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Cold as Ice

The three bodies had collided together midair before collapsing in a heap on the floor. They struggled to wake in a medium white room. The walls were stained ugly and covered in rusted chains hanging off the rafters. There were frozen pipes leading to a shuttered compressor dripping antifreeze.

Edward kicked Mooseman off his back while underneath him Zito was crushed like a pancake. He stood up with a pounding migraine and dusted himself off. He surveyed the hook that dangled overhead taunting him. He looked at where his arm had been severed long ago. The scales that hardened his stump had now spread past his elbow. How was he going to climb high enough to retrieve the makeshift murder attachment?

“Zito you are still here with us man,” called Mooseman, checking the other knight for signs of life.

“Get your stinking fingers out of my face you klutz,” screamed Zito, coming alive.

Mooseman jumped back with a face white as a ghost.

“Ahh my fucking head,” said Zito, cradling his head. “You boys knocked me out cold, all I remember is falling down the chute face first,” he sighed.

“You took some damage there, and have a black eye,” replied Mooseman, who turned away to study the room.

There was a lock and chains ran along a factory door trapping them inside the freezer. A similarly rusted meat hook hung from the ceiling lit by an overhead light blinking in and out. There were blocks covered by blankets that had been packed across the floor on pallets. The air was extremely frigid. The husky knight walked to one of the covered squares, and took hold of the blue tarp. It ripped off easily falling to the wayside.

“Hope you guys weren’t hoping to uncover some food in this freezer,” said Mooseman, exposing perfectly cut square blocks of pure crystal ice.

Their exposure immediately chilled the air even more.

“Cover that shit back up before we freeze to death,” scolded Edward.

Zito had the transparency of a ghost falling face first and knocked himself out on the floor.

“Zito you alright?” called Mooseman, recovering the ice.

He walked over reaching for his buddy.

“Jackpot,” said Edward, uncovering another blanket.

Underneath revealed a large industrial saw greeting him sitting on a sawhorse of metal supports.

“Hmmm," he said, inspecting the chop saw.

It looked as if this device had handled a lot of meat over its lifetime. He ripped away his good hand and put it back in his mitten. The environment here was far too cold for normal flesh to handle.

"That looks tasty," said Edward, sticking his stump towards the red covered blade.

In all his hunger he had been hypnotized to get a taste. Just a little sample trapped between the sharp edged object. The cord was unplugged leaving this lord with a blessing of blood to lick. The stump had almost hit the saw for a free sample. Edward stuck out his tongue and drooled. Suddenly the machine automatically whirled alive with a mind of its own. It sparked, and nicked the edge of Edward’s limb drawing blood.

“AAAA,” he cried hastily, retracting his arm. "It has a mind of its own,".

Edward fell backwards into a mess on the floor. The saw still loudly buzzed nearby. His stump throbbed with incapacitating pain. He licked at the blood oxidized before it crystallized between his scales.

“Fuck stop messing around guys before we get killed. Clearly we are trapped in a strange meat locker,” yelled Zito, finally standing.

“This shits haunted,fuck,” cursed Mooseman.

“Get me a farcing bandage, you damn useless knights, yes that sheet of em on the floor can you spot im wounded,” commanded Edward.

“You caused that with your own actions you tweaker we are screwed for good gah,” groaned Zito, heading for the far side of the cooler.

Mooseman ran to render aid with his feet almost slipping on the way. He slowed his pace.

“My apologies King but I must take my time to avoid falling,” said Mooseman.

“You are the clumsiest knight to ever fight for the empire,” said Edward.

“You got that right man, erm emperor I remember what you're supposed to be called now, shut up and hold still," said Mooseman.

"How in the Farc do I turn this thing off,” screamed Zito near the saw still screamed.

“Check for a lever or switch,” cried Mooseman, patching with the blanket taking over one hand he bent to render aid.

“Let me do it myself before you fuck something else up,” screamed Edward in his face.

Mooseman yielded over the bandage. Zito studied the spinning chop saw from a safe distance as he danced around it. The closest distance he dared until he spotted the stop switch. Edward wrapped up his wound, but struggled to tie the knot with only one hand.

“Knight you're mighty fine at tying yourself and others into knots. So how about finishing this bandage on my stump,” Edward cried in frustration.

The bandage was tied tight with a square knot.

“Alright,” he said standing.

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He pushed Zito away while he approached the roaring saw.

“Hmmm time for round two,” he said, studying it.

“Careful don’t cut yourself on that edge again King,” yelled Zito.

“Don’t tell your emperor what to do?” seethed Edward.

The saw continued to cut as Edward cautiously approached. He studied the device some more. A crystal cutting saw blade had revealed itself after the blood underneath had been flung away onto the surroundings while it spun. There he found the kill switch underneath and flicked it off.

“Alright boys I’ve got an idea. Let's push this over to the chained door, and cut ourselves out,” ordered Edward.

“Yes Sir,” said the knights.

Zito joined the others who had already started pushing the industrial chop saw, which was large enough to be pushed by a dozen. It must have been very heavy, however the floor was icy enough to help slide it along the distance.

“Careful you don’t roll this thing over your feet it would be just as bad as the blade to the toe I would reckon ha ha,” laughed Mooseman.

“Be a silent knight grr or you mess something else up and we won't get out of this room as soon as possible,” moped Edward.

They slowly worked the machinery across the floor taking care to keep feet and hands at a safe distance from respective hazards. As It grew closer, and closer it was getting harder to picture the blade reaching the chains. They had reached it now. Zito stepped back. He wasn't seeing it, his thing was too heavy an object to angle.

