My name is not important, For I do not exist. My entire life such as my name, Age and mere existence has been legally removed from all documentation on earth. My family is dead and I have accepted that. I was sworn into secrecy under threat of potential termination of life, However I have finally cracked.
There exists a facility in Antarctica called Apnes Nova. It is the best kept secret on earth as far as I have recognized it, But I’m here to share with you what it is about. The facility itself is kept in the far east side of Antarctica. It is held inside of a mountain.
To start off I’m going to explain to you how I came to know about this place and why I was the only survivor of my expedition to Antarctica.
When I was 28, I Was sent on an expedition to cold wastelands of Antarctica to investigate a sub-glacial lake, A sub-glacial lake is a body of water that exists under ice for anyone asking. They had detected heavy seismic activity underneath the ice layer and they needed people like me, A geologist, To figure out what was happening down there.
The payout was massive, It was hard to turn a blind eye. I was set to go via plane to the frigid area to begin drilling into the ice and then sub-surface excavation was to be pursued. And that’s exactly how things went for the first 5 days of the 3 week expedition.
It was so cold though, I can’t even begin to explain how bad it was there. Each breath felt winding, It was like my lungs were slowly turning to ice and each step felt like needles where piercing every layer of skin on my legs. Even in 5 layers of clothing and protective gear I still felt terrible. Insomnia was slowly creeping as-well. I couldn’t get a good nights sleep if my life depended on it.
Finally on the 6th day we got word that we had penetrated the Layer of ice and were now able to start the descent down. I should note that the hole we had dug was 2.4 kilometers deep. It would take around 40 minutes to even an hour to make the full descent. So when I boarded the escalator to go down into darkness, I knew that if this thing failed I was dead.
The first 10 minutes were fine of course. I heard the creaking of metal and the ice beds shift as the escalator grazed the cold permafrost, That of course made me anxious but, There was 3 Geologists with me, That reassured me that I wasn’t alone. There names? well, I actually forget because of the events that occurred. I faintly remember one of them having a name starting with an A and ending in an N, Maybe.. Aidan? I don’t know but it’s neither important or relevant.
When 30 minutes had passed, The cold was becoming torture. I felt my body cramping and my feet starting to ache painfully as we slowly descended. We were reaching some of the lower levels of ice. Ice that was thousands if not millions of years old had finally surfaced for the first time in who knows long, And we were seeing it.
We made sure to scrape some samples with a chisel as we slowly went down, Each sample entering a small vial for analysis when we made it back up. Finally 45 minutes passed and we heard shifting in the cables holding us up as finally reached the cavern. I remember one of the geologists saying: “We made it.. God this feels like a scene right out of Indiana Jones!”
It was hard to laugh as the cold kept our mouths shut. Breathing was more painful then a stab wound in this frozen hell.
When our flashlights finally flickered on, The walls of this sub glacial cavern finally revealed themselves. The neon blue colors flashed vibrantly. It felt surreal, It was almost alien like in just the ice but the water was where it really shone.
It was glowing. When our lights met the water the algae began to glow amazing colors. I remember seeing hints of blue green and purple among them. It was one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen yet thinking about it terrifies me. All these centuries these algae have lived under this ice sheet untouched.
We finally made it to the very bottom and stepped out. The crunching of the ice felt amazing for once, After standing cramped and in the cold on that escalator for close to an hour you feel amazing just being able to move for once.
We split off into 2 groups, Mainly to collect rock samples. It sounded gloomy down there, Like everything was slightly muffled.
I began to start investigating a small formation of rock when I heard scampering in the distance, I checked behind me and weirdly all of us where close by. It wasn’t them that made that noise.
I started to approach the source, Each step making me feel anxious as I rounded a small beam of ice. I saw.. Animal prints. Small prints like a squirrel but they weren’t normal. I counted 6 toes and they were far to long. I started to back up as I rushed back over to the group.
“There’s an animal down here, I just heard something and found prints, Phone in to homebase and tell them.”
One of the fellow geologists protested “You probably just saw imprints, I bet it was nothing” Before I could lead him to my findings something else caught my eye. A small sparkle in the distance caught me in a trans, I felt hypnotized.
I pointed it out to everyone and they seemed to notice it as well. We quickly rushed over and we found something.
I still can’t explain to you what this was. Thinking about it makes me sick. All that sat in a small clearing was a pure black box. This thing was darker then void. It was pure black and it made me uneasy looking at it. A low hum was coming from the box, Like white noise.
