At the Feet of Giants

     Jack Kane, 36 years old, dental practitioner, avid hiker, and expert mountaineer. Joined the US Navy in 1941 after Pearl Harbor. Shortly after, was recruited into the early OSS as a mountaineering instructor where he invented the SRRD (self-retracting rappelling device) and went on to serve in the Alps assisting resistance efforts by sabotaging Nazi supply lines and starting avalanches with TNT. In October 1944 he was arrested by Austrian Gestapo while collecting intelligence in Vienna. Transferred to Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Northern Austria. As one of four Americans, he collected intelligence on Nazi atrocities within the camp while suffering from dysentery and starvation. Avoided execution four times by seeking protection from other prisoners. Rescued by the US 11th Armored Division on May 5th, 1945. Collected documents and interviewed witnesses to prosecute the camp guards. After a brief six-month leave in Maine as a civilian, was reactivated in 1946 to serve as a witness in post-war trials. Rumored to exhibit symptoms of combat fatigue.

     That was it. His life so far in one short paragraph. Jack was surprised whoever wrote his personnel file for this mission remembered he was a dentist. It had been over five years since anyone had called him “doctor.” That life seemed so far away now it might as well have been a different person.

            Jack was dying for a smoke. Two hours since he had his last cigarette. Too long. He pulled a pack of Marlboros from his chest pocket and a lighter out of his jeans.

            “Don’t even think about it, Kane. No smoking in the repository. One spark and all these precious government documents would be set off in a ball of flame, both of us included.” The corporal spoke from behind him beside the massive steel door that locked them both in this vault of secrets. Kane flipped him off, silhouetted by the lone skylight that was shining down on the heavy, black reading table.

            The corporal was a bastard. You could tell by the way he saluted him when he walked in, and by the way he shined his boots just a little too well. Poor guy probably never even had a chance to fight in the war. He looked like he’d never shaved, hell, he looked like he never even kissed a woman. Yet, here he was, at the beckoning of the US Government, ready to give his life away for their cash, and this fucking corporal wasn’t going to let him have a smoke. Jack wasn’t going to fight the kid for a smoke. Wouldn’t be worth it, would it? There weren’t any rules on drinking in the repository, though. Jack put away his cigarettes and his hands returned with a flask. He unscrewed it and sucked whisky from its metal lips. Damn, drinking made him crave a cigarette that much more.

            Before he could smoke, he needed to read the rest of the mission file. He always made sure to get through all the important details – of course he was a good soldier – but he knew this one would be different. The first thing that stood out was that he would be working with a Russian. A Russian? Jack preferred working alone, never mind with a Russian.

            The almighty US government was embarking on their next step towards the 21st century. They called it Operation: PAPERCLIP. The idea was to scoop up as many Nazi scientists and research materials as possible so they could get a step ahead of those pesky Soviets who were doing everything they could to make their own atomic bomb. It was his duty as an American to help his countrymen get all those lost, murderous technologies back from the Nazis before the Russians could get their hands on them.

            Duty: the word made him laugh. Jack thought his only duty was to get as much fame and fortune he could out of the Nazis before he retired. The sons-of-bitches had taken everything from him by this point - things he would never have again. He had sacrificed priceless pieces of what made him himself in trying to defeat the Nazis, and he was going to make them pay him back for it one way or another. The Central Intelligence Group was giving out paid-in-full contracts for PAPERCLIP related intelligence based on how important they thought they were. Find something on Nazi jet engines? A nice vacation in Paris. Something on the V-2 rocket? Retire in Key West. Something on Nazi atomic bombs? A lifetime membership to Augusta National and a US senator in your pocket for the rest of your life.

            This was the most important discovery PAPERCLIP had made so far. The motherlode of top-secret Nazi research. Jack would be more famous than Audie Murphey himself if he could pull this one off.

            The Nazis had taken their obsession with ancient Nordic mythology and put an inordinate amount of funding and effort towards this project. Records showed the budget was something like three times that of the V-2 program, and it had close ties to atomic research. They called it Project: YGGDRASIL. Its aim was to discover something the Nazis called “pocket universes”; small alternate realities where the laws of physics were different, but people could travel in between. Somewhere North of Berlin near where Russian and American forces had met at the end of the war, the Nazis had found a way to access one of these “pocket universes.”

