12 Miles Below: The Frozen Realm: (A Progression Fantasy Epic)

12 MILES BELOW ©2023 Mark Arrows This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the authors. Aethon Books supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights. Aethon Books www.aethonbooks.com Print and eBook design and formatting by Josh Hayes. Art provided by Francell Garrote. Published by Aethon Books, LLC. Aethon Books is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental. All rights reserved. CONTENTS 1. Only a Nightmare 2. Prelude to Violence 3. You Should Have Left It Closed, Dumbass 4. Father 5. A Knife to a Dream 6. The Deathless 7. A Monument to the Gods 8. The Tomb of the Stars 9. Never Challenge a Winterscar 10. つや 11. The First Mile 12. You Don’t Belong Here 13. A Test of Might and Mite 14. The Face of Death 15. Fight Like You Live 16. Pyrrhic Victory 17. The Way Home 18. A Harsh Lesson to Learn 19. Maw of the Drake 20. They Can Talk? 21. The Meadow Underground 22. The Goat 23. Things of Metal and Pride 24. Gift of the Sun 25. Journey 26. Root Administrator 27. Predictive Modeling 28. Reunion 29. The Real Treasure Was the Friends We Made Along the Way 30. No Plan Survives Contact With the Enemy 31. Redemption 32. Three’s a Crowd 33. Nothing Personal 34. Crucible 35. Son 36. Darkest Before Dawn 37. Back Into the Frying Pan 38. Too Shallow a Grave 39. A Warning Written In the Deep 40. The Mission We Came For 41. The Secret Left Behind 42. Solaris Imperium 43. Relinquished Sends Her Regards 44. One Last Act of Service 45. Demi-gods 46. The Final Mile Epilogue Thank you for reading 12 Miles Below Groups LitRPG CHAPTER ONE ONLY A NIGHTMARE “You have about three minutes to live if you fuck up and get your suit punctured.” The old engineer fussed over a few metal toolboxes on his bench, pulling out the contents, explaining as he went. “First few seconds, frostbite sets into the local puncture area. After that, the freezing temperature leaks in and overpowers the suit’s rebreather, usually around the one-minute mark. Better be holding your breath by that point. You die the moment you can’t.” It was hard to see what he’d been doing since the workbench was made for grown-ups. I craned my head over the lip of the table to get a better view. He pushed the toolbox away. “Most adults can hold their breath for about two minutes while under stress. Factor that in and that’s why it’s roughly three minutes before lights out.” He brought his elbows onto the table, lowering his head so he was more at eye level with me. “See why folks beat around the snow telling you kids what’s out there? You’re ten. They’d rather you go be a brat and play with your friends. Leave the worrying to the adults.” Everyone said it was really bad if something happened outside the heated clan bunker. And then they’d shoo me away when I’d ask them how bad. Anarii was, as he put it, “too old to care about keeping secrets”—he’d tell me about whatever I asked. So, ever since I found him, I’d been sneaking past the house guards and making my way to his workstation, deep in the bowels of the colony. Anarii grinned. “Now, here’s a challenge for you. How would you patch up the environmental suit fast enough to beat the timer?” I frowned as I thought. A couple of ideas floated to my head, but none of them seemed to fit. So I did what I do best: I looked for a way to cheat and get an edge. I’m betting he’d pulled everything out for a reason. The answer was probably on his workbench. A square piece of suit fabric caught my attention. “A patch?” That didn’t seem right; sewing took a long time. Also, I didn’t see any needles or thread anywhere on that table. “A patch with a sticky surface?” “You’re close, but there are some issues with that answer.” His hand picked up that piece of fabric, along with a spare knife. “Imagine you’re having a nice stroll outside and your suit gets a rip—like this.” The tough material took him a good moment of struggling to tear through with the knife. “Now, in most cases, you’ll be panicking and not thinking clearly. A patch needs too many steps for your groggy mind to handle. We need something faster and easier.” He set down the knife and picked up a strange fat gun off the table, flipping a switch on it. “That’s where this comes in. Catch.” I caught the heavy gun-thing with a slight fumble. Welding lines held together different parts, and string tied a circuit chip to the side. The barrel was way too fat