10: No Other Way - Part 2

Wei and Julius silently disembarked from the Snowcat at the edge of the ravine. As they did, the crunch of snow beneath their boots seemed to echo in the vast expanse around them. They weren't sure exactly what it is that they would find, but something about the journey made them feel quiet, like there was something solemn approaching that made it difficult to speak.

After talking with their mission head, it was deemed that this mission should for now involve only the two of them. As they as of yet had no clue what was down there, it could not only be dangerous but also risk exposing them if too many people were to engage in conspicuous actions all at once.

They looked down the ravine into the valley. It stretched out before them, like a rugged scar slicing through the pristine landscape. Something felt off about its presence, although there was nothing overtly visible that did so. You could sense that it was a new tear and that the ground did not look like this before recently. And that the idea of descending into it felt like descending into the den of something dangerous. They were armed, of course. Although they did not expect any overtly hostile lifeforms there, they had to be prepared for anything. For who knows what forms of dangers lurk at the ends of the earth?

They connected a rope to the snowcat and used it to lower themselves down. Their breath hung in the air, mingling with the mist rising from the depths below. As Wei climbed down the side, he looked off into the distance, seeing once again the infinite expanse of white fading into blue beyond them. And seeing this, he thought of the nature of humans as only tiny pieces of this great tapestry.

They got to the bottom safely and tugged on the rope to make sure it was secure. The snowcat was parked far enough back that it was unlikely to fall even if there was some kind of disturbance. In the worst-case scenario, if an earthquake were to drag it underground, they would still be able to use the rope to get back on the ledge, although this would make the journey back more perilous. They had other means to retreat if needs be, but they hoped not to have to use them.

Once on the bottom, Julius took out his sensor for tracking the signature. He gestured silently to Wei, and they began to follow it. The ravine was rather long and rugged, and so it involved a lot of climbing up and down different jutting areas. Various openings on the ground level looked like they might lead to a cave, but they weren't yet close enough, and looking in many of them only revealed solitary hives of frostbees. But they were not professional cave divers. They could dig a bit if needs be and had equipment for that purpose, but they had no intention of getting lost in an endless sea of underground ice tunnels. Nonetheless, they hoped that they would make the discovery today rather than have to come out another time.

They reached the center of the reading. Though the surface looked plain, there was a solemn air to the location, and they could feel, even without the equipment, that there was something sacred about that place. Although they were already cold, it gave them the chills, adding to their already tense focus. Though truth be told, they did not feel fully cognizant at that moment, feeling like they had traversed beyond reality and into the quiet realm of dreams.

Barely realizing as they did, they found an opening, determining that it would be the closest one that they were likely to arrive at. They rested for a moment and placed a marker to make it easier both to be found and to return to should they get lost in some way in the inside. They also took this moment to make a final check of their equipment to make sure that they were not missing anything that they would be likely to need once they continued on. They had done this before disembarking already, but with the daunting task of descending underground still ahead of them, one could not be too careful.

After this preliminary check, and satisfied that they were prepared, they began to descend into the depths. Although it did not look like a carved cavern, they found it having a form like a path. One constructed as if by their own mind, which existed only for them to follow. And though they expected it to only be a short way down, it continued on ever deeper, as if building itself as they went, tempting them into its depths. As though they were delving further layers into the unconscious, leaving behind their stable entities as human beings as they became one with the flow.

Although the cavern itself did have various paths on the inside, this did not perturb them greatly, on account of the marker that could help them return and which was tracing their path. The cave tunnels themselves did not seem like they were connected to to large a tunnel system, and the movement was not difficult, so they did not consider it likely that they could end up lost for too long. And they had resources with them to survive for some time, if needs be. This being a decent amount of food, heating, even shelter, although on account of being inside an ice cave, the shelter part was less relevant at the moment.

But as they winded on through the cavern, they began to feel a sense of unease, as if there was someone watching them. Looking to the sides, they felt they could see shadows in the ice walls. Distant shapes, as if the wandering souls of a frozen Naraka beyond the Lethe River had come to silently spy. Souls that retained no identity or sense of self. Quietly watching them, curious only about what they are and about what it means to bear reality. It made them more self-conscious. Cognizant of what it meant to have a self in a way you never were before coming face to face with the emptiness from beyond identity.

