The Forsaken Heir of the Frozen End

Chapter 4 The Thing Inside the Storm

The screaming outside grew louder with every passing second. Charlotte rushed toward the front windows in panic while Ben followed close behind her, his face pale beneath the flickering chandelier lights. Even Victor Beckham, a man who rarely displayed visible emotion, stared upward with an expression that bordered on disbelief.

Something enormous was moving inside the storm clouds above the city. At first, it appeared to be nothing more than shifting shadows hidden behind thick layers of snow and darkness. However, as the clouds churned violently overhead, the outline gradually became clearer.Massive.Inhuman.And impossibly large.

The creature moved slowly through the blizzard like a living mountain buried beneath the heavens themselves. Pascal felt his stomach tighten. He remembered this fear. Not the ordinary fear humans experienced when facing danger. This was primal terror.

The kind that froze blood and crushed rational thought beneath instinctive helplessness.Because deep inside, every living creature understood one terrifying truth the moment they saw entities like that. Humanity was no longer the dominant species. A deafening crack suddenly echoed across the neighbourhood.

One of the nearby power poles exploded in a shower of blue sparks before collapsing onto the snow-covered road below. Darkness swept across several nearby homes instantly as the electrical grid failed block by block.

Then the temperature dropped again. Pascal saw it happen physically. Frost spread across the Beckham residence windows like living veins, crawling unnaturally fast over the glass while freezing the edges solid within seconds. Charlotte staggered backwards. “What the hell is happening?”Nobody answered her.

Outside the estate gates, terrified residents flooded into the streets despite the worsening snowfall. Some screamed into dead phones while others desperately tried starting frozen vehicles that refused to move. A delivery truck lost control at the intersection beyond the Beckham property.

The vehicle skidded violently across black ice before slamming sideways into a streetlight with enough force to crush the driver’s side completely. The horn blared endlessly afterwards. No one rushed to help. Fear had already begun infecting the crowd.Pascal watched the chaos silently while memories from his previous life resurfaced one after another.

This was how it always began. Confusion first.Then denial.Then panic. Human civilisation collapsed far faster than people imagined possible. Most never adapted in time. The television suddenly emitted a loud burst of static. Everyone turned instinctively toward the screen.

The news reporter had vanished. Instead, distorted footage now played repeatedly. A military checkpoint buried beneath snow. Soldiers firing into a blizzard.Screaming.Then something huge was moving through white fog before the footage abruptly cut out again.

Victor grabbed the remote immediately.“What channel is this?”It’s every channel,” Ben answered shakily. Pascal narrowed his eyes. That was impossible too. Governments had suppressed information aggressively during the early apocalypse in the previous timeline. Military failures and monster sightings remained hidden from the public for weeks.

So why was classified footage leaking already? Unless…Pascal’s expression darkened. The collapse was happening too quickly for authorities to maintain control. Which meant the situation beyond the city might already be catastrophic. Charlotte turned sharply toward Pascal.“You knew something,” she said suddenly.

The accusation immediately shifted the room’s attention toward him. Ben blinked. “Mom…”

“No.” Charlotte stepped closer to Pascal with growing suspicion. “Ever since this morning, he’s been acting strange. He kept talking about danger before any of this started.”Victor’s gaze sharpened immediately. Pascal remained calm externally, though internally he cursed the situation.

He had revealed too much too early.“You’re imagining things,” he answered evenly. Then explain this!” Charlotte snapped while pointing outside. Snow battered the windows violently behind her as though the storm itself was listening. Pascal forced himself to think carefully. Telling them the truth would only create more problems. No sane person would believe he had returned from the future.

Worse…If anyone did believe him, they might never allow him to leave. In desperate times, information became more valuable than money. Pascal understood that better than anyone.“I’ve been following climate reports online,” he lied smoothly. “Several scientists predicted abnormal weather patterns.”Charlotte looked unconvinced.

Victor, however, continued studying Pascal silently. That unsettled him more. Unlike Charlotte, Victor did not react emotionally. He observed people before making decisions. And right now, Victor clearly sensed something deeply wrong. Before anyone could continue the conversation, a loud pounding suddenly erupted against the front gate outside. Everyone flinched.

A man stumbled through the snow toward the Beckham residence, desperately waving his arms. Pascal recognised him immediately. Mr. Holloway.One of their wealthy neighbours.

The older man looked completely terrified. Blood covered part of his coat while frost clung unnaturally to his grey hair.“Open the gate!” Holloway screamed. “Please!”

Charlotte instinctively moved toward the security monitor near the entrance. Victor grabbed her arm immediately.“Wait.”Another scream echoed from somewhere behind Holloway.  Pascal’s eyes narrowed sharply.

Something moved between the snow-covered vehicles lining the distant road.Fast.Too fast. Holloway pounded against the gate harder. “They killed my wife! Please, for God’s sake, let me inside!”Ben looked horrified. “Dad, we can’t leave him out there.”