            In the center of a thick concrete warehouse stood a circle of thirteen runestones recovered during the war by various Nazi occupiers throughout Scandinavia. Each runestone was unique, but all thirteen were covered in ancient inscriptions whose rows went side-to-side, up-and-down, in reverse, mirrored, and in various primitive cryptology to tell complicated legends that seemed to allude all translation.

            Situated in the middle of the runestones was a black pool, around ten feet wide in diameter, that contained an opaque water-like substance. The pool undulated with waves as if there was a wind coming from somewhere in still air of the concrete warehouse. Situated above the pool was massive crane which appeared to be used by the Nazis to lower equipment in and out of the black inky liquid.

            The first experiment allied forces conducted on the pool was to lower a movie camera attached to a long pole. The camera captured two hours of footage of what resembled a landscape in Northern Finland. The pool was visible just below the camera and leading out from it across a frozen lake was the unmistakable remnant of Nazi tank tracks. The tracks led towards a dark forest of tall pines, disappearing in the distance. Further in the distance, huge mountains that reminded Jack of Colorado could be seen through the fog. More films and environmental samples were taken, but they came to only a few, confusing conclusions. The landscape wasn’t in Northern Finland, Sweden, Norway, or anywhere else on Earth from what the scientists could tell. Firstly, the sun never set, or never even rose for that matter. Beyond the pool it was always the same gray sunless dusk, no matter what time of day it was. Not that time mattered of course. The two hours of footage recorded in each experiment only took forty-five minutes in Germany time the first time they tried it. The second time? The eggheads had to wait six hours for their camera to be done filming. They couldn’t make any sense of it. They guessed it was something with Einstein’s relativity. Bullshit. All they knew was your wristwatch didn’t mean a thing once you were through the pool.

            There was one nice thing about that world under the pool, though. There was an absolute abundance of oxygen in the atmosphere, so much so that they would have to wear special suits to avoid getting light-headed at low altitude. The scientists had concluded it had something to do with the lack of human influence in this place. The abundance of these huge pine trees had kept the atmosphere something like it was during the Ice Age on Earth.

            Jack had finished reading the last page of the mission file and now had more questions than answers. His mission was simple: find out where those Nazi tank tracks lead to and get back to Earth with something resembling an answer about what in the hell this place is.

            Three hours since his last cigarette now. He took another suck from the lips of the flask before slamming the file shut and standing up to put his jacket on before walking towards the vault door.

            “All done Mr. Kane?” The corporal asked sharply with a salute.

            “Go fuck yourself.”, Jack mumbled as he slammed the metal door behind him.

            Outside of the repository, a sergeant was waiting for him in a black jeep that would take him to the runestones. The sergeant was wearing aviator sunglasses and a black helmet that gave off a polished shine. All the soldiers assigned to provide support for Project: YGGDRASIL wore those same black helmets. Jack wondered why. Were their typical olive paintjobs not fancy enough to impress the stubborn generals and the egghead scientists?

            Jack got in the jeep, and without a word the sergeant drove him through the fenced-off zone the army had created to keep curious civilians away from their research. Along the sides of the gravel road, men in lab coats were having heated debates in both Russian and English, soldiers were transporting crates of scientific equipment into abandoned German bunkers, and all around the business of transforming this obscure Nazi outpost into a scientific research facility was taking place.

            At the end of the gravel road was a huge concrete warehouse that had been holding a place in Jack’s minds since he first laid eyes on it when he arrived here. They had started calling it the “sarcophagus.” It was a massive, windowless structure that cast its looming shadow on the rest of the base for most of every morning. The outside of the sarcophagus was carved with a border of classical motifs and marble Valkyries flanked the massive bay door entrance, two soldiers in shiny black helmets were standing guard at either side of the huge door. One was wearing a pair of tan American fatigues, the other a brown Russian uniform.

            Jack walked into the concrete warehouse for the first time. From the outside, it was already imposing enough, but once inside, the place made you feel even smaller. The runestones were even bigger than they looked in the footage and the allied scientists had set up floodlights at the center of the room, causing the periphery of the warehouse and the windowless walls to fall into shadow.

