scare that would send them away forever, but she had to be quiet. She had to wait until the opportune moment.

She saw their shadows before she saw the outsiders. Sharply contrasting splashes of strange shapes, cast against the wall by the light of the largest container that held her “friend.” One of them bore spikes that were not unlike a dacentrurus. She’d fought and won against many dacen. She’d killed them, too. It was accompanied by something smaller, strange and four-legged. Like a giant rat. She had eaten many rats in her life.

It was the spiked shadow that spoke first again. “Do you really think he’s back here? Wouldn’t he have said something by now if he were?”

“No, I’m just taking us back here because I like sight-seeing,” the smaller shadow quipped. He sighed after a moment. “Look. Mako, right? I think he could be anywhere down here. We got separated when one of those spiky-tailed jerks charged us. His scent lead down here, so he’s here somewhere. Even if he’s not here exactly, it’s worth looking-”

“Stop.”

“What?”

“Mynte stop walking.”

“Why? What are you- ...Oh.”

The pair had come to a stop at the entrance of the corridor, the blue-swirled orange styracosaur named Mako standing stock-still and staring at Rime. Mynte, a brown and green anteo with varying stripes and splotches, had similarly come to a standstill. She was pretty sure that she saw the styra swallow back his fear.

Rime stared back, crouched low to the ground as though she was stalking prey.

Mynte spoke after a moment. “Hello.”

“Get out,” Rime replied flatly. When they didn’t move other than to glance at each other, she snarled. “Get out.”

She stood up to her full height, arching her back and glaring down at the pair. Even for an acro she was a behemoth, and she stood taller than many of her fellows. The light from the cryotubes threw every protruding bone and curve in sharp relief and gave her an even more imposing, ghastly and ghostly appearance. “GET OUT!” she bellowed, her words hanging in the air in a cloud of fog.

Her feet thudded heavily against the metal grating of the floor as she threw herself forwards. The quills that ran along her spine rattled against each other with every step, adding even more chaotic energy to the sudden tension. Her voice was a horrific roar that echoed off the numerous metal surfaces in the cryogenic storage room. “THERE IS NOTHING FOR YOU HERE!”

The intruders both seemed to find their legs. The styracosaur struggled to scramble away first, trying to find purchase on the smooth, cold ground with his blunt claws and small, flat toes. The anteo looked briefly as though he’d try to fight back, or at least to speak to her, but rapidly reconsidered his decision and fled after his companion. Rime didn’t even make it to the end of the corridor before she was left alone with the dead once again.

She didn’t get to see, only heard as they tripped over fallen containers and stumbled past each other in their desperate race to get away. There was the sound of something shattering as one of the containers fell from their metal shelf, smashing against the floor. More things for her to step carefully around on her way out.

Rime stood silent once more, basking in the quiet that followed the quiet hiss of the door sliding shut behind the intruders. She inhaled deeply, her breath rushing out as a heavy sigh that hung in the air in a glittering, frozen cloud. The outsiders - the intruders - were gone. She was alone again. As she preferred it.

She stood, for a moment, in complete silence, standing still as the quiet and calm washed back over her. Then the fans kicked on again, stirring the frozen air with the gentle, artificial wind. Her hide twitched at the sudden shift in temperature that the fans brought and she shook off the cold. She wouldn’t be able to stay in here for much longer. She could already feel the beginnings of the dangerous, cold-induced sleep settling upon her.

Just a bit longer, though. She just wanted to be alone for a little bit longer.

Rime turned, looking silently back down the corridor across the rows of cryotubes that were the only source of light in this frozen place. After a moment, she sighed and turned back to the main room. She would say goodbye to her “friend,” for now.