“What the fuck is this..” One of the geologists spoke up.Another one spoke “I feel dizzy.. What is happening?” As he said this I started to feel lightheaded. Was this an attack? What was even happening. As my thoughts raced a massive flash proceeded to blind me leaving me to fall.
I heard yells and stomping, I couldn’t see what was happening and eventually I passed out. I woke up, I heard the beeping of a monitor and knew I was safe. I sighed in relief but when I could finally see I started to panic.
3 Armed guards stood around me. They bared massive machine guns and had really advanced looking suits on. It was like something straight out of a Sci-fi movie. Blue lights pulsated on there alien like suits as a Doctor and a small team started to approach the bed.
“Hello, My name is doctor Norman, You are very lucky to have survived do you know that?” I didn’t even process what he said before I tried to get up and run. However I had been restrained down keeping me in place. “You have nowhere to go. Just listen up and you’ll be fine.”
I finally sighed and nodded letting him talk. “We found you in the sub-glacial lake IH-1392, You had a burn on your arm and a few cuts and bruises but really nothing serious. You were the only one there.”
I then responded “There were 3 more geologists with me, What happened to them.” He sighed looking at me with a confused expression “We.. Didn’t find 3 others down in that cavern, Only you. You had been there for 3 hours before we had our rescue squadron come down and recover you.”
I felt sweat drip down my forehead as I started to think. Before I could really say anything one of those guards received a call on his radio. I remember what it said because that was the first anomaly I encountered.
“Mission control this is ramsey… IH-G12 Is pursuing your location to medical Fac 4, Please be advised of its location. Over”
I watched as all 3 guards looked at each other and quickly ran to the doors. The lights began to flicker as I heard extremely fast footsteps above us. The sounds of metal clanking started to become even clearer as I realized something was coming to our location and fast.
I heard the guards radios chirp
“IH-G12 Is 50 Meters away East hall, Sending in backup now. Please be advised. Over.”
I started to panic as screams started to fill the halls. I heard the sounds of doors being slammed open and random things falling and shattering on the ground. Finally the sound reached our door. I watched as something black began to seep under the door. It was a massive long unnatural hand.
It was pure black like that object we encountered in that sub-glacial lake. It started to go under the door and up to the handle when one of those guards fired at it. It quickly jerked away and proceeded to cut through him like nothing. That poor man made no sound as his top half began to slowly slide off his body, Like some horror movie.
I realized that this was all real when his body hit the ground, The sickening thump of his now mutilated top half started to leak blood everywhere as the other 2 armed guards began to fire rapidly, Shots going through the door.
I immediately started to panic as I looked around. Next to me was a small sliding metal desk with a scalpel resting on a towel. I started to push my arm out and after a few seconds of frantic panic I was able to drag the table over and grab the scalpel.
I started to bend my hand inwards when I heard a massive slam and growl. The door started to bend violently as something on the other side proceeded to start caving it in. Screams started to fill the room as more patients started to wake up. I finally cut through my first restraint, The leather falling apart.
In quick succession I cut through the other 3, I tried to get up but I realized my legs were numb. “No.. NO” I started to yell realizing if I didn’t get up death was guaranteed.
I started to drop down slowly crawling. I realized there was no way for me to escape so I did the only logical thing. I hid under the bed. It was a tight fit and If that Thing Realized Where I was I wouldn’t be able to escape fast enough.
The lights began to flicker as the power finally went out. The low hum of the light-bulbs fading filled the room as finally the door was off the hinges. I heard the other 2 guards yell in agony as something had got to them.
The room fell silent as Anxiety began to cloud my mind. I held my breath. I heard something start approaching slowly. It’s footsteps where heavy and I could see a dark shape start to get closer. It was darker then anything around us, Even the darkness itself that had filled the room previous to the power outage.
I watched as it stopped right at the foot of my bed. I heard tapping as a small whistle began to fill the room. That thing knew where I was and it was taunting me. I closed my eyes and prayed.
“Please save me… From the darkness.. That plagues this room..”
My mind played over and over as my hands clamped together. Finally that thing lifted the bed throwing it the side. I finally got a good look at it.
It was transparent, Even in the dark I could see that, It had something in it’s center mass. It was.. That object we encountered in the Lake. This thing had something to do with it’s appearance down there. Was it back to kill me? Hell if I know.
I started to panic as It lifted me. It’s grip was the coldest thing I’ve ever felt. I started to yelp in pain as it inspected me. A voice began to slow creep out from that thing, It was completely unnatural. It sounded like radio static but I could still understand it.