            The best minds from around the world busied around in the floodlight like a troop of actors on a stage, with the black undulating pool in the center of the mess of them. One man stood out amongst the crowd. A young adventurous type in his mid-twenties was putting on a SEVA (Special Environmental Apparatus) suit at the edge of the pool. He looked like an experienced scuba diver getting ready for a plunge into the Gulf of Mexico. That guy must be my partner. Jack thought to himself.

            The young scientist noticed Jack between fumbling with the zipper of the SEVA suit and greeted him, “Mr. Kane! In the flesh finally! I can’t wait to take you in there with me. Last time I went in, beyond my better judgement, I almost set off on my own to see where those tank tracks led!” The Russian’s accent was strong but didn’t interfere with his English. His faced beamed with excitement. “I’ve heard you’re quite the mountaineer, Mr. Kane!”

            “Not so fast, Ivan.” Jack held up a hand to the young man’s eagerness.

            “The name is actually Igor Tarkoskovich!” He corrected.

            Jack sighed. “Igor. You said you’ve been through the pool already?”

            “Of course, who do you think took the environmental readings?”

            “I assumed they took those remotely.”

            “No sir, I did it personally. I’m the only person, besides the Nazis of course, whose been through to the other side.” The pride on his face made Jack want to give it a meeting with his left fist. “We’ll be working together, Soviet and American, to ensure no secrets around this project are kept between our two governments.”

            “I usually prefer to work alone.”

            “Not this time, Mr. Kane. These orders came from the tippity-top!”

            A clean-cut American in a black suit and black aviator sunglasses was watching from the edge of the floodlights. “Mr. Kane, for you.” He was holding a telephone receiver.

            “Right now? Who is it?” Jack asked, annoyed.

            “It’s the president.”

            “The president of what?”

            “Of the United States, sir.”

            Jack took the phone to his ear. “Dwight?”

            “How’s it going, Jack?”

            “Fantastic. I’m so excited you called I don’t think I can contain myself. Now tell me, how’s your mother?”

            “Don’t give me that shit you son of a bitch. I just wanted to say the eyes of the world are upon you, blah blah blah, you know the speech already. But honestly, Jack, you’re the best man for this job. We chose – I chose you for a reason. Not just because you’re a mountaineer, but because you deserve it. You’ve given everything for this country. After this, I guarantee you and whatever family you might have will never know want. America will be in your debt forever.”

            Now Jack was starting to get as excited as Igor to get through the pool. “That means a lot, Dwight. I really appreciate it. Honest. Now, let me get to work, okay?”

            “Of course, just one last thing. Don’t trust that Russian. He’s a card-carrying communist through and through. I don’t like him one bit.”

            “That’s understandable.”

            “If something goes wrong out there and he doesn’t make it back, we can always make it up to the Kremlin later.”

            “Of course. Disposability.” Igor was tightening the gloves of his SEVA suit as he smiled back at him.

            “That’s all, Jack. Godspeed out there, and I look forward to having you back at the White House. I know how much you love visiting.”

            “Yea, can’t wait.” He handed the phone back to the man in the sunglasses and another scientist handed him a SEVA suit.

            The suit looked something like a dive suit, but not as tight. It was shiny like foil but didn’t make any crinkling sound when you moved the fabric. On the inside it was insulated, but not too warm. The elbows and knees had hard rubber pads stitched into them to protect the joints and the torso was lined with pockets for various tools. At the neck, there was a metal collar to attach an enclosed helmet with a fishbowl-visor.

            As Jack donned the garment, Igor told him of the SEVA suit’s capabilities, “The SEVA is able to withstand temperatures of up to three-hundred degrees, and one hundred degrees below Celsius. Side effects like radiation from atomic artifacts is largely negated by the metal lining. The enclosed helmet will allow both of us to maintain a personal atmosphere like we are accustomed to on Earth. A two-way radio has been installed as well, so we will be able to communicate verbally over a short distance while wearing them. Initially they were used as suits for high-altitude flight crews, but the scientific community realized they had other uses.”

