Human Colonial and Covenant forces are locked in a bitter war on a tundra moon. Orbital fire, ground artillery, and the ongoing battle slowly turn the frozen permafrost into a melting mass of mud. What comes late in this battle is the realization that something has slept beneath the ice for millennia — and now it is beginning to awaken.

In this thawing acidic permafrost bog, a sapper team is sent to recover the black encryption core from a downed recon walker carrying crucial data for artillery coordination. But the ground itself is waking: hidden amphora clusters open under pressure, trap limbs with one-way hairs, and digest armor and flesh with acid. This is not a walk in the park.

This is “The Amphoras of the Melt” by Sascha Schmidt.