Sunday, February 8th, N.E. 807, 14:18

Outside of the walls, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

The Royal Capital of the Fredirin Kingdom, Arvas, was a sprawling city built upon the convergence point of two rivers. It had grown out of its original bounds, and now the rivers flowed through the heart of the city, canals had been built, further expanding the city’s reliance on water for transportation.

When it was merely between the two rivers, they acted as a defensive measure that was unparalleled to what humans could make, and the city was a fortress. But since it grew, that was no longer the case. And since the Kingdom itself grew, the idea of a hostile army reaching the capital had become a joke. Due to this, Arvas was pretty liberal with its gates. There were six major gates, and twice as many smaller gates situated around the city, and during the day, all of them were kept open.

There was, of course, inspections that one needed to pass to enter, and the smaller gates were only used by people with permits to use that specific gate. Visitors and out of towners had to use one of the six major gates, and that meant a long wait until one of the overworked and underpaid inspection agents could get around to interviewing the prospective visitor.

Of course, bribery could always expedite the process.

However, that was only the case for commoners, those with permits or the insignia of a noble only needed to show their documents and they could pass, they even had a special area for those people, so that they didn’t have a wait.

And for an actual noble, they were able to bypass the entire process.

So when twelve horsemen came charging up to the tail end of the waiting line, most people assumed they would stop. After all, the twelve were clearly not soldiers or knights. Under the plain cloaks that they were, glimpses of weapons could be seen, but there was no uniformity to them. Even stranger, one of the horsemen appeared to be a halfling, and while not exactly rare, halflings were not common either, and they never served in the military.They were either adventurers or mercenaries, or so the merchants and travelers had assumed.

But the twelve horsemen nimbly detoured around the line and charged up towards the gates, only stopping when they were right in front of the inspection office.

Several guards looked alarmed, and a few crossbows were aimed while spears were lifted, but after a few words between the guards and one of the horsemen, and after passing some items back and forth, all twelve riders were granted access to the city.

To the people still waiting in line, this was only a matter of course, but still, some of them couldn’t help but sigh with envy.

----------------------------------------

 Sunday, February 8th, N.E. 807, 14:20

9th Avenue, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

It would have taken ten hours by carriage, but with swift horses running almost without stopping, the trip was reduced to six. Since we had left just a bit after dawn, it was now a bit past noon. Granted, the trip was unpleasant, and it would have been taxing to a normal human, but I simply used my magic to reinforce my body, and the Spectres, they were used to this kind of thing.

“My Lady, what now?”

Our formation up until now was two riders side by side, and I was in the second group in, close enough to the front that it didn’t look like I was deliberately being protected, a fact that the Spectres that steward Ronald had lent me found difficult to bare. They had only relented when the three best fighters in the group were placed surrounding me, the one to my left, who just spoke, was the leader of this group, Captain Nev.

“Captain, we need to find a place to stay for a few days. An inn will do, I'll leave the arrangements to you.” I replied.

“An inn is it?” He asked.

“Yes, we need to be low-key for now, so find something reasonable, not something nobility would stay at.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Hmm, but not a dump either. I don’t want to stay in a filthy room.” I added as an afterthought.

“Yes.” Captain Nev answered dutifully, and then went to his subordinates to discuss our future course of action.

Meanwhile, we meandered down one of Arvas’s main streets.

Arvas was set up in a series of rings, these main roads went from each of the six major gates, and headed straight into the city’s center, where the royal palace was. No shops or buildings faced these main roads, they were used solely to transport people and goods, a highway of sorts. They were decently busy, but everyone was either coming or going, people just moving slowly aimlessly like us were somewhat rare.

“My lady.” Nev turned back to me having finished his deliberations with the others. “Down this way is an inn with good security, it’s used by wealthy traveling merchants. We might stick out a bit, but it’s probably the best option.”

“Let us go with that then, lead on Captain.”

We turned off of the main thoroughfare and onto a side road, unlike the major circle roads that were bustling with shops and roadside stalls, these side roads were made up of inns, restaurants, and shops that catered to a more select clientele.

After five minutes, a large, four-story building came into view. It was one story taller than the adjacent buildings, but what really set it apart, was that it had a balcony area in the front that covered the second through fourth floors.

