Goofy Alwin whipped around, mouth wide open.

"What are you doing here!" he screamed. "I thought I banished you to the deepest darkest recesses of the mind, never to see the light of day again. You were gone! Gone! You were supposed to be gone for good!"

"Yes, yes I remember. Back when I convinced Milvus to allow us to continue our tutelage under Lapis. It was a horrible mistake, I should never have done that. Lapis' teachings are downright horrible," said the Serious Alwin, shaking his slimy head.

"How! How did you manage to escape? How did you manage to gain control of the main body? I thought things were glitching out, but now that you're here it just proves that my theory was right!"

"Seriously? This whole time you thought it was just a glitch? It's a miracle that the main body has survived for so long. But you can't get rid of me and neither can I get rid of you. We are Alwin and Alwin are we. The sum of our actions influences the main body's decisions and thought processes. What I could do, however, was rewire the main control systems to limit your and that bumbling buffoon's influence, while I get to make all the shots. And everything was going so well... until now."

"So that's what happened! No wonder the main body became so serious all of a sudden. How could I let something like this happen? Oh, the goofiness, where art thou!"

"Because you're a moron. But, time's ticking. Unfortunately, as brilliant as I am, even I have my limits. Every single scenario that I could simulate ended up with us dead. As much as I hate it, in order for all of us to live, we need to work together," said Serious Alwin, grating his teeth.

"But how did you make it out! We threw away the key!"

"Really? You care more about that than dying? Let me explain it to you in a way that you understand. Main body growing boy. Body grow bigger. Brain grow bigger. Gap between the cage grow bigger too. Me just walk through gap. Me now free. Happy? Now, I really need your help." Serious Alwin grounded his slimy teeth once again.

"Cool! I never even considered that."

"Yes, yes. Again, I can't come up with anything. So I was hoping that we could work together to come up with a plan. Three heads—even if two of them are dim-witted—are better than one. Now for the last time, are you going to help me or are we all going to freeze to death?" said Serious Alwin, stomping up to Goofy Alwin and glaring at him.

"Actually, I think we're going to suffocate to death first," said Goofy Alwin. "But before I help, I have a few conditions."

"What! Just spill it! Quick!"

"I get to be in charge again! Also, we all need names, calling all of us Alwin is getting kind of confusing."

"Yes, fine. Whatever. I'll consider it."

"Good enough for me. So from now on, I get to be Alwin. You get to be Niwla, and Observation Alwin gets to be Winal."

"That's so—"

Niwla ceased to cut his sentence short when he saw what Alwin was doing. He was jiggly his body about, all with a smug look on his face.

"Fine, Alwin,' said Niwla, grating his teeth again. "Now can we come up with a solution before we succumb to hypothermia?"

"You want to brainstorm in the middle of a brain freeze? We don't have to do that. I already know what to do," said Alwin.

"Then do it! What are you waiting for!" Niwla shouted.

"For you to ask me what I'm about to do," said Alwin, sliding across the frozen floor toward the control panel.

"Okay, fine. What are you going to do that I haven't thought of! Not even fire can melt this snow!" shouted Niwla, desperation growing more evident on his face every second.

"See that's your problem. You see snow, you think of melting it with a flamethrower. When I see snow, I think of making snow angels—snow slimes in our case."

"How is that supposed to help us!"

"It's not," said Alwin with a huge toothy grin. "I also think of snowmen, snow cones, snowballs, snoring—because it kind of sounds like snowing. Thinking about all of that snow stuff really makes you thirsty. And that's how we're going to get out of here."

"By drinking water? Are you insane? That won't get us out of here at all!"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Of course, it will just watch."

Alwin drove his face into the nearly frozen-over control panel—buttons barely moving. He slammed again. And again. And again. Each slam creating a small crack in the iced layer. Each slam causing those cracks to propagate. Each slam chipping off pieces of ice until eventually a single button was free for them to press down on. And press down he did—with another slam, of course.

Outside in the real world, Alwin the Fire Soldier Ant was close to crossing over to the other side. Only small red embers flickered across his exterior. Now, he looked more like a Soldier Ant rather than a Fire Soldier Ant.

By some miracle, he was still alive. Just barely. And by some miracle, he had an epiphany. Somehow in the jumble of his brain, he had come across a solution. It was a long shot, but right now? It was his only shot.

Using what little energy that he could muster, he forced his mandibles open. They creaked open inch by inch, trembling from the effort. Once fully open, his tongue shot out like a limp noodle flopping onto the snowy mound. Then, he retracted it back, bringing along a small scoop of snow for the ride. The instant it entered his body, the fire on his body dimmed, on the verge of being extinguished. Still, he pressed on. Sticking his tongue out and dragging it back, repeating the process over and over—devouring the snow right in front of him.