            “Thanks for the history lesson, kid.” Jack grabbed his utility belt he would use for the mission. It included a small survival kit, a multitool, a K-ration, a knife, a personal first-aid kid, a canteen, a flare, and most importantly an SRRD. Jack’s own invention from years ago. The “self-retracting rappelling device” would be used to keep them linked back to Earth while they were on the other side of the pool. Each spool held a thousand meters of thin-diameter, high-strength cable. Each belt had two extra spools, meaning they would be able to travel a maximum of three kilometers away from the pool while staying connected to the line. If anything went wrong or if one of them was injured beyond what their first aid kid could handle, they would just have to flip a tiny switch on the device, and it would spool the line back in from the other side and deliver them home.

            Igor’s belt was identical, save for one thing. Jack’s belt had a M1911 .45 caliber pistol on its right side with two extra magazines of ammunition. Igor would go through the pool unarmed.

            “I sure hope you’re good with that thing!” Igor pointed at Jack’s pistol.

            “Good enough . . . why aren’t you taking any protection along, Igor?”

            “I am a scientist, Mr. Kane. I’ve spent my whole life studying ancient European mythology and Einstein’s theories. I’ve never had to use a gun in my life, and I don’t intend to start now. I trust your experience will be enough to protect me.”

            “European mythology and theoretical physics don’t seem like they would go together.”

            “No, but during the war I was faced with an ultimatum from the Kremlin. I could take a rifle and join the Red Army on their bloody march towards Berlin, or I could serve my country by unraveling the secrets of atomic power. For the sake of my own survival, I chose the latter.”

            “Still, don’t you think you’d be safer if you were armed. We have no idea what’s waiting on the other side.”

            “You’ll keep me safe, Jack. I know it. Now, let’s ‘get cracking!”

            Jack took one last suck from his flask before twisting on the SEVA helmet. The metal collar hissed as a hydraulic seal was formed between him and the outside world. Jack could hear his own breath reverberate in the helmet, and a small plume of fog formed on the glass visor with each exhale. The sounds of the outside world were now filtered through microphones attached to each side of the helmet.

            Igor’s voice filtered through the two–way radio, “It’s time, Mr. Kane!” He said as he hooked the end of his SRRD to the massive spool at the edge of the black, inky circle that was awaiting their plunge. Jack followed his lead as they dove headfirst into oblivion.

            Disoriented for a moment as gravity seemed to swap directions around him, Jack swam behind Igor to the other side of the black portal. After a short twenty feet, their heads surfaced from the inky water. The edge of his SEVA visor was framed in frost as it hit the cold air of this foreign, Nordic landscape. The wind howled through the microphones on his helmet between distorted splashes of water as he swam towards the edge of the pool.

            The two of them clambered onto the icy surface of the frozen lake, the tracks of the Nazi tank stretching before them across the distance into the imposing darkness of the tall pines. The wind was throwing snow across the landscape and the two of them struggled to keep their footing on the ice.

            “Radio check. Can you hear me, Jack?”

            “Loud and clear, Igor.”

            “Super! Let’s get moving, comrade.”

            Igor stepped off without hesitation. He walked carefully on the ice as the sound of his breathing carried over the radio. Jack followed. He turned around to notice not a single drip of water from the portal had been spilled onto the snow. His suit was perfectly dry. The water, or whatever was in that pool, hadn’t stuck to anything, not even the leather of his holster.

            Jack scanned the horizon as the pair pressed forward. The pine forest seemed to stretch on forever across the edge of the frozen lake. Behind them, the icy surface disappeared into infinity until it was lost in the fog. Far beyond the pines, they could see an imposing range of blue mountains topped with snow. They stood like timeless monuments, watching the pair as they walked ever closer towards the forest.

            Upon entering the woods, the howling wind eased. Jack could finally hear through his helmet again and noticed a distinct lack of noise. Not a bird, no creaking of a tree, not the scampering of a squirrel. Dead quiet.

            Out of the corner of his eye, though. A horse. No? It has too many legs. A gray horse with eight legs? “Igor, look!”, Jack pointed with a gloved finger.

            “What!?” Igor turned, but by the time Jack his attention, the horse was gone.

            “It’s gone . . .”

            “You saw something?”

            “I think I just saw a gray horse. With eight legs.”

            “You’re crazy, American.”

            “Don’t call me crazy, comrade”

            “I suppose anything is possible out here. I won’t call you crazy again, Mr. Kane”

            “Thanks, Igor.” Jack was sure he wasn’t seeing things. Igor was right though: anything was possible out here. They weren’t on Earth, that was for sure. God knows where they were.