“You…. You are the one who… Usurped me….” That phrase, I can’t explain it but.. The way it said it almost seemed sad. I started to panic as that object that resided in that thing began to glow. Before anything happened further I heard footsteps above.
The events that happened after were all so quick. The ceiling began to cave in as 5 men in Heavy looking suits dropped down. They proceeded to fire something at that entity. It let out a raspy scream as it began to fade, The object residing in it’s torso finally hitting the ground.
I fell to the ground in a blur. I passed out once more from stress and panic. Everything was a blur afterwards. I woke up once more, This time I was restrained upwards, I was in a pure white room. I saw monitors and weird instruments pressing into me. Was I being operated on?
Finally after 5 minutes 3 white coated men entered the room. I recognized one of them. It was Doctor Norman. He opened up right as he entered the room.
“You’ve seen what this place is. We can’t let you leave it.. But you encountered that object first hand. When you went down to the sub-glacial lake, I assume you saw that black cube like anomaly and ended up here, Am I correct?”
I sighed finally opening up to him.
“Yeah… That’s right, It was 3 geologists and I that went down. I saw a shine in the distance and I…. Approached it and it Flashed. I passed out and ended up here..”
Doctor Norman wrote down a few things nodding along. Finally he said the words that made me both happy and anxious.
“Release him.”
The 2 other coated men came over and undid my restraints. I fell down unable to walk but I was able to pull myself up, leaning over a monitor.
“Why am I here, What was that thing.”
Doctor Norman sighed and gestured for me to come.
I gritted my teeth as I slightly shouted at him “I cant FUCKING walk”
Doctor Norman finally gestured to one of the men to go grab something, He came back in a minute later with a wheelchair. I sat down finally able to rest.
I began to wheel myself out the door as the white coated men followed. Doctor Norman began to explain what was happening.
“The reason you can’t walk is due to stress induced paralysis, Usually when a traumatic event happens your body weakens, in your case you have passed out far too many times losing oxygen to the brain. It’s nothing serious, You will likely regain the ability to walk soon.”
I sighed in relief hearing this, I could feel a massive grin forming on my face.
We reached a massive white hallway. There were massive glass windows indicating rooms. I wheeled passed some and saw people in medical beds. Some were conscious, Some were asleep but some were bandaged up. I assume they were victims of the attack I had experienced prior.
I asked the burning question as we slowly traversed the halls. “What was that thing I saw, Why did it let me live.”
Doctor Norman sighed avoiding the question. I started to feel more anxious as we approached the end of the hall.
“Bring him to sector Apnes Nova” Doctor Norman spoke to the men as he walked off.
One of the men began to speak. “Hello, I’m Nurse Alexander, I will be your primary caretaker as of now. We are currently bringing you to a new sector for transfer, Any questions?”
I shook my head as the clanking of metal echoed through the halls. A massive metal door opened in the wall, What was strange was.. The door had been hidden, Like it had no visible way of being opened on the side we were facing and it seemed to be built into the wall.
I started to panic. Was I about to end up in a prison? Was I going to be tortured? Hell if I know but I was gonna find out.
As we slowly approached through this new sector the sound of electrical tools began to echo throughout. I saw a small window up ahead and frantically wheeled up to it. Inside I saw a man, He was covered in a black gown and had a bag over his head. Another man stood in the room. He was… Drilling into his stomach and removing organs. The man was gurgling in pain. This was torture.
“What… The… Fuck..”
I yelled as I finally found the strength to stand. I immediately turned to Alexander sending a fist right to his Jaw. As I made connection I heard stomping come my way as someone yelled:
“GET ON THE GROUND NOW!”
It was another one of those heavily armed guards. He had a strange weapon pointing right at my head. I put my hands up and he approached me putting one of those black bags over my head. I started to plead “Please! No.. Stop Im sorry!” But it was too late.
I felt myself get dragged into one of those rooms where that man was getting tortured. I felt myself get put onto a table and tied down. Finally the bag was removed and I saw a man in a black robe with a face mask. He was holding what seemed to be a knife but I couldn’t be sure as he began to turn me on my back.
I felt my body quiver as the sharp object was put to my back. He started to carve something into it. I screamed in agony begging him to stop. I thought I was going to die. After around 2 minutes of crying, Screaming and begging he stopped and stood me up. I couldn’t fight back I was simply too weak.
He brought me over to a mirror resting in the room and forced me to turn around. He had carved a symbol into my back. It had the initials A.N And had a circle surrounding it. I had this now permanent scar sitting on my back and I didn’t even know what it meant. However I started to connect the dots.