Inside his mind, the mind Alwin was still smashing on the control panel, constantly chipping away the ice that kept on forming. Each tongue-full of snow only made his job harder. The layer of ice creeping into his brain continued to grow. A literal brain freeze.

"What are you doing?" shouted Niwla. "You're making things worse!"

"I—am—getting—us—out—of—here!" shouted Alwin, each time his head resurfaced only to come crashing down on the console.

Outside in the real world, he continued to ingest snow, until finally the area around his head was clear. Now, he was free to look around. But he was still stuck, unable to move any of his limbs that were trapped under the mound of snow.

From there, he turned his head, lapping away at the white substance that entombed his limbs. At that point he was moving on autopilot, not even caring about the chill that managed to invade his insides. What difference would it make? Do or don't he was dead either way. At least, with this method he had a chance of living.

Eventually, he had eaten away everything that enveloped his legs and was now working on tunneling his way out. That of course, involved more eating. By now, the inside of his mind had completely frozen over. None of the mind beings were able to move at all. The mind Alwin had been frozen in a fortunate position—stuck smashing against the control panel, causing a button to be constantly pressed down.

Soon light began to pierce through the pocket of fluffy white. If Alwin could use his brain, he would be freaking out right now. Unfortunately, the only thing he could do was stick his tongue out, bring it back, then swallow—over and over and over again.

His mouth finally broke free from the pocket of fluffy white. The air tasted warm. Still, Alwin continued to eat away at the surroundings in front of him. More and more light began to bleed into his view. Then finally his whole head poked through. Air had never tasted sweeter. Yet, Alwin still lapped away at the air in front of him. That was the only thing he could do.

With his head finally exposed to the air, the fire both within him and outside of him surged with renewed vigor. No longer did it have to compete for oxygen. The flames worked their magic, melting away the ice that had encased his mind. The mind Alwin was no longer a statue, free to perform actions other than pressing a button for all eternity. Instead, he began pulling levers.

The main Alwin body began to shuffle his limbs forward, one at a time. Slow and small steps propelled him forward out of the snowscape. The cold still lingered deep within him, yet his goal remained. Digging himself out. Getting free from his icy tomb. Survival.

As he slowly crawled his way out, his head ached. All he wanted to do was curl up into a ball and sleep. Forget all the troubles of the world. Pretend as if he wasn't just about to be made into a popsicle. Except he couldn't. He wouldn't let himself give in to that desire. Soon the snow underfoot became dry and moist. Familiar tiled floor met his eyes. Finally free, he collapsed, enjoying the bliss of simply existing.

That's it. Alwin was back.

Claps echoed out all around him, causing Alwin to weakly lift his head up, barely an inch from the ground. It was Ice. A slight smirk across his face as he slowly nodded.

"You made it out. Good job."

With another snap of his finger, the System Screens disappeared along with the pile of snow that was Alwin's prison and his almost tomb. Alwin continued to look up at Ice, too weak to formulate a word, still fighting off the chill that had nearly consumed his body.

"At least now I know why Dark took an interest in you. It's because you're weird. Most people get out by digging, melting, or even straight-up teleporting. You? You ate your way out, nearly killing yourself. It's like you wanted to be frozen inside and out. Plus, it's not like you have some gluttony-related skill. Those guys? I get it. The way out is eating out. You? You have nothing even remotely close. And honestly? I can't wait to see what you end up doing next. Also, could you hurry up and challenge a higher-level Tribulation. I really want to have my fun with you."

Heat was slowly replacing chill. His brain was beginning to work again. The flames across his body were revving up with life. After such a torturous experience, a prevailing thought manifested in his mind. A unanimous agreement that mind Alwin, mind Winal, and mind Niwla had come to.

Revenge.

From within his Core, he began to construct a Fire Blast. The three consciousnesses working together to craft it. Even though it was faster, there was only so much they could do. Alwin was still weak and his Core reflected that. Barely containing any mana.

A single Fire Blast jettisoned out toward Ice.

In response, Ice smirked, a slow mocking smile. He raised a hand, but he didn't snap this time. Instead, a pair of frozen shades appeared in his grasp. As he slid them on, he began to turn away from the Fire Blast.

For some reason the Fire Blast exploded before even touching him, causing a cascade of flame to approach Ice. Just before the explosion engulfed him, he lifted a hand. With fingers loose and a lazy wrist, he offered a silent wave, before disappearing.

At that moment light began to consume Alwin as he was forcibly morphed back into his Dark Slime form. Another burst of light shot out as he felt his insides start to become his outside.

He was evolving.