            The pair walked along the tracks of the Nazi tank through the gray fog of the forest. The massive pines towered above them, and the way ahead had been cleared from any saplings that might have slowed the tank. Their path was flanked with brush cleared away by the Nazis. The felled trees sat dead on either side of the pair like corpses as they walked between them.

            “How far you think these tracks go anyways?”

            “Hard to say. Nazi tanks aren’t exactly long distance, though.”

            “True. God knows they need gas. Sons of bitches learned that the hard way during the war. By the end of it all, their fuel reserves were so low that Germans were burning wood to fuel their cars around Berlin.”

            “Makes you wonder why they spent so much on getting to this place.”

            “God knows.”

            “You believe in God, Mr. Kane?”

            “I don’t know. I guess I fear him.”

            “I fear no God, Mr. Kane.”

            “You’re an atheist, Igor?”

            “Every good communist is an atheist.”

            “Why is that?”

            “God was made by a smarter man to control less intelligent men.”

            “Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out, then.”

            “Not exactly”, Igor turned towards him. He was smiling through the visor of his SEVA suit. Damn Russians loved these kinds of philosophical conversations.

            “You know Igor, they say there’s no atheists in foxholes.”

            “I’ve never been in a foxhole.”

            “No shit, I couldn’t tell.”

            “Are you going to say that a foxhole makes you closer to God? How can that be true if ‘war is hell’? Ha ha! I won’t lie though. Being in this place does make me question my atheism just a little bit. Still, I believe in the end, with sufficient science, all of life’s mysteries are explainable.” Igor was loving the sound of his own voice, waving both hands to his words, when Jack grabbed the shoulder of his SEVA suit.

            “Well, egghead. Explain this.” Jack pointed at the left side of the path to reveal a section of trees that had been knocked over onto their side, as if by a great wind. Their trunks were snapped haphazardly, leaving massive splinters on the forest floor. Some were broken as high as eighty feet into the air. There was no way the Nazis had done this.

            “Fascinating . . .” Igor stepped off the path and examined the wrecked pines further. “They’ve all been snapped to the same side, but it can’t have been a wind. The trees around here are perfectly intact.”

            “There’s another patch over there.” Jack pointed, about a hundred meters away another crop of trees had been knocked over. A hundred meters further, Jack could make out another fallen patch. But further, maybe a kilometer away, he could make out something truly awe inspiring. Jack turned to show Igor, but his mouth was already hanging open.

            “A giant!?”

            “I see it too this time.”

            “The trees barely come up to his waist! He must be two hundred meters tall!”

            “Fuck this. We need to head back, Igor.”

            “Head back? Now!?”

            “I think we know why the Nazis brought a tank here now, don’t you think?”

            “Look at him! Jack, if there’s giants here, anything could be possible!”

            “No shit, Igor! Anything could kill us out here! We have no idea what we’re heading into!” Jack was grabbing Igor now, their visors almost touching each other as he shook the Russian scientist.

            “Think of what we might miss out on! If we come back and tell everyone what we saw here, who knows if they’ll send us back? You know how it is! Next expedition will have a hundred scientists coming through the portal with heavy machinery and all the scientific equipment you can imagine. Not to mention their military escort. This is our only chance to explore this place with any freedom. Do you want to be remembered as the Mr. Kane who left before he walked one kilometer? Or do you want to be remembered as the man who solved the mystery of this place?”

            “I guess the pay would be better if we had more answers. Hell, I might write a book when I get back.” Jack broke the seal on his SEVA helmet for the first time since passing through the portal. The air here was cold and bit his skin, but it smelled so clean. No gas exhaust, no manure, no scent from any man. He thought deeply as he sucked from his metal flask and lit a cigarette. “Fuck it.” He concluded. “I’ll do it for the money.”

            Igor smiled and the two of them spliced the next spool of thin-diameter, high-strength cable onto their SRRDs. Like Hansel and Gretel, they would make their way through the next kilometer of forest safely tethered to home. Jack threw the butt of his cigarette into the snow, and a three eyed raven watched him from a tree as the seal of his SEVA helmet hissed shut.