“Here we are my lady, the Patio Inn.” Nev introduced the building.

However, my attention was not on the inn, but the restaurant across the road. Three men had just excited, and after saying their goodbyes, they split up, two coming toward us while talking amongst themselves, and one going in the opposite direction.

“Captain, that man there,” I said motioning towards the single man heading away from us, “I need to talk to him.”

Not only Captain Nev, but the other Spectres around me all focused their gaze on the man.

“Who is he?” the captain asked.

“His name isn’t important, but he is a servant of the Iron-Hammer Family. He is an errand boy for their third son, Thomas.”

“Should we… invite him over?” Captain Nev asked uncertainly.

“No…” I glanced around to make sure no one was overhearing me, “We aren’t on good terms, both their family, or the third son.”

“I see…” Realization dawned on the Captain.

The Pine Family’s covert soldiers, the Spectres of Hemlock, were a mixture of spies, scouts, and secret police, but they were also split into sections. Captain Nev’s unit that I had borrowed was focused on scouting and policing duties around the Citadel of Pine, they weren’t aware of the situation in the Royal Capital.

“There are too many people around to do anything here, and we have nowhere to hide him.” Nev pointed out the problems with the plan.

“The Iron-Hammer estate is in the Second Circle, but it’s in the other direction, so he must be running errands, have someone follow him, and grab him when you get the chance,” I said.

“...” Captain Nev looked like he wanted to say something, but was holding himself back.

“What is it, Captain?”

“My lady, this is the Royal Capital, abducting someone… is risky. If something were to go wrong…” The Captain still hesitated.

“If there isn’t an opening, then no need to make a move,” I said plainly.

“No, my lady, it isn’t that. Us Spectres are willing to lay our lives down for the Pine Family.” He said resolutely.

“Then what?”

“I fear that if this fails, it could negatively impact the relations between the Iron-Hammers and us. You said that we aren’t on good terms, so they might use this as an opportunity to make trouble for our family.”

“Captain Nev,” I said as I turned to face him fully. “The Spectres are our family’s elite covert force, you won't tell me you can’t escape from the local patrol forces here?”

“Of course not my lady. Only the Royal Guard could catch us. But, if we need to transport a… prisoner, that could be different.”

“Then kill him.”

“...What?” The captain asked, a look of surprise on his face.

“Leave no witness, if need be. If you are discovered, kill the target, kill anyone who saw anything, and then flee.”

“Is… Is that okay?”

“It is more than okay, you didn't think I would release him after I went through all this trouble of catching him in the first place, did you? Now, get to it, and let's get off of this road.” I said and then turned back towards the Patio Inn.

“Yes, my lady.” Captain Nev said to me before turning to his subordinates. “Penk, Carl, Lin, follow that man, you know what to do.”

I smiled as I dismounted and entered the inn, the task in front of me was a large one, but it was off to a good start.

----------------------------------------

 Sunday, February 8th, N.E. 807, 14:31

Patio Inn, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

Meditation is considered a tried and true way for increasing one's worth as a mage. It doesn't give the fastest or greatest results, but it gives them consistently, and it also increasing everything that a mage needs. Not just mana capacity, but mental strength and understanding too. There were more effective ways of increasing an individual trait, for instance, using all of your mana until exhaustion will increase capacity far more than just meditating.

Early on, when all three traits are low, it is really easy to get them out of balance, a huge mana capacity with no mental strength isn’t really useful, it would be better than someone who didn’t train at all, but someone who spent half the time simply meditating will see much better overall results.

After having rented three room in the Patio Inn, each large enough to fit four people, we split up into our adjacent rooms. I, of course, didn’t get one to myself, Captain Nev’s squad had three female members, so I was sharing a room with those three for my own safety. One of them was sent to tail the servant of the Iron-Hammers, but the other two were here with me.

Since I had nothing else to do after telling Captain Nev to gather rumors about my recent accident, I told the two women that I would be meditating.

That was actually a lie, however.

In all three traits, I had reached a point where further progress was so incredibly slow that I could almost not advance at all, even using the most extreme methods, let alone meditation. A normal human would require consistent meditation to not regress in their skills, but since my soul was vastly different from a normal human's, that wasn’t a concern to me.