A.N stood for Apnes Nova. They must have been putting me into there organisation instead of killing me. I felt slight relief but the pain was still unbearable. Finally he put some sort of clear liquid on the wound and a sharp pain filled my body. I fell to my knees screaming. It was horrific.
The man in the robe lifted me and brought me out of the room. The liquid was still burning my horrific wound but the pain was starting to fade slightly.
I was brought again into another white room however there were desks and computers displayed. It took a moment for me to realize what it was, It was an observatory. People in white coats entered the room and started to work on the computers. A massive screen started to come out from the ceiling. I started to investigate it.
All I saw was a trail of dust. I realized we were getting an aerial view from what I could assume was a fighter jet following something. Finally something came into view.
It was.. A house. A plain house, Like something straight out of the country side but it was straight up in the middle of nowhere. 3 Men entered the room. They were armed as-well. They began to approach me. Finally one stuck there hand out to shake mine.
“I’m Lieutenant Salvadore, I will be assisting you on your first anomaly interference. You likely just came out of the branding process, Don’t worry the pain fades quickly. We will be bringing you to the locker room to get your gea-“
Rage boiled inside of me as I slapped his hand away.
“What the fuck do you mean anomaly interference? I don’t want part in this, I want to go home!”
He clicked his fingers and the 2 men dragged me out of the room bringing me outside. They finally let me go as Lieutenant Salvadore approached me.
“If you don’t cooperate then well… Termination will be key.”
I shook my head. “Please.. Please! Don’t kill me, I swear I won’t say a word about this!”
“We can’t take that risk. Just follow us, We assure you this isn’t as bad as you would think it is.”
I tried to step away but they grabbed me bringing me with them.
As I followed along more armed guards became visible. We must have been entering the armory. I could hear the sounds of weapons being loaded as I got closer. Finally we entered, The scent of sweat and grit filled the air, It reminded me of a men’s locker room.
I was shoved in-front of a locker and told to grab whats in it and put it on. When I opened the locker I saw a black military uniform, A handgun and a small machine gun. It’s crazy how quick I went from being in a hospital bed to being apart of this massive organization so quickly. It felt surreal holding a gun. I wasn’t getting any training, Unless this mission WAS the training. Looking back it make’s sense.
After getting fully dressed I was escorted out and brought to a room. What sat there was a seat with a massive device hanging overhead. It looked like some form of execution device. I sat down and my hands were restrained. The device then started to beep as it moved around.
My hands were then forced to face palm up as the device went above them. I watched as a red light flashed. Small lasers started to cover my finger tips. They were burning my fingerprints off, What the fuck was this? The pain was agonizing. I had to hold in screams as my fingerprints were eventually wiped.
I sighed in exhaustion as the restraints released. I was brought back up and escorted through the white halls of Apnes Nova. Many armed guards joined the escort as we finally entered a military hanger. I finally got a look outside, We were still in Antarctica. I was honestly surprised, It was quite warm in the facility.
A man in a beret and military uniform came out of a massive plane and stood facing us. He now began speaking.
“To all new recruits, I am Captain Diaz. You are currently an a Mission to investigate the Anomaly VS-65. You will be getting orders from your group leaders. We have 4 groups as of now, Delta, Bravo, Omega and Epsilon. Boarding begins ETA 5 Minutes. You may take time to prepare and question. Good luck soldiers.”
I nodded feeling slightly more comfortable in good hands. All these heavily armed guards around me assured me I was safe. But after seeing what that thing did in that medical bay.. God I just couldn’t shake off a feeling of sour and sad.
As I stood there one of the soldiers approached me. “Hey, My name is Nolan, I was told it’s your first mission, Don’t worry man, My first mission was fun! I’ll make sure to help you out if you need it.”
I nodded as I put on a warm smile. “Thanks man.. I’ve been pretty nervous about it..”
“Ahh no problem! You’ll be fine!” He remarked. He pat my shoulder re-assuring me.
It felt good having a friend in this. Just as I was about to say something sirens went off signalling take off. Everyone boarded and we went with our respective groups. I was apart of Omega.
We sat down and our group leaders started to explain this Anomaly we would be dealing with.
“VS-65 Is a Hostile anomaly located in a redacted remote area of Nevada, We will be approaching it and investigating it. The flight is expected to last 3 hours so get comfortable.”
People started to chat among themselves as I sat back. The feeling of sleepiness began to overtake as I dozed off.