            The raven followed them as they continued to follow the tracks of the Nazi tank, and Igor noticed the bird’s third eye was milky white, like it was blind. The trees stood tall and timeless, and the ancient mountains beyond peered from between the gaps in their trunks. Their blue faces stoic, staring beyond them towards the frozen lake, capped with white like old wizards, somber and cold in the howling Northern wind. Soon, the pair could see where the tank had lumbered to its final resting place.

            All around were signs of a great battle. Men in SS uniforms smashed and mutilated, many of them pancaked to the forest floor in a puddle of frozen blood. The tank sat it the middle of it all, flattened and upside down, over twenty feet from its tracks. It was poetic in a way. Germanic warriors coming face to face with giants with the greatest modern technology they could muster. If anything, they would have made Hitler proud.

            Igor gagged into the microphone “Oh . . . oh my! I’m going to be sick, Jack.”

            “They’re Nazis, Igor. Don’t feel too bad for them.”

            Igor collected himself and the pair investigated the wreckage for any clues.

            Jack found a cigarette butt stuck to the tracks of the dead Nazi tank. He peeled it off and inspected it. A Lucky Strike? What was an American cigarette doing here? He put it in a matchbox with two other butts: a Swiss one from a nurse he had rescued while fighting in the Alps, and a German one from a guard at Mauthausen-Gusen.

            Beyond the obvious fact that these Germans had died in vain while trying to kill a giant. Killing a giant, wow. That would be quite a catch. Imagine how much the eggheads would pay for a whole giant. Even just its head would probably be worth a fortune.

            “Igor, you find anything?”

            “Not yet, that raven is still watching us though.”

            “Forget about the damn raven. If there’s nothing here, lets head back. I don’t want to run into one of those giants.”, Jack’s breath was pulsing fog onto his visor as he scanned and listened for danger. He watched the raven as it watched back, unblinking with its blind third eye.

            “Just give me a while longer.”

            “While you’re at it, look for their lieutenant. None of these uniforms are German officers. Nazis always send an officer. He should have a map with plans on what the hell they were ---.” As jack spoke across the radio, he was interrupted by the raven.

            “Ты ищешь ответы в этом месте, путник?” The raven cawed.

            “Вы говорите? На русском?” Igor replied.

            “Я говорю с тобой. Если вы действительно ищете ответы, найдите колодец. Колодец содержит бесконечную мудрость за пределами вашего понимания.” The raven continued to caw at Igor.

            “Бесконечная мудрость? Какой ценой?” Igor was perplexed. Jack watched the otherworldly conversation in awe.

            “Небольшой жертвы должно быть достаточно.” The raven cawed finally.

            “Да, я понимаю. Ты поведешь меня туда?” Igor was holding his hands together as if he was praying, pleading towards the bird. Jack could see tears welling up in the young scientist’s eyes. What was going on?

            The raven bowed and flew into the forest, leaving the pair alone again.

            “Igor! We need to get back!”

            “The raven! It spoke Russian!”

            “I heard! What did it say?”

            “It promised infinite wisdom! From a well! Nearby he said!”

            “Igor, we need to get back. I’m not following you deeper into these woods just because some bird said there’s a well out here.”

            “Please! I could sense its honesty. Infinite wisdom, Jack!”

            “What does that even mean?”

            “I . . . I can’t explain. But deep inside I know it’s what I’ve been looking for my entire life. Maybe what we’ve all been looking for. Please, Jack. I know I need to do this.”

            “We’re heading back. According to me, we’ve completed our objective. The next group of researchers can help take you to this ‘well.” Jack turned around and started to walk back the way they had come. If Igor wanted to stay out here, that was on the Russians. They could pay for his funeral for all he cared.

            “Suka! Don’t pull on my rope!”

            “I didn’t pull on your ro . . .” Jack’s SRRD went tight, then the brake on it was broken. The cable began to spin out on it, it was reeling out line so fast the mechanism was starting to smoke. Something was caught on the line. Something big. Jack turned to where the cable was being pulled and two hundred meters away a gargantuan leg was crashing through the forest behind them. Their lines had been caught on the giant’s ankle and was taking both of them with it as it stumbled blindly through the forest.