Victor remained silent for several seconds. Pascal already knew the answer. During the apocalypse, hesitation killed people. Trust killed people even faster.“What do you mean, they killed her?” Victor asked coldly through the intercom system. Holloway’s face twisted with panic. “I don’t know what those things are! They came out of the storm!”

Pascal’s heartbeat slowed dangerously. Things. No. That was too early. The first Frost Creatures should not appear for at least another month.Then Pascal saw movement again. A shape darted behind a parked car before disappearing instantly. Low to the ground.Distorted.

White eyes briefly flashed through the snowfall. Pascal stepped forward immediately. “Do not open that gate.”Ben turned toward him in disbelief. “What?”He’s injured,” Pascal continued firmly. “If something followed him here, opening the gate could get everyone killed,” stared at him like he was insane. “You want us to leave him outside?”Yes.”

The blunt answer shocked everyone. Even Pascal himself felt disturbed by how easily the word came out. But emotion had no value during the apocalypse. Survival required cruelty. And Pascal had already died once because he hesitated to make difficult choices.

Holloway continued screaming desperately outside while snow buried his shoes deeper beneath the growing storm.“Please!” he cried. “Please help me!”Ben looked genuinely horrified now. “Brother, how can you say that?”Pascal’s eyes remained fixed on the street beyond the gate.

Because he could hear it.Soft crunching sounds beneath the snow.Circling.Hunting.The creatures were already nearby.“We don’t have time,” Pascal said sharply. Victor finally noticed Pascal’s expression. Real fear.Not panic.Recognition.And suddenly, Victor realised something deeply unsettling. Pascal looked like someone who had seen this before.

A loud metallic screech suddenly echoed outside. Everyone jumped. The security camera near the gate flickered violently before stabilising again. Then Charlotte screamed. Something stood behind Holloway. The creature was vaguely humanoid, but its proportions were horrifyingly wrong. Its limbs bent at unnatural angles beneath pale translucent skin covered in frost patterns that pulsed faintly beneath the surface.

Its mouth stretched too wide. Its white eyes contained no pupils at all. Frozen vapour leaked continuously from its body as though the creature itself existed below zero temperature. Holloway slowly turned around. The creature tilted its head. Then it smiled.

The next few seconds descended into absolute horror. The monster moved so quickly that the security camera barely captured the motion. One elongated arm pierced directly through Holloway’s chest before lifting him off the ground effortlessly.

Blood splattered across the snow. Charlotte stumbled backwards in terror while Ben nearly collapsed beside the sofa.The creature stared directly into the security camera while Holloway’s body twitched weakly in its grasp. Then the monster opened its mouth wider. Far wider than human anatomy should allow. And began feeding Charlotte, who vomited instantly.

The security monitor suddenly died. Darkness filled the screen. For several seconds, nobody inside the room spoke. The only sound came from the storm outside and Charlotte’s uneven breathing. Ben looked physically unable to process what he had just seen. Victor’s face had gone completely pale. Pascal slowly closed his eyes.

Frost Wretches.Low-level predators created by early-stage Frost Corruption.Weak individually.Deadly ingroups. And they should not exist yet. When he opened his eyes again, the world already felt different. Civilisation had crossed the invisible line. There would be no returning to normal after this.

Charlotte grabbed Victor’s arm tightly. “Call the police!”They won’t come,” Pascal answered quietly. Charlotte rounded on him immediately. “How would you know that?”Because the police stations are probably already collapsing.Because emergency response teams will die first.Because humanity is about to discover it was never prepared for monsters. Pascal swallowed those thoughts.

Instead, he walked toward the window carefully. Outside, the snowfall had intensified dramatically. Visibility across the street was almost gone now. But through the blizzard, Pascal could still see movement. More shapes.Watching the house. His chest tightened. Frost Wretches hunted living heat.

And the Beckham estate, with its active electricity and generators, probably looked like a bonfire inside endless darkness. They were being surrounded. Ben’s voice trembled behind him. “What are those things?”Pascal remained silent briefly. Then he answered with brutal honesty.

“The beginning.”A sudden impact slammed against the outer walls of the mansion hard enough to shake the entire room. Charlotte screamed again. Another impact followed from somewhere above. Glass cracked upstairs. Victor immediately moved into action. “Everyone, stay calm.”But calm no longer existed inside the Beckham residence. Not after what they had seen.

Not after realising monsters were roaming the streets outside. Pascal’s mind raced rapidly. He needed supplies.Weapons.Transportation.Most importantly, he needed to leave this place before the city fully descended into chaos. Staying with the Beckham family would only slow him down. Yet despite everything…A small part of him still hesitated.

Because no matter how deeply they hurt him, these people were tied to the few warm memories he possessed from childhood. That weakness angered him. The apocalypse would devour anyone who hesitated emotionally. He learned that lesson through death itself. Another loud crash echoed upstairs. This time, it sounded much closer. Ben looked upward slowly, terror spreading across his face. Something was inside the house.