Cold as ice.
I came to hearing the muffled roaring of the fire above me.
I rolled off something hard with a groan. I felt pain on my back but it was minor. My broken ribs were mended magically. It seemed that my spell worked after all.
I looked around me. The main floor boards had collapsed into the basement on one side only. I was at the lowest end. The floor now looked like a ramp. Above me was a tangled mess of wooden beams and supporting structures. Some where once part of the wall. Others were part of the roof. I was surprised to see that the fire was partly extinguished. Though I still felt the heat, it was a lot more humanly tolerable. My lungs were clear. I was breathing fresher air that must've come from the basement.
I stood up slowly, wary of broken bones. I had to push broken furniture aside. They felt cold to the touch and I pondered on it momentarily. There was something odd about my immediate surrounding. The heap of broken furniture seemed to have a glossy look to it. It was difficult to determine exactly since the light provided me was coming from the red flames above.
I picked up a piece of wood which was once the leg of a chair. It, too, was cold and covered with the same sheen. I doubted very much that it was varnish. It was then that I noticed that my hands glowed a faint but distinct shade of blue. Frost covered my clothes.
Ice!
Everything close to me was covered with ice. The air itself seemed to succumb to the coldness. I blew a puff of breath in front of me and saw it materialize, only to disappear the next second.
But how? I didn't have that magical infusion yet.
I was not one to complain. The magic saved my life. But I could also feel the magical energy seeping out of my being quickly. Within minutes, I knew that I would not be able to hold the heat and the fire at bay. Not to mention that I was still very much in danger. I saw no immediate exit. And though the fire would not be able to touch me for a few given minutes, it still consumed much of the inflammable materials above me. The moment those beams and wooden structures gave way, I would be crushed.
I heard a cough from behind me. Turning around I saw the arm of a woman sticking out of the heaped mess. The arm moved weakly, trying to push aside a broken beam.
"Help me!" she cried hoarsely.
I hurried over to her side and pulled on the beam. It tossed it aside revealing the woman to me. She was bleeding, her left arm still cradling her baby that didn't seem to be conscious.
I did not wait another second. "Heal!"
The woman's wounds closed. Her breathing eased a little. Blood was still visible on her forehead and arms but they were now just traces of something that was much worse. The baby did not move.
"My b-baby!" she cried shivering uncontrollably. The cold aura surrounding me affected her much, but it couldn't be helped.
I placed my hand around the neck of her child feeling for the pulse. He was alive. The pulse was strong. The baby started to shiver at my touch. I recoiled my hand quickly.
"He's alive! Do you know a way out of here?!" I shouted.
The mother pointed up. Though half of the house had collapsed, the other half still remained strong. The fire probably didn't burn as furiously on the other side. But that wouldn't last very long. We had no time to waste.
"Follow me!" I yelled and the mother nodded, shivering still. The tears on her face seemed to have frozen, too. My aura was definitely stronger than I thought. Though I was unaffected by the freezing cold, those around me weren't as protected from it. It added to the weight of our situation. I worried that if the fire didn't kill her, then the cold certainly would.
To get out of the basement we had to climb back up the main floor that now looked like a large ramp. It was not steep enough to be impossible to climb. However, ice covered the surface which made it really slippery. I started to pile broken furniture on ramp hoping to create a stable enough heap to hold onto as we climbed it. I went first.
Upon reaching middle of the ramp, I stopped and signaled for the mother to follow me. It proved to be impossible for her to move for she was carrying her child with her.
"Give me the baby!" I shouted. She seemed to like that idea. She started to climb as high as she could and when she couldn't go any farther, she offered her child for me to take.
I reached down carefully and took the baby in my hands. The baby regained consciousness the moment I touched him. He started to cry and struggle. My hands were too cold and there was nothing I could do.
Unless...
I released the magical aura. I felt it disperse around me. The baby relaxed a bit but did not cease to cry. The mother climbed quickly until she reached my level. She took her baby from me and cradled him protectively.