“I used to be a butcher of wild game, you know hence the name,” said Mooseman.

“Yeah what does that matter?” said Edward.

“Anyway I never used a cutter quite that nice but I’ve used a lesser model. Point is I think I can angle it to cut that chain,” said Mooseman, approaching.

“Fine as kind, take a stab at it man,” said Edward.

He was inspecting the saw closer and closer. He moved his hand closer to the blade. Zito gulped and had to look away.

“Click!”

Mooseman had hit something to unlock the arm attached to the chop saw's blade. Now it could be swung at an angle. Zito held onto the handle above to control it, avoiding the trigger for now.

“Very nicely done. There’s our key out of this locked room” said Edward.

“Ok I need both of you to help me hold onto this saw while we cut into thick chains blocking the door,” said Mooseman.

“Alright I'll turn it on again,” said Edward approaching.

In the background Zito carefully scoped things out from a safe distance. He was trying to stay in focus, but he had been awake for too long. He rubbed his sleepy eyes before being hooked by a hand. He had been grabbed by Edward's only hand and thrown towards the saw.

“Help us moron,”.

Edward slowly walked forward. He grabbed the knight he had just thrown, and placed his arm on the handle. Someone flicked the switch, and the chop saw came to life. Zito kept his eyes closed as he held onto the handle with the others relying on them to guide it towards cutting the chain. He braced for the inevitable kickback of impact.

“Zrrrrrrchewww”

The chop jerked, spraying sparks while it screeched as it began to cut into metal. Zito was thinking some relief with the gut feeling it would be done soon just had to power throw it. His eyes were shocked back open by hot burning sensations along his arms. The saw was cutting out hot chunks of metal and spitting it back in their faces. He couldn’t hold on much longer.

“Don’t stop supporting no matter how bad it burns,” commanded Edward.

“Yes sir,” said the knights together.

The saw was cutting maybe half way done. Zito gritted his teeth. This was taking much longer than anticipated. His winter coat was full of holes that burned the smell of plastic at his nostrils, and his arms were on fire. Just got to ignore the pain and keep going. This is the ultimate test of endurance. A new pain was joining the others. The constant rumbling of the cutting had his wrists arthritis inflamed. A spark flew directly at his eye, and he slammed both of them back shut to avoid being permanently blinded. He would finish this job by tuning out the outside, and keeping to himself.

“Careful stay balanced” yelled Mooseman.

Edward forced all his weight into it. He was getting impatient to find out what awaited them behind this door.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” he scolded.

“Clunk”

The chain had finally been cut. It hit the floor broken in pieces.

“Screee,”

The saw hadn’t stopped and was working its way to cutting deep into the door.

“Shut this death contraption off aah,” cried Zito, opening one eye,taking both hands off the handle and running as far as he could away.

The saw came to a stop. Edward, and Mooseman struggled to untangle it from the door. Edward climbed onto the arm above the blade, and started jumping.

“Come on let me in, why does everything in this place have to be a game of resistance training?” he cried.

“Snap!” said the chop saw in response, breaking along a weak weld.

The arm broke from the table, the saw was still dug in, the door. Edward was on the floor, and the table was gliding away slowly pushed in the other direction. The door creaked open revealing darkness behind it.

“Are you alright?” said Mooseman, picking up Edward.

“Let's get out of here," cried Zito, shining the dim light that was cracked.

He charged past them in a panic out of the freezer and as far away from there as possible.

“Hmmm I wish I could attach that to myself as an accessory,” said Edward, studying the broken chop saw wedged into the door.

"King, I can't believe my eyes but your mother is in the next room," screamed Zito.

Edward ran into the next room. It was a generic factory setting with big cardboard boxes sitting on stopped conveyor belts. He looked around, and then above. The rafters had lots of catwalks, cobwebs, and dirty lights that barely illuminated below. On the far side of the factory floor was a void of nothing. Around it was the rock wall of a cave, a hole most likely dropped forever. He kept running towards the end.

Across the void walking over it on a thin bridge of ice was the shadows of two people. Edward sprinted past nondescript packages twice his size. He got closer, and closer to the void. He saw his mother being escorted by a mule across an ice bridge. The pair was more than half crossed now. Edward got as close to the edge as possible and waved his arms to get her attention.

"Mother," he cried, waving his arms wildly to get her attention.

The Queen wasn't looking anywhere and her eyes were glazed over in a trance. Her and the donkey just kept on moving forward. Edward continued screaming in vain into the void, but it was as if he was watching a movie that couldn’t be interacted with.

There was a charge of energy as two portals cracked open at the end of the bridge. Elizabeth had gotten close to the end. The beast had bitten her back, while a tentacle covered in crystal scales slowly emerged from one portal. It slowly began to wrap around the Queen.

"Nooooo" screamed Edward as loud as he could.

His mother was carried away into the portal that snapped shut behind it. The donkey looked down and smiled.

"Shoot that beast," he commanded his two men.

"Click!"

The shotgun didn’t fire. The beast was midway through vanishing into the other portal. Edward sprinted to the edge of the void, but the jump was too far and there was nothing on the other side. Mooseman aimed anyway, and worked overtime to pop out the slug that had jammed. Edward stared off into space with eyes of madness and he grabbed the gun and shot at the last moment.

“Bang!”

The bullet whizzed into the portal just as it snapped shut.

“That was a mimic playing tricks on us and I better have killed it,” coped Edward, still seething.