            The pair were yanked into the snow, Jack cracked the visor on his helmet and Igor’s shoulder smashed into the dead tank. They were being dragged along the floor of the ancient forest, smashing through brush and trees as the gait of the giant sent them ever deeper into the woods. They tried to grab at branches, their gloved fingers clawing in vain at the snow. Nothing they did helped to slow them down.

            “Igor! Use your knife! Cut the line!” Jack followed his own advice and slashed the high strength cable loose, saving himself. Igor did the same. Their cables swished between the pines and forever away into the fog, lost forever.

            “Ooooh! I think I broke a rib!”, Igor moaned over the radio.

            Jack shuffled over to him and picked him up. “You’re going to be fine. Let’s get the fuck out of this place. Now.”

            “Which way is out? I can’t tell where we are. Compasses don’t even work here. Even if they did, we still don’t have a map.”

            “Let’s just start walking. If we’re lucky, we’ll find the lake soon. We can’t be much more than two kilometers away from the portal.”

            They walked for what seemed like hours through the ancient forest. Of course, time didn’t matter in this place anyway. For all they knew, the scientists had only been missing them for barely ten minutes since they departed. Then again, six days might have passed by now. There was no way to tell. Just like they had no way to tell which direction they were going. All they could do was to keep the mountains at their back in hopes to reach the frozen lake, but that didn’t seem to be working. Jack and Igor did their best to find any clues to retrace their steps, but every step they took felt further from home. They walked silently now, both speechless from the hopelessness of the situation.

            Their silence was broken by the sound of laughter in the distance. American laughter? Sounded to Jack like a cowboy. A cowboy laughing out here? Now he was hearing things. Great.

            “Over there!” Igor spotted the man. He was sitting around a small campfire maybe eighty meters away under a simple lean-to shelter. Beside him, next to the small fire was a stonework well as ancient as the trees.

            As they got closer to the laughing cowboy, Jack realized he was wearing an SS uniform. It was dirty, disheveled, but still the unmistakable black uniform of an SS officer.

            “The well.” Igor whispered over the radio.

            “Be careful Igor.” Jack was concerned.

            “How y’all doing out here? Hee hee!” The cowboy called out.

            “We’re lost!” Igor shouted back.

            “Ain’t we all pardner! Come on in around the fire and I’ll get y’all back home right quick!” The cowboy was smiling and smoking a Lucky Strike next to the fire. Everything about him seemed out of place here.

            With trepidation, the pair moved in around the fire. The warmth did feel comforting, and soon the pair had both of their helmets removed and were enjoying the heat of the flames with the SS cowboy.

            “I didn’t know they had cowboys in the SS.” Jack mentioned the obvious.

            “Not normally, now. But my mama was a German, and so was my pa. Hell! I grew up speaking as much German around the house as English. Years even before Pearl Harbor I signed up to join the cause of my people. You’d be surprised! I met English guys, Australian, plenty of others who spoke English.”

            “You regret it?”

            “I ain’t got time for regret!”

            “Can I please take a sip from your well? My canteen is dry.” Igor asked.

            “Hold up there pardner! All the other water around these parts is frozen! And, I’m sure the raven told you; this here water is special. Water of the gods they say. Gives a man infinite wisdom they say!”

            “You’ve drank from the well?”

            “Yes indeed, can’t be out here all day laughing with a dry mouth, now, can I?”

            “It gave you infinite wisdom?” Igor’s eyes were wide with fascination.

            “No, no, no. The crow spared me from the giant so I could watch over the well. It’s got no effect on me now, but I get to keep my life forever. It might seem like it would get old sitting here so long, but the fire is warm, and I haven’t run out of smokes yet. Don’t figure I ever will.”

            “What is this place?” Jack asked the well watcher.

            “Hehe! A place of sin! A place of damnation! A place where even the gods don’t tread! Take this with you traveler, and make sure no one ever returns!” The cowboy laughed as he handed Jack a satchel of TNT, but behind his eyes, Jack could see sadness.

            “What do you expect me to do with this?”
            “You know what to do! Toss that satchel into the pool! Sever this purgatory from the Earth forever! You’ve seen too much of this place already!”

            “We’ll be stranded here forever! If I try to destroy the portal from the other side, I’ll be shot! You’re crazy, cowboy!” Jack’s face was red with frustration.