As sudden as my aura had disappeared, a wave of heat descended upon us. Tolerable at first, inhumanly unbearable the next second. With the barrier that kept it away gone, the air under the great umbrella of fire grew hotter in an alarming rate. The ramp and the furniture ignited in flames. I had no choice but to call the nullifying energy once more.
I held up both arms in the air as if to stop the roof from collapsing on top of us.
"Ice!" I cried.
There was a bright blue-white flash of light. The ramp we stood on shook a bit. A blast of cold air pushed up. Frost flew from my hands, extinguishing the fire directly above us. The intense heat was gone. I heard the baby cry again. The mother was stooped over her child, covering him from both the heat and the cold.
The rest of the climb was impossible to do without the help of something that would act as stepping stones. The surface was far too slippery. I drew my sword and with all my strength, plunged it into the floorboards. I used it as the stepping stone that I needed to get to the leveled floor above.
I pulled myself up and told the mother to do the same. Again there was the same problem with her carrying her child.
"Give him to me!" I said. The child may get hurt at my touch, but at least he would live. The mother knew this. She obeyed.
She raised her child up as high as she could. I did my best on my end, reaching down. The baby was still a few inches from my grasp.
"Higher!" I shouted.
It was answered by a splintering sound right on top of us. We both looked up and saw a vertical support was about to crack under pressure.
"Hurry!" I shouted. The mother was crying harder than ever but at least she wasn't panicking. I was pretty sure that at that time we both had longer legs or arms. Or that the baby was a bit older. Or that she had one more thing to step onto. It was a moment of wishes and despair.
"Take my baby!" she cried.
"I'm trying!" I shouted back. "Toss him up!"
The mother's eyes widened in horror. She recoiled to embrace her child, and then she looked at me, shaking her head vigorously.
"I'll catch him. I promise! It's the only way!"
The mother wailed louder. She knew truthfully that it was the only way. "Do it now! Please! The roof is going to collapse on top of us!"
The mother heaved a deep breath and gathered up all her remaining strength. I readied myself. Not only did I have to catch the baby, I needed to do it the right way, too. I couldn't very well catch the baby on his head. Even catching him by a limb would not be the best scenario for I could break his weak bones. I needed to do it with both hands.
The woman knew this as well. She held her child carefully by the armpits. She judged the weight of her child with a few mock tosses. When she was about ready to toss the child up in the air, the ramp she was on fell two feet.
"No!" I cried. I was only thankful that it didn't fall all the way down. "Hurry up!"
The mother obeyed. She tossed her baby up in the air. I my fingers touched his arms. It was not enough. The child fell back down. The mother deftly caught him. She tried again, higher this time. I was able to catch him this time by his arms. I pulled him up quickly and placed him safely on the level floor which was a lot more stable. I turned towards the mother again. She was already making her way up by using my sword as a stepping stone.
It was when the beam above us split. The house shook and the roof dropped five feet. I grabbed baby and protected him from falling objects with my body. It was more of a reflexive move than a logical one. My effort would've been in vain if the whole roof did fall. Fortunately, it held for possibly a few more seconds.
The mother screamed from below us. I looked down again and saw that the ramp was no more. It had completely collapsed down there. The mother was on the ground unable to pick herself back up. She looked like she was in pain. She must've broken something.
I saw no way for her to get back up, but I refused to give up.
"Heal!" I shouted. Whatever was broken in her was fixed again. I would need her alive and well to be able to come up with a plan to get herself out.
The mother did not get up, however. She just stared at me with pleading eyes. At first I thought she wanted me to do something to save her. It was only when she spoke that I understood.
"Get out and save my baby!"
"No! I will get the both of you out!" I shouted back.
"Please! Take him someplace safe first!"
We both heard the roof above us crack again. It was my cue to favor logic. I stood up, cradling the wailing baby in my arms and ran towards the part of the house that was a bit more stable. It was hotter up on the level floor.
I called upon the magical energy again. "Ice!"
The air around me dispersed the heat. The flames retreated. I looked for an exit. I saw the backdoor just beyond a small kitchen. I dashed for it.
"Ice!" I cried again to extinguish the fire that was consuