The only sensation I have is the cold ground and frozen lips pressed against my skin. Then, the prodding of something sharp starts at my shoulder. Two pine needles at the point of piercing into my skin.
"Mikal!" I scream. He won't survive without me. My life has always been to make sure that he grows into the man he could become. I am decidedly against dying, so I fight. I fight for him.
"Help!" I cry out as loud as I can when I feel the creature’s strong jaw start to contract. It's a futile attempt to save myself, but—
A sound like decorative wind chimes reverberates through the air. The creature abruptly stops feeding and looks around, its eyes narrowing with anger.
I gasp for air, my vision fading in and out. I press my hands to the wounds on my chest, trying to staunch the bleeding. I need to heal, to get out of here.
Then I see a long white stripe, a frozen icicle, glowing and writhing in the air with the grace of a serpent. Atop the beast is a golden armor-clad figure. A long silver braid blows out behind him like a whip made of starlight. The view of him is devastating. A celestial avenger.
I should know who that is. I feel it in my insides, but my vision is fading. It's getting decidedly harder by the moment to focus on anything but my hands trying to staunch my mortal wounds.
Delirium is setting in. I don't know who I am. Where I am. Why am I in pain?
The creature who was just ravaging my body backs away from me. Something shoots out from the ice beast. My attacker lets out a terrible screech, its body convulsing with pain.
The demon returns to a crouching position. Not dead. An elegant streak of gold darts around in slow motion, latching onto the being who was trying to kill me and tearing him in half. Dark blood sprays and freezes in the air, and the smell of bile fills my nostrils. It is like a corpse rotting from the inside out.
The two halves fall to the ground with a thud just before the ground beneath me rumbles and cracks open. Lassos of red-orange lava snake out, gripping onto the monster and carrying it away.
Scrounging through my mind, I find a name. Mikal.
Is this Mikal? I blink rapidly, not sure if what I see is real. I found him.Hefoundme.He's safe.
The golden figure's glowing form pulses with a fierce and protective energy. He strides towards me, and I try to speak, to ask Mikal how he found me. But my body is too weak, my voice too faint to make a sound.
He kneels beside me and softly takes my hands in his own. He murmurs something that I can't make out through my pain-induced haze, and then I feel warmth radiating from him like an aura. He places his hands on my chest wounds, right above where the creature had pierced them with its teeth. A bright glow engulfs us. Suddenly my pain fades away and I can feel myself healing from within.
Strong arms pick me up, cradling me as we make our way back home.
Everything will be all right.
I nestle further into my savior's arms. Everything feels so much better. Warmth. So warm and I am cold.
The feeling floating through me is so easy to identify. Love. Safety.Te amo2,I think. The only coherent words I can possibly muster.
I'm vaguely aware of being shifted as we nestle on the ice creature once more before I slip away.
* * *
"I told you,Teo. If you do this, she will never forgive you."
The voices disturb me, so I roll over to get them to silence themselves. The slave dens are always so noisy, but whoever is speaking is close by.
"I am not asking. I'm ordering you as your king."
A frustrated grumble. King? The Giant King is in his castle, far from the slaves. He would not bring me to his rooms.
"If we do not do this, we cannot finish healing the damage inside her body. Then she will die."
"Very well."
"Put the gem in."
Something sharp pricks my chest, and I bolt upright, knocking someone back. Music bursts to life. It is louder than anything I've ever heard, demanding... something. They are trying to keep me down.Mikal. "Stay away from my brother!" I screech.
This isn't the slave den, I am surrounded by a dim, warm room that glitters like gems and gold. Two large, blue beings lean over me.