Gradually, they came to the bottom. At this point, the reading became stronger. They could sense that whatever it was pinpointing was close by. But as there was no longer any path ahead of them, they would have to dig for the final stretch. They took out their vibro-icepicks and began to expand on the tunnel. Although the tools were capable of digging quickly, their progress was slowed by the fact that they had to continually melt or move the ice out of the way. All while being presided over by an eerie air that they were ever approaching something not meant for human eyes to see.

They felt themselves growing more tense as they dug, wondering if it was tied to moving closer to the source. The deafening silence that has presided over them felt like it was giving way to distant sounds that had no name. But as they continued on, gradually they felt more lucid. Shaking off the dreamlike stupor for a waking anxiety. And they could tell as they did that they were getting close to the end.

Finally, a hole cracked open. They looked through it faintly to see if it only opened to another pocket. But they could see inside that what it opened to was actually the inside of a large structure. One that looked unnatural, surprising them as they began to see in. As of yet unable to see clearly, they quickly carved out the rest of the opening, making a space through which they could climb through.

They stumbled into the cavern and were hit with shock at the sight that appeared before them. The cavern itself was massive, with enough room to fit a building inside. And it was indeed a building. It was no natural formation, but was the ruins of a large artificial structure, with rows of columns and unused energy lines resting silently along the floor, heading up to an epicenter at the far end.

They were stunned as they entered, remaining silent as they began walking up the long central walkway. At the front of the structure was what looked like it was designed to be a giant church or temple grounds, with circles of esoteric designs along it, leading to the statue in the center. But as they approached closer, they could see that what had looked like a statue from far off was not a mere ornate object but was a giant machine, connected to the wall by long cords, vaguely humanoid in shape, though with a more angular design, and what looked like three heads.

Wei gasped, his voice finally returning to him. “Is this... is this an illusion? What exactly are we even looking at?"

Julius, no less stunned, looked around and then reached down to touch the ground to make sure it was as tangible as it looked. “No, I don't think so. Not unless we are experiencing the same illusion, that is. It feels real enough.”

Wei looked around at the alien structures before him. “Then... what is this place? Is it ancient? There's nothing like it on the records.”

Julius held up the scanner and played with it for a moment. He made a face, like he was confused by what he was looking at for a moment due to the confusing reading. “No, it doesn't seem to be. Despite its run-down appearance, there is no evidence that this has been here for a particularly long time. Dating shows that it can't be more than a few decades old at max.”

“But there's no evidence that this area has ever been used for anything. There wasn't even an outpost here. How could something like this have been made recently? And if so, why is it abandoned?

He looked around. “It's too clean. It doesn't look like it was attacked by anyone.”

“No idea.”

Wei thought for a moment, but then remembered something else. “Wait, we should be taking pictures of this to show them later.”

“Ah, right.”

Julius turned around for Wei to rummage in his backpack for the camera. They had packed somewhat light, in case they would need to run or fight at some point. But also, advances in technology had made a lot of what they would need lighter than it would have used to be regardless. At any rate, they were here more for cataloging than anything else at the moment.

Wei, in amazement, took several pictures of what they could see from the middle of the giant room. He and Julius both had a flair for the arts, so he wanted to take a lot of photos, not only for practical purposes of need but on account of his amazement at the design of the structure itself and its intricate but alien and upsized facilities. After this, he looked at the camera. “Now that these pictures are on here, we have to be careful with the camera too. We can't let the wrong people see this.”

Julius thought about it and held up his hands. “If they did, they would probably just think it was fabricated anyways. No one outside of us expects anything like this to be anywhere near here. Hell, even we didn't more than five minutes ago.”

“Yes, but even so. It could get back to the wrong people.”

“I was joking. I know.”

They continued on walking down the long central path, as if in religious procession. They looked to the side of them as they went, at all the futuristic temple-reminiscent designs and at their massive scale, taking more pictures along the way. Marveling at what this structure could be for, as if it were meant to contain the giant worshipers of a mechanized god. One oriented toward some unknown, but no doubt ominous purpose.

But they sped up their walking, realizing that even if it looked abandoned it could still be dangerous and that they shouldn't spend more time in it alone than they have to. At the end of the path, they entered into the sanctuary and onto the altar. The appearance of which came off uncanny inasmuch as that it was both familiar, but at the same time, wholly alien. It had some small implements laid out and a control panel connected to it. But they figured that it was better to leave this be for now.

