The following month disappeared in a blur.
Days became weeks.
Weeks became sleepless nights.
Ren buried himself beneath textbooks, oceanographic charts, geological reports, and enough coffee to concern Mellow.
"You're actually studying..." she muttered one evening, peeking into his room.
Ren didn't even look up.
"I don't have a choice."
She smiled.
"...Grandpa would've been proud."
Those words fueled him more than any amount of caffeine ever could.
---
The qualifying examinations arrived sooner than expected.
Written tests.
Technical interviews.
Practical assessments.
Dozens of applicants competed for only a handful of internship positions aboard the expedition.
When the final results were released...
Ren Kurosawa's name was on the list.
He had made it.
---
The expedition itself wasn't considered particularly dangerous.
Officially, its objective was simple.
Map the seafloor.
Record geological activity.
Analyze unusual magnetic fluctuations.
Collect samples.
Then return home.
At least...
That was the official briefing.
---
September 15, 2026
The morning sky over Greenland was painted in shades of pale gray as four research vessels prepared to depart.
Each ship had its own responsibility.
Senior researchers occupied the lead vessel.
Engineers and geological specialists boarded the second.
The third carried equipment and supplies.
Ren found himself aboard the fourth, alongside several interns responsible for monitoring radio frequencies, maintaining communications, and assisting with data collection.
Not exactly glamorous work.
But Ren couldn't have cared less.
He had finally reached the place that had haunted his dreams for years.
---
The voyage north was...
Painfully uneventful.
For four days, the ships carved their way through endless sheets of drifting ice.
The scenery barely changed.
White.
Gray.
More white.
Even the conversations aboard the vessel gradually faded into silence.
Most researchers spent their time reviewing data.
Others slept.
Ren simply stood on deck whenever he could, staring toward the endless horizon.
Every passing kilometer made the strange feeling inside him grow stronger.
It was impossible to explain.
The closer they sailed...
The more familiar everything became.
As though he weren't discovering this place...
But returning to it.
---
On the morning of the fifth day...
The convoy reached its destination.
Coordinates confirmed.
The exact region where the mysterious disturbances had been detected.
Researchers immediately got to work.
Survey drones descended beneath the icy water.
Sonar systems mapped the ocean floor.
Monitoring stations recorded every fluctuation in temperature, pressure, and magnetic activity.
Ren's own assignment was considerably less exciting.
Monitor communication channels.
Record radio interference.
Report abnormalities.
Hour after hour passed.
Nothing happened.
He eventually wandered onto the open deck, breathing in the sharp Arctic air.
The cold bit through every layer of clothing he wore.
Yet somehow...
It felt comforting.
The sea stretched endlessly before him, calm enough to resemble polished glass.
Not a single wave disturbed its surface.
"...Beautiful," he whispered.
Then...
Every alarm aboard the ship screamed at once.
BEEEEEEP!
Researchers rushed from every direction.
"What happened?!"
"Radio frequencies are spiking!"
"The magnetic field just jumped!"
"No... it's still climbing!"
Inside the control room, every monitor erupted into static.
Numbers spun wildly beyond measurable limits.
Outside...
The ocean moved.
Without warning, the perfectly still water began to churn.
At first, only gentle ripples.
Then towering waves.
The current twisted violently beneath the ships, as though something enormous had awakened below.
"Hold on!"
The convoy broke formation.
Ren barely managed to grab the railing as the vessel lurched sideways.
The current was dragging them.
Not south.
Not east.
Straight toward a massive glacier.
"Engines full reverse!"
"They're not responding!"
The captain's voice echoed through the speakers.
"All hands! Brace for impact!"
The wind intensified.
Snow spiraled through the air.
Visibility dropped with frightening speed.
Then Ren saw it.
Just above the surface of the water...
Tiny sparks of pale blue electricity danced across the air.
"...What?"
One spark became ten.
Ten became hundreds.
The air itself seemed to crack apart.
Lightning arced between invisible points, surrounding the glacier in a web of blinding light.
Every hair on Ren's body stood on end.
The ship's lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then...
Darkness.
Every electronic system shut down simultaneously.
Engines.
Radios.
Navigation.
Sonar.
Everything.
Only the distant crackle of electricity remained.
The powerless vessel surged forward, helpless against the current.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
The glacier no longer looked like ice.
The air around it...
Was bending.
Space itself rippled like disturbed water.
Ren's breathing grew uneven.
His heartbeat thundered inside his ears.
He knew this place.
Not from photographs.
Not from maps.
From his dreams.
The same impossible feeling washed over him.
As if something on the other side had been waiting all this time.
The lightning reached a deafening crescendo.
The world turned white.
A single flash swallowed the sea.
---
The other three vessels looked on in stunned silence.
One moment...
The fourth ship was there.
The next...
It was gone.
No explosion.
No wreckage.
No waves.
Nothing.
It had vanished.
As though it had never existed.
Seconds later...
The electrical storm disappeared.
The ocean became calm once more.
The wind faded.
One by one, the research equipment powered itself back on.
Monitors resumed displaying perfectly ordinary readings.
The sea stretched endlessly beneath the silent Arctic sky.
If not for the horrified faces aboard the remaining ships...
No one would have believed anything had happened at all.