The sound of rubber scraping along something rough awoke me. We must have landed. We were instructed to hop out in a single file line and await orders. And so that’s what we did. As I stepped out the hot landscape of Nevada overtook me. Sweat began to form under my suit but I ignored it.
In the distance I could see that house. It had an ominous aura just looking at it. I began to sweat harder as our group leader spoke.
“We will be one of 2 groups entering the anomaly VS-65. We will be assisted along with Epsilon.”
I had no clue what I was getting into. One of the group leaders came by with a duffel bag and handed each of us a device. It looked like a camera however it was white and covered in a curved plastic shell on each side.
“What is this?” I remarked. He spoke back. “That is a Mono-elocator, It’s a single lens device used to scan through walls. If an anomaly is detected we use them to identify it’s position.”
I understood but at the same time I was confused. I shook it off shrugging as we began to approach the house. Each step made me feel sick as we finally reached the door.
All 10 of our group members lined up at the door as our 2 largest guards proceeded to bust down the door. The splintering of wood and clanking of metal echoed in the house as we entered it.
I don’t know how to explain it. The house was simply impossible, The interior was way to clean but that wasn’t what made it weird. It was too large for the outside, Like when we walked in it reminded me of a mansion, While the outside was a single story hut. Not to mention there was a second floor.
I felt physically ill as we began to investigate. I stood with Nolan as we looked around. Epsilon followed along with us as we cleared each room. Nolan and I went up the second floor stairs and that’s when I heard it.
“Tck.. Tck… Tck!”
It sounded like something metal hitting the floor over and over. That’s when I pulled out my Mono-Elocator. I didn’t know how it operated but I gave it a go. And surprisingly it worked. I could see through the walls and what I saw… God… Even for a second it felt like it fried my brain.
I saw rooms, Small rooms, However inside those rooms sat another room. This cascaded endlessly. I started to hyperventilate but i just couldn’t keep my eyes off this anomaly.. This infinite series of rooms. Then I noticed someone inside them. It was… Me.
I just sat there in those rooms standing perfectly still. I let out a gasp. Those things.. Me… Turned to look right at me. I immediately dropped the device as I backed away. What the fuck was this? Was it a nightmare?
I started to vomit as Nolan came over. “Dont… Dont look… It’s me…“ He looked confused as he picked up the device. “NO!” I screamed at him. He spoke but nothing came out. I realized I couldn’t hear anything. I felt something wet run down my nose. It was blood.
Nolan proceeded to use the Mono-Elocator and He immediately started to scream. He threw the device away. It was chilling seeing him scream and no sound come out. I started to feel rumbling as I looked above us. The ceiling started to crack as something massive broke through.
It was.. A hand. The ceiling opened up and an eye looked through. I recognized it. It was my eye.
That thing started to rip the ceiling apart as both Nolan and I screamed in terror. I felt stomping as Epsilon and the rest of our group approached. They were saying things but we couldn’t hear them. They didn’t seem scared. I realized they couldn’t see what we were seeing.
Finally I shouted something “ABOVE…US…“
They all murmured among each-other as they picked us up. They brought us out but that was when the scariest thing I have ever experienced as apart of this organization happened to me. When we left the house I couldn’t see the sky. It was pure black, No stars or anything.
Very slowly something came Into view. It was a white light. It came right in-front of me and said 4 words that frightened me so bad I fell into a deep coma afterwards.
It said: “Apnes Nova Usurps Us”
That’s when I realized what this organization was. These were experiments. None of this was real, I was simply being forced through this. Nolan wasn’t real. Dr Norman wasn’t real. Hell I doubt even I was real in that moment.
And the way I knew? Because I watched that light phase through this simulated universe I had been put in. I watched it literally fly through the fabrics of this horror I was put through, I saw the lines of binary code display themselves as it came to say that to me. This was all an experiment. Why me? Why?
They realized that I had figured it out and took me off the device immediately. When I finally woke up years had passed. It wasn’t 2012 anymore. It was 2019. I had suffered 7 years in a matter of half a day.
I don’t know whats real even now. I’ve worked at Apnes Nova ever since then. I’ve put people into the same device I was put through that day. I’ve seen people who were kidnapped like I was to be put through this.
None of what you experience is real. You could be experiencing the Apnes Nova effect right now and you wouldn’t know. And as for those anomalies? Those are real. I’ve dealt with them time and time again. The Nevada house effect is code name for a simulated universe in this facility.
My family is dead now. They know I’ve been revealing these things and have decided to take the spiteful direction to enforce my silence. But I choose not to.
Apnes Nova Usurps Us.