            “You won’t be able to leave this place, travelers. No matter how hard you try, this place has a way of holding onto people. You’ll see . . . you’ll both see . . .”

            “I’m not leaving without drinking from that well.” Igor stood up and took out his canteen.

            “Igor, be careful.” Jack advised.

            “A small sacrifice first, please.” The cowboy held out a hand, smirking at Igor.

            “A small sacrifice. Like Odin himself.” Without hesitation, Igor plunged his fingers into his eye. Blood seeped from the socket down the crease of his glove before, pop! With a small sound his eyeball was in his fingers, and into the palm of the well watcher.

            “Hehe! Thank ye! Drink as much as you need!” The well watcher cackled as he stowed Igor’s eyeball away into his pocket.

            Jack watched in horror as Igor gorged himself on the well water. The edges of his mouth overflowed with its wetness as he gulped from his canteen. The bloody maw where his eye once was pulsed as he drank.

            When he was finished consuming from the well, the Igor Jack knew was gone. He stood there cold, emotionless, and serene. Gone was Igor’s anxiety about getting back home.

            Jack was half tempted to set of the satchel of TNT right here, killing the three of them. “Igor, we need to go home. Now!”, he cried at whatever remained of the scientist.

            “Yes, Jack. Let’s go home. Farewell, watcher.” Igor bowed to the well watcher as he set off away from the campfire with the confidence of a man who’d walked this forest for a thousand years.

            Jack was happy that at least they seemed to know where they were going now. They’d been lost for what seemed like so long it felt good to have a guide. Even if that guide wasn’t the same Igor he’d come to this place with. Jack was scared to speak to whatever Igor had become, and he followed the Russian without exchanging words. After what seemed like hours, they finally found themselves at the edge of the frozen lake and he could see the silhouette of the portal in the foggy distance.

            “Thank God, we made it!”

            “Thank who?” Igor turned around and faced him. The maw where his eye had been was glazed over with black, dried blood that oozed down his cheek.

            “I’m just glad we’re going to make it back.”

            “If it were up to me, you’d be dead Jack.”

            “What, the Soviets don’t want the Americans to know the secrets of this place?”

            “No, I didn’t say if it were up to the Soviets I said if it were up to me.”

            Jack was half tempted to pull his .45 out and shoot the wise-ass right here on the lake.

            “I’m not going back home Jack. You aren’t either. This place isn’t meant for mortals. Finding this place was a mistake. If you can comprehend it, this might have been the biggest mistake the Nazis ever made. Living men were not meant to walk the realms of the gods.”

            Jack drew his .45, pointed it at Igor, and pulled the trigger. Click. Fuck, that click. It was the loudest sound Jack had ever heard. He tried to rack the slide to cycle another round, but the mechanism was frozen. He slapped at the pistol with his glove. Click. Click. Click.

            Igor closed the distance, knife drawn, and slashed through the back of Jack’s knee. His leg went limp as his Achilles tendon was severed and he collapsed into the ice.

            “You bastard! Where did you learn to move like that?” Jack cried. He could see Igor felt sorrow for him. Son of a bitch didn’t have the heart to just kill him. No. He was going to leave him for dead out here on the ice.

            Without a word, Igor snatched the satchel of TNT from Jack. Through eyes red with anger, Jack watched as Igor walked towards the black pool and set the fuse on the dynamite.

He stood their motionless as the chemical fuse silently burnt down towards its end. He exploded into a murder of ravens as the portal transformed again into a sheet of ice. The surface of the lake shook below Jack, and the terrible roar of the explosion echoed in the distant blue mountains.

            Jack laid there, alone, cold, and afraid as the sun began to rise for the first time in this world. Igor had betrayed him. Or was it Igor? Whatever had replaced him was something inhuman. Perhaps he had become one with the three-eyed raven in some way. This world had destroyed Igor, but it wouldn’t destroy him. He had come too far for that now. He would find his way back some way. He didn’t know how, but he had to try. He wasn’t going to let himself live his final waking moments in the solitary limbo he now found himself in.

            Jack gathered enough strength to rise to his feet and slowly limp back towards the great pine woods. He would find the well watcher again, no matter what it took. He would persevere through the forest, limping at the feet of giants.