It was even more intimidating from up close. Its true size was fairly massive, large enough for people to enter inside. While they could see that there were no doubt other items of value in the larger temple itself, the machine looked to be the centerpiece, and they opted to treat it like the primary place to look for things that were useful for salvaging. Because whatever the purpose of the machine, the primary purpose of the room seemed to be to hold it.

They walked around it a few times to see if there was an opening at the bottom or a place where it would make sense to make one, and, finding nothing, ultimately began to climb onto the machine itself. This was no easy matter on account of size. But they had several different grappling-type means with them and additional ropes to pull them up.

Once they got up onto its shoulder, they looked over it, amazed, trying to look for a way to get inside to take a look at its mechanics. Not being able to, and tired from their journey, they took a short break and sat down. As they did this, Julius continued fiddling with the scanner.

He frowned. “Based on these readings, it doesn't seem like this area was constructed by humans at all. It doesn't seem to match any known design metrics. Not that I suppose this is a huge surprise at this point.”

Wei thought about this for a moment, and then, as a realization hit him, he immediately began to look nervous. “That means... it must have come from hyperspace, in the complex plane. Julius, do you realize what this means?"

Julius looked up. Wei continued on. “They are trying to bring over horrors beyond what humans are capable of standing up against. If we don't ramp up the speed we are acting in, we will be overtaken before we have the chance to do anything. Everything we worked for will become useless.”

Julius looked down. “Perhaps. But there's a lot we don't know about this. And there is more than one possible place it could have came from. At any rate, it doesn't seem like it successfully made it here. This whole area looks like it got damaged without ever being used. Perhaps it was even lost in the process, and they no longer have its location."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Wei held up his arms, shaking. “But can they make more things like this? For all we know, they are making more right now!”

Julius looked around. “Perhaps. But perhaps also this is an opportunity. We found it first, so we have the chance to take and use whatever is in here for ourselves before they manage to retrieve it.”

Wei tried to calm down. “Okay. You're right. Sorry.

“...

“hmm.”

They sat for a few more moments, still cognizant that this was not a safe place to dawdle in indefinitely. Wei looked along the body they had been climbing. He had to admit that he admired the mechanized form. It reminded him, for some reason, of Julius' carving. And of the idea of the idealized human. But it was something different. Something more. It filled him with awe and fear. And he realized that he wanted to become that fear himself. To overcome the fear of his own that he had been always saddled with.

It made him think about the natural limits of humanity. And about what it would mean to go beyond them. He looked at his hands. Covered now in gloves, of course, on account of the temperature. And thought about what it meant to use tools. How they blurred together with the body. The body itself was a tool in a sense. And like all tools, it could be refined. Improved upon.

He thought about the sacrifices one might have to make to do this. But after talking to Julius earlier, he felt like it might be a large price to pay. He struggled to respect people who weren't willing to embrace the struggle in order to be free. But perhaps there was a path too far. A long, winding route that, at a certain point, you couldn't return from. And at the end of which there was nothing.

They got up again from their rest to continue their exploration, beginning once again the alternating climb and descent, to try to see what place was the most thin to try to make an opening, or whether there was one already. Eventually, from moving along its body, they came to what looked like an access hatch. They worked at prying open the panel for entry, and then climbed down into the mechanics as they did. Darkness enveloped them as they descended yet another winding tunnel.

As they got inside, they looked around at the internal mechanism, their gaze darting to and fro at the intricate machinery that sprawled before them like a metallic jungle. They could tell at a glance that much of this was wholly remote from human design. But at the same time, some of this was not wholly alien either, being reminiscent of things that were more close to home. For the temple of the jade archon, of which they were both so familiar, had much to its design that had come from hyperspace itself.

Wei spoke in astonishment. “Look at all this. There's probably tons of stuff we could make use of in here. We might not even have the ability to bring all of it back with us.”

Julius shined his light around at it. “Its true. It would be unfortunate if we have to leave some of it. Maybe we should catalog what we can see and work out a tentative priority list. Make sure to take a lot of pictures.”

“We probably shouldn't try detaching anything too big to bring with us right now, though, of course. Once we start bringing things back, the game may be up rather quickly.”

“Of course. Probably very little of it is small enough for us to get to the snowcat by ourselves anyways.”

