WEBVTT

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The air tasted of ancient salt and absolute

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silence.

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Kalin sat motionless on the wooden deck of

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his anchored sloop,

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watching the colossal wall of ice loom before

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him.

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It was a cathedral of frozen water,

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a massive blue glacier that stretched wider than

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the eye could comprehend,

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its towering face etched with deep, cobalt fractures

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and impossible geometries.

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For days, the Arctic landscape had been shrouded

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in a heavy, slate -gray gloom.

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But tonight, the elements decided to put on

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a final, breathtaking performance.

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Low on the horizon, the sun broke through

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a parting in the clouds,

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bathing the entire fjord in a warm golden

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hour light.

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The contrast was staggering.

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The dying rays bled across the pristine, jagged

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peaks of the ice cliff,

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turning the blinding white into liquid amber,

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and setting the deep sapphire crevices ablaze with

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an inner, ethereal fire.

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Scattered icebergs drifted silently in the frigid Arctic

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Bay around the hull,

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bobbing like translucent emeralds and diamonds in the

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copper -tinted water,

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catching the last warmth of a dying day

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before the deep freeze reclaimed the night.

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Without warning, the silence shattered.

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A sound like rolling thunder echoed off the

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stone walls of the bay,

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deep and resonant, vibrating straight through the soles

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of Kalin's boots.

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A fracture tore horizontally across the glacier's face,

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wide as a river.

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With agonizing slowness, a skyscraper -sized pillar of

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ice peeled away from the wall.

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It leaned forward, defying gravity for a suspended

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heartbeat,

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before crashing down into the dark water.

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A colossal wave of white foam erupted outward,

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sending heavy, rhythmic swells that rocked the sloop

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violently,

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while a cloud of frozen mist rose to

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the sky,

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catching the golden fire of the sunset and

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turning it into a shimmering fog of diamond

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dust.

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Kalin breathed out a plume of white vapor,

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his heart hammering against his ribs,

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utterly humbled by the living, breathing masterpiece unfolding

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before him.