What I was doing now, was repeatedly cycling my mana through my body, starting with my bones, in an effort to reforge it into something stronger. Right now, not even a day after having my true personality awaken, I was already as strong as an average soldier without using any mana to further reinforce my body.

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But that was far too weak.

A weak physical body was not only dangerous, but it was also an embarrassment for someone like me. But there was an even larger problem, this body was so frail that using some of my medium grade magic would likely destroy my limbs, high-grade magic would shred my body, leaving nothing but a bloody mist behind.

Right now, not only was my physical strength a fraction of what it was before, but my magic was limited in a similar way.

The most annoying part, reforging my body would be a very long process, and it needed to be done step by step, the bones needed to be strengthened before muscles, veins and arteries, along with my organs would need to go before muscles and skin. And until my muscles were reforged, there wouldn’t be much noticeable effect in my power.

Unlike meditation, which made one unaware of the world around them, what I was doing was only moderately distracting, I couldn’t really do two things at once, but temporarily diverting focus from the reforging of my bones would only slow the progress for as long as I was not paying attention.

So when, even before someone knocked on the door, my two guards I shared the room with suddenly straightened up and placed their hands on their weapon, I had already shifted my attention.

“It's Nev. I have apples.” said the voice, slightly muffled by the door.

“Let him in.”

The chain lock was removed, the key near the knob was turned, and the chair propped up behind it was moved, and finally, the door opened, allowing Captain Nev to enter. He was suspiciously without apples.

“No apples, Captain?” I asked.

“Hmm…?” He looked confused for a second before realization dawned on him. “I am sorry my lady, that was a code to indicate everything was alright. If you’d like, someone can go get some…?”

“No, it's fine,” I said shaking my head. “Besides, I guess something has happened?”

“I heard back from the split squad, they have accomplished their mission without a problem. The goods are being stored in a warehouse, but we'll move them somewhere else once night falls.”

“Good. but there is no reason to wait, I'll go now.” I said as I stood up from the bed.

“My Lady, is that… a good idea?” Nev asked.

“Hmm…” I did stop and think about it.

On one hand, I didn’t have anything specific I wanted to ask that man, I just wanted to gather as much information from him as I could, and it would be a lot easier to do that if I were there, at least overseeing the questioning.

On the other hand, going myself was a risk. If anything happened and the Spectres were seen by someone, they could simply leave the Royal Capital without worries. If I were seen, that is a much bigger problem.

Well, there was a simple solution to this.

“Captain Nev, I will go personally, but have someone go to some of the suppliers for adventures, they should have filter masks on sale, we’ll wear those.”

“Yes, my Lady.” Nev responded and then turned and exited the room.

Now then, let's see what I could learn from my captured servant.

----------------------------------------

Sunday, February 8th, N.E. 807, 14:48

Abandoned Warehouse, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Vark, Son of Dems.

“HMM...Mmmmm. HMPH…”

I tried to demand that I be released, but all it came out as was a bunch of muffled groans, all due to the piece of cloth shoved into my throat.

Okay, let's go over this again.

It was my day off, I spent the morning having tea and reading in the Iron-Hammer’s garden, a bleak little area with more stone than plants, but since I had allergies, it wasn't too bad. I had a light lunch in my room, and then I went out into town. I checked on my mother, who was getting too old to move around much. My afternoon was spent doing some chores around her house, while she complained that I did nothing right. I left at the fourth bell and went shopping, browsing I should say. I checked some bookstores, but my wallet was lacking, and there was nothing I really wanted, but I still enjoyed looking through the new publications. I then met my brother and his business partner for dinner, I was afraid they wanted me to invest, but it was just a simple meal. We left the restaurant around the sixth bell, and then I spent about two more hours doing some grocery shopping for myself. I got some extra snacks for myself, a new belt, and I dropped off some clothes for some mending. And then I was heading home, but at some point, I was knocked out, and I woke up here.

But how long had I been out? And who did this to me? And what did they want?

In fact, where was here?

I was tied up and gagged, a rope was wrapped around my feet and legs, another was wrapped around my chest and arms, and even my hands, held behind my back, where also tied up. And then I was left on the floor.