They continued on looking over stuff for a short while and taking notes, nervously listening as they did for any sign of danger. Wei was looking up at something that resembled the form of a spiky ball. But he wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. But as he was peering up at it, he heard Julius loudly gasp behind him and then shout his name. “Wei, come look at this!”

Wei rushed over to look at what Julius was shining his light on. It stood out among the other internal aspects, looking more like a tablet than a mechanism or weapon. Julius spoke again, shaking now in his voice and stammering, taking a few tries to manage speaking. “Do... do you know what this is? I think... This is a Key of Epinoia. A hypothetical construct believed to be able to link us to the Machine of Heaven. Do you know what this means?"

Wei looked at him, waiting for him to go on, although he was already somewhat familiar with the idea.

“With this, they could cut down the creation time of a White Lotus by possibly literal centuries. Drop everything else. This is the only thing that matters.”

Julius took out a tool and reached for it. Wei hesitated, looking at his movements, but then shouted, waving his arms. “No, stop! Don't touch it!”

But it was already too late. As Julius made contact with it, a bright light started emitting from it, which encompassed both of the watchers. As it did, their senses suddenly began to reel with a sensation akin to vertigo, yet which was entirely unfamiliar. They could feel their perception suddenly raising and lifting. The space in front of them started to flatten to their perception, as if it was like a flat plane that they could now see beyond, floating outside of time and space.

They drifted through a kaleidoscope of shifting colors while space shifted around them, forming intricate patterns that danced with a life of their own, extending far off into the distance like dancing stars. Wei looked at his hands, becoming more cognizant as he did so of their bounded shape, encompassed by the outline of infinite space. Obtaining a feeling when seeing this of having suddenly woken up from life, to an awareness that existed beyond the lower perception of the mind.

As they drifted on, they slowly turned around to a direction which had no name. They could see now beyond the world entirely, though to what they were seeing they could not comprehend, having not the words to express it from within their limited experience. They saw what looked like a series of raising hyperspheres. At the zenith of which looked like a light encased in a crystalline structure of an unknown shape.

They saw a red pool, as if covered in blood. From within this, there was continually dripping streams that went upwards, feeding the pool. Or what passed for upwards from this frame of reference. Though concepts like up had no longer had meaning from the dynamic in which they were now observing. At the top, the streams were emanating like tears of blood from what looked like a massive closed eye that their perception was brought close to.

But they were suddenly struck with fear as the eye opened abruptly, shaking that space with its sudden movement and revealing a serpentine pupil, It narrowed and began to focus on their presence, looking through them as if stripping them naked, perceiving them in their limited, lesser forms, which could offer no protest or resistance.

They felt paralyzed by this observation, not knowing what to do. But gradually, Wei shook himself back to lucidity and then moved to shake Julius, bringing him back to the same. As they did so, collapsing their perception back through layers as it stretched on, becoming smaller as it did until they eventually returned to regular space.

Wei was shaking. “What was that? What was that?”

Julius was temporarily frozen, still staring off into space without speaking. But gradually he came to look around the room, as if remembering where he was. “That was... That was Sakras."

He suddenly looked at Wei with a now panicked expression. “He knows where we are. We have to go. Now. Like, right now."

Wei looked around fast. “What about the weapons?”

“Leave them! We have no time. We only need the key.”

Julius jabbed his blade down around the console, which had now become active, prying up the key and placing it in his pack. He and Wei quickly retreated backwards, climbing back up the rope, hands shaking, and then once outside the figure, down the outside onto the ground of the temple. They didn't have time to retrieve it all, so much of their own grappling equipment was left behind by them. They began to run back towards the entryway, and as they got there, they looked back one last time at their prize, which they would now likely no longer be able to harvest any more of. Before turning around and having it disappear from their sight forever.

Once in the ice tunnel, they continued on, making sure as they did so to follow their markers for getting back. Getting nervous as they did so that anything might be up top, and for all they know, there might be an ambush already. When they got back to the surface, Wei looked around quickly with binoculars to see whether the coast was clear. But at the moment, they couldn't see anyone approaching the area from around the ledge of the ravine.

He spoke up. “Do you think we can we go back to the base? Or do we have to evacuate?”

Julius, at this moment, was panicking and not sure what to do next. “I... I don't know.”