The floor was wooden, in fact, the building itself was wooden, decent construction, if not decorated. The room was almost a perfect square, about ten feet by ten feet, and besides the one wooden door, there was no other openings, doors or windows. The only light came from a lit oil lamp set in an alcove by the door. Besides myself, the door, and the lamp, the room was empty.

“Mmmmfff…” I tried calling out again, but no one responded.

Since I had woken up, no one had appeared. No one tried to talk to me, and I heard no one moving as far as I could tell. Was I abandoned here? Were they going to starve me? Or were they going to try and ransom me to the Iron-Hammers?

And… would the Iron-Hammers pay?

Somehow, I didn’t think they would. I may have devoted my life to them, but I was a mere servant.

I was afraid for myself, very afraid, but so far no one seemed to want to hurt me, so maybe I would be okay. But I was also afraid that I would be used to threaten, or embarrass, the Young Master who I served.

Young Master Thomas will likely not inherit the position of Family Head, his elder brothers are both healthy and skilled, but I think he will still serve the family in some way. I know a lot of second and third sons are pushed out of the family once a new head takes over, but the Iron-Hammers don’t work like that. The Young Master will likely oversee some stores, or maybe workshops for the family. And he’ll be good at it too, I just know it. He has the disposition of a noble, he’s a very good lord to serve, and he has my loyalty, more than the family itself.

I would never be able to forgive myself if I were used to in some way harm him.

So, what was important right now, was for me to escape.

But, that would likely be impossible, so instead, I need to gather as much information as possible, and then try to come to a peaceful agreement with my kidnappers.

And if I can’t do that, then at least, I need to make sure I am not a liability.

The question is, how will I do any of these things?

Do I just wait? I think I do, but for how long?

“Hmmmfff?” I groaned out.

Was that… footsteps? I think I hear someone approaching.

Yes, I hear the door being unlocked, now lets roll over and see who is coming in.

“It’s dark in here.” The newcomer, a male, said before I could finish my roll, the ropes made it hard.

“I’ll light a torch.” This time, a woman responded.

My roll finished just in time to see someone slip out of the door and shut it behind them. But, there were two others left behind.

One looked to be a man, but he had a simple traveler's cloak on, which hid his body outline. And his face was covered in a mask, the kind adventurers and explorers used to block certain poisons. It was a leather sack that fitted over the head, with glass lenses over the eyes and hose like thing where the mouth would be.

It was frankly, very eerie looking.

The other one, also wore the mask and cloak, making the gender even harder to tell. But unlike the first, this one seemed to be a halfling, based on its small size.

The large one looked around the room a bit but mostly kept his eyes on me, the smaller one, however, stared into my eyes, unblinking.

The smaller one was much eerier.

“I brought another lamp.” The female voice spoke again, having just reopened the door and came back in.

In her hand was another, larger oil lamp, which she brought into the center of the room and hooked up to a rope on the roof. The room still had shadows, but it was much brighter than before.

“Remove the gag.” The small one said, with a very feminine voice.

“What if he screams?” The man asked the small girl, who seemed to be the leader.

“Stay nearby, and choke him.” She said to him, but her gaze never left me. “But he won't scream, will you? You know that that is a bad idea.”

“Hmmff.” I did my best to show I understood, even shaking my head affirmatively.

“Good, remove the gag.” She said again.

The woman slowly approached me, and before removing the gag, she wrapped a wire around my neck a few times. I had no doubt, that if I made a fuss, she would choke me into unconsciousness immediately.

“Ahem.” I cleared my throat now that the gag was gone, and then tried my best to sit up a bit and look presentable, but made no progress. “What do you want?”

“Oh, you don’t care who we are?” the small one asked.

Honestly, I assumed they wouldn’t tell me, and even if they were willing, I also didn’t want to know. The more I knew, the greater the liability I was. That's why, despite being so eerie looking, the masks they wore actually helped me relax.

“Who you are, that doesn’t matter, what does, is why you kidnapped me,” I spoke calmly and clearly.

I may have sounded calm and collected, but I was secretly terrified. These people might not kill me or hurt me if they didn’t need to, but they were clearly professionals. And I had no intention of betraying the Young Master, so they might not be planning on hurting me now, they might change their minds later on.

“That may be, but as a servant of the Iron-Hammers, a prestigious noble family dating back to the founding of the Fredirin Kingdom, introductions should be made, don't you think?”