Wei didn't think they had time to think any further, and so they quickly headed back to the cord that was hanging from the snowcat. It was dangerous to go back that way since it provided a visible target, but it would take more time if they had to find an alternate route. And at the moment, time was not what they had. There was an eerie air hanging above them. The space around them was still deathly quiet, aside from the distant buzzing of frostbees and their own panicked rushing. And there was no movement outside of them – the world was still frozen as if stuck in time. But they could sense now that something was coming.

As they arrived back at the ledge and began to climb the rope, it was a nervous process on account of it not being an activity they were used to rushing through. Having to now try to balance their need for haste with a goal of safety. As they were on the rope, they heard a faint hissing sound behind them, but which was slowly becoming louder. Turning to see what was behind them, they gasped as they saw now dozens of long-range missiles in the air heading towards the space that they had just evacuated from.

Wei spoke aloud. “They aren't trying to retrieve it! They are trying to get rid of it, along with us!

“Get back!”

They both braced for impact, but they could not move while on the line, having to simply brace as a gigantic series of explosions shook the valley, shooting out wind in all directions that was both hot and frigid. As they did so, the edge of the ice wall began to shake and collapse, beginning an avalanche on the cliff they were on. They tried to continue the climb up, but as the ledge began to collapse, they began to lose their footing, desperately holding to the rope for dear life, hoping it would keep them from being pulled back down, and ending up under the cascading snow.

Wei tried to grasp harder onto it, but as the snow pulled his legs, he lost hold of the rope and began to get pulled under. For a split moment, his mind became aware of the reality of what it would mean to fall off the rope and under the snow. But his emotions had not yet caught up to process it. It was like a moment of calm, thinking about the potential end that awaits you as if you are about to drift off to sleep.

But before he had time to realize what he was thinking, he was snapped back to awareness as Julius grabbed him with his other hand, holding on desperately. Wei looked up at him, first with confusion and then with gratitude. But eventually, with a twinge of guilt, remembering that Julius had the key and that if Julius had fallen when trying to reach to save him, it would have been pulled back down to the ravine with them and potentially lost forever.

Julius smiled at him, gesturing to his arms as the snow rushed past them. “See what I mean about the idealized form?”

Wei smirked back weakly. He grabbed back onto Julius' arm and got a tighter grip. The snow was still sliding down beneath them, preventing their movement up the rope, but gradually it was becoming slower, and so they were now in less danger than they were previously. They looked down the ravine as the snow rushed past them, seeing how the layout of the ground was changing so wildly. Not only beneath them but all around the area, as the shockwaves from the missiles had destabilized it, pouring snow into the ravine as if it were a series of waterfalls pouring into a central basin.

They held on until the snow slowed to a halt beneath them. They got up and dusted off their clothes quickly, so as to prevent the residual snow from slowing their movements. As they got back to their feet and climbed back to the snowcat, they looked back in the direction of the base, thinking of the dangerous situation in which it now likely found itself.

Wei spoke aloud. “We can't go back there. They have to know about its existence by now. We have no choice but to use the escape subs.”

Julius nodded. The snowcat, while not itself sunk underground once they got back to it, would be too slow to use and would have to be left behind. There was an emergency snowmobile within it for the purpose of faster travel, however, especially if it came down to escape. They dragged it out and climbed onto it, kicking it into motion.

The snowmobile was light and designed for stealth, being painted white to make it harder to see among the snow surrounding it. But they would still be sitting ducks if they were found. They only had a short period to evacuate because they knew that temple guards would be bearing down on this location sooner or later. But even the guards couldn't be everywhere at once. And this would buy them some time.

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Wei and Julius rode along the frozen tundra in moody silence. They had, against their better judgment, passed just close by enough to their base to get a look at it, but they could see that it had already been overrun and that there was no going back to it. Now their only choice was to get to the backup escape subs. They gritted their teeth and realized that the other ones who were with them were likely taken in. They hoped that the people at the base who were not involved with them would not be hurt unduly from this occupation, but of this they had no guarantee. And they felt guilty at the prospect that outsiders may have been pulled into harm's way by their actions.