“Ah, yes,” I said slowly, the fact that they knew who I worked for was expected, but I still wasn’t happy to have it confirmed. “My name is Vark, son of Dems. I am a servant belonging to the third Young Master, Thomas Iron-Hammer.”

“Good.” the small figure said.

And then, she reached up and pulled back her hood, while also removing her mask. Long, midnight black hair, set into a single braid, fell down her back. She had a face like a doll, flawless, pure white skin, a perfectly formed nose, small red lips that were currently curved into a light smile, round eyes that were a silver so pure that where the iris ended and the white of the eye began could almost not be determined.

She was most assuredly one of the most flawlessly beautiful people I had ever seen, but there was also a hint a familiarly hidden in her features.

“A pleasure to meet you Vark, son of Dems.” Her voice, as she made an elegant curtsy broke me out of my stupor. “Olivia Pine Fredirin greets you.”

“Wha…?”

No way, was this that little, timid girl who went to school with the Young Master? That small, squirrel-like child that was a disgrace to the higher nobility? The daughter of the Joke Duchess?

“Now Vark, son of Dems, I need to ask you some questions.” She said as she straightened back up.

“Yes... I will try and answer…?” I answered, still shocked that she was who she said she was.

“Three days ago, my carriage suffered a mishap, I was wondering if you knew anything about it?” She asked.

...Is this girl, really this much of an idiot? She kidnapped me, a member of the Iron-Hammers, to ask something like this?

Luckily, the stupid question brought me to my senses.

“I’m sorry, I had heard about the incident, but I know nothing else, other than your carriage had overturned.”

That wasn’t exactly true, I knew it had crashed when the bridge it was on collapsed, which was to be fair, extremely suspicious. I also knew that she had fallen into the water of the Ivo River and almost died. The other servants and I had laughed about this for a while, it was a great joke.

“I see, you know nothing else then?”

Was she… insinuating that it was the Iron-Hammers that set this up? This could be bad.

“I had only heard about it later that day, I regret to say this, but many people were talking about your swift withdraw from the city to recover, many people were concerned for your wellbeing.

This wasn’t the behavior that the girl was known for at all, but I was pretty sure I understood what she was doing. Her family’s honor was tarnished by that embarrassing fall, and the jokes and gossip that followed. She probably needed someone to blame, a scapegoat, so she would convince me to confess, and then blame the thing on the Iron-Hammers.

“Well, that’s a shame. Nothing to be done then, I was hoping to find something out, but no matter.” She said, dismissing the subject just like that.

Was… that it? Really? I don’t get it, what was her angle here?

“I am sorry I couldn’t help you more.” I apologized.

I was about to ask if she could release me, but I was afraid to ask too soon.

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” She said waving her hand dismissively. “But I do have another question.”

“Yes?”

“Thomas Iron-Hammer, your master, he spends a lot of time in the company of my cousin, Kyle Gold-Field Fredirin, I'd like you to tell me about that.”

This… was completely different from before. And, this was really, really, bad.

“I am sorry, but…” I tried to deny her gently.

“”That’s right, this is an important thing for you. I understand how difficult it is, so let's give you some motivation?” She said with a smile.

A smile that did not reassure me, at all.

“Motivation?”

“The carrot and the stick, I'm sure you’ve heard the phrase.” She said as she walked up to me.

I was suddenly very aware that I was still tied up, completely unable to do anything other than roll and flop around the floor.

“I… have h-heard it before.” I stammered.

“Good.” She said as she crouched down in front of me and lifted my head with her hand.

And then, suddenly, she shoved her finger into my mouth.

“Gahg!”

It was so surprising, that I started choking and coughing. I hardly noticed she had withdrawn it and was wiping away my spit with a handkerchief she had produced from somewhere.

“Vark, son of Dems, let me ask you something else.” She said, her smile growing on her face.

“...Y-yes?” I was still coughing but managed to respond.

“Was that, the carrot, or the stick? What do you think, Vark, son of Dems?”

What? What kind of stupid question was that? If she had made me swallow something, or had actually made me choke, or even vomit, it might have been a punishment, but she did neither of those things. But, how could it be a reward?

Wait, I had heard that some nobles consider letting a person lick their shoes was equal to a reward, so maybe this was…?”