They carried on towards the escape subs. The small room containing them was designed in secret, being made from prefab means and designed to be put up quickly. It was rather minimalistic, having just enough room to protect and launch them. The escape subs themselves in question were rather small, being also designed for stealth. They were designed to be automated and travel quickly. Each one had room for two people, but there was little room for air or food, and so the pods would be used to induce you into hypersleep as they traveled, waking you up for manual control only if an emergency arose.

This was a dangerous process, as hypersleep was no laughing matter, especially when presided over with so minimalistic a setup. And it was none too inviting to go into it, knowing that if your sub was destroyed by an attacker, you would pass from the world without ever seeing it coming.

But there was no choice now. If the subs were gone, they had no other way to survive for any meaningful length of time in Hyperborea. And the opportunity to learn from the key that they had with them would be lost forever. It was their one chance. And they had to head towards it, knowing that the chance might be gone already. It was like a coin flip that had already landed, and they were bound to move blindly towards it to see only at the end which face was up.

They finally saw the bunker in the distance and began to slow down their approach as they got closer. At a glance, it did not look like anyone was there. This didn't prove that no one was, of course. But they had little reason to be cautious at this point. If the temple guards were already inside, the subs were likely destroyed, and they had little chance to survive regardless. So it was better to rush along and hope for the best.

As they arrived at the entrance, they all but dove off the side of the snowmobile without stopping to turn it off, allowing it to continue on into the void. They rushed into the bunker and down its stairs, looking quickly around the corners to see if anyone was there. But there didn't seem to be anyone in the hallway. As they got to the main sub room, it also was empty. But they still needed to rush. Because the faster they launched, the less likely that their sub would be able to be intercepted. Even after launching, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't be found and caught later on. But the further ahead they were, the less likely this was to happen. Wei started prepping the subs in the main room, while Julius turned on the power from the hallway.

Wei heard a loud noise behind him and turned around to speak, but was shocked to see that in the hallway, and with no forewarning, there were already several temple guards standing inside, aiming their guns at Julius. He froze in a panic at this sight, not knowing what to do. He had no available weapons in arm's reach that would be a serious threat to them. And there was little way that he could contend with several armed temple guards in his worn-out state regardless. Especially ones who already had their guns trained on Julius, who was now defenseless and at their mercy.

Julius looked over slowly at him. And they locked eyes for a moment that seemed to stretch on endlessly. And in that moment, Wei realized that Julius was conveying that he knew was going to die. Wei was about to protest. But before he could, Julius tossed him the key and pointed at the sub. As he did so, several bullet holes shot through him. And in that one moment, their friendship, which had endured through several decades, was lost forever.

Wei screamed in agony. But as he did so, the temple guards turned towards him. Barely being able to process what had happened so suddenly, but still having the presence of mind to know he needed to escape, he slammed the door shut quickly between them, tilting a cabinet in front of it and grabbing the key. The guards were at it in a moment, and two vibro-sabers were stuck directly through it. The door would only buy him a few seconds.

He turned around to jump into the mini-sub and activate the quick launch. Sealing himself in to activate it, he could no longer see what was happening by the room's door from inside the sub. All the while knowing that within moments there would be a blade sticking through his sub, depressurizing it beyond use, if not killing him outright.

He held his breath. He could hear footsteps now in the room behind him. And through the top viewport, he could finally see their masked visages rush in and raise their arms, blade in hand. But before they could bring the blades down on him, the sub shot out. And their image disappeared, leaving behind it only the empty blue of the ocean.

It took him a moment for the tension to subside and for him to realize that, at least for the moment, the danger was gone. But alone now, and with the adrenaline subsiding, the shock of what he had seen suddenly hit him, and he let out all his tears, writhing in agony and pounding the side of the sub at having been forced to see his best friend die. He knew that what they were doing was dangerous. But he had never quite internalized what it would mean to see it happen in front of him. Imagining that if they were ever to die in the great work, it would probably at least be together.

With shaking hands, he picked up a sheet of paper from the scattered stack that spilled out of his bag. He dug into his own arm until it was bleeding, and then, with bloodstained fingers and shaking hands, he slowly wrote on the paper, J U L I U S, with his own blood. He collapsed to the ground of the pod and then rolled himself up in a fetal position, crying and clutching his knees. “I see now. You have to be willing to leave behind everything if you want to fight. Anything and anyone can be taken from you. You have to make sacrifices if you are going to break free. This is it, then. There's no other way.

“There's no other way.

“There's no other way.

“There's no other way.”