“The carrot?” I guessed

“Oh, I'm sorry, Vark, son of Dems. You’ve guessed wrong.” She said, mirth clearly visible in her voice. “It’s a shame you are all tied up, you look hot in that fur coat, I bet you’d like to take it off?”

… What was she saying? It was winter, and I was in a seemingly abandoned building, laying on the cold floor. My coat was hardly even keeping me warm at this point.

“...”

Wait a second, I did feel sort of warm… No actually, I was hot. What was this?

It was REALLY hot all of a sudden.

“See Vark, son of Dems, you should have taken the coat off when you had the chance.”

“What did… Its so hot, I'm burning. PLEASE STO-” I started yelling, but suddenly, the wires wrapped around my neck were constricted, cutting off my words, and my breath.

I couldn’t breathe, but it didn't matter, I was so hot. I WAS BURNING.

“Gag him again.” The girl said, her smile gone.

“Yes.” The woman said, and instantly the gag was back in my mouth, and I could breathe. But nothing stopped the heat from burning me inside.

“That, Vark, son of Dems, is the stick, or part of it at least. I bet it’s unpleasant, so hot, it must be burning, right?” She said emotionlessly, as she circled around me.

It was so hot, I could barely tell what was happening, but her words echoed in my mind.

“Don’t worry, it will be over soon. Just about…” she was behind me now, I couldn’t see her, but her words were still being whispered to me. “Now”

And just like that, the heat, the fire, faded.

“Better?” She whispered.

It was better. So much better.

I was exhausted, it was only minutes, if that, but it felt like so much longer.

“I bet you think this is the carrot, this break, don’t you Vark, son of Dems? But it isn’t. This respite is just the start of the fun. This stick, Vark, son of Dems, will be truly unpleasant for you. But, on the upside, at least you have your coat on. It might have been hellish with all that heat, but if you started to get cold… well then.”

Cold? Oh no, could she… no, if she was a mage specializing in fire, then she couldn’t also specialize in ice, they were opposites.

“I bet you are thinking something like this, ‘she must have used some kind of fire magic on me, but fire and ice magics are opposites, so she can’t also use ice to make me cold.’ You think that, don’t you Vark, son of Dems? But, I hate to say it, you would be wrong. It’s the cold hard truth.”

Impossible…

“And you should be feeling that truth, that COLD truth right about now.

“HMMMMFFF!”

I grunted angrily, but then suddenly, a chill, like a cold winter breeze hit me. My very bones started to freeze. I felt myself start to shiver, bumps appearing on my arms, I was probably turning blue. Even the sweat that I had produced moments ago, felt like it would freeze on my skin.

What kind of magic was this?

“Don’t worry Vark, son of Dems. The cold will only last for about half a minute.”

Half a minute of this? Of having my body froze? No, this would be hell.

“But then, I am sorry to say, the heat will return. And then the cold, and then the heat, and then, the cold again. Do you think you can handle it, Vark, son of Dems? It will go on all night, hot, cold, burning, freezing, ice, fire. When will you break?”

No… that can’t be, this can’t be.

“Has the cold worn off yet?” She asked.

And true to her words, it had. I could feel life spreading back into my limbs, my fingers, stiff from the cold were able to move again.

“Now, we have a short break, so let me tell you something, Vark, son of Dems. This magic, will not, can not, kill you. You will live through this cycle, over and over again, until I set you free.” She told me, simply.

And I trusted her on this, trusted her fully.

“Now, I said earlier, a carrot, and a stick. That hell of ice and fire is the stick. Do you want to know what the carrot is? Do you, Vark, son of Dems”

I couldn’t speak, so I limply nodded my head.

“If you tell me what I want to know, then you will get the best carrot of them all, a carrot called death.” She said and broke out into laughter.

She was crazy. How could she be this crazy?

“It might not seem like a reward now, but let us just wait a bit, shall we, Vark, son of Dems?”

The crazy bitch’s laughter rang out, and I wanted to angrily yell at her, to curse her, but the gag prevented me. And before I could even mumble at her, I felt it, the heat, coursing through my body again.

It was hot.

It was burning.

…

It was cold.

It was freezing.

Please… Please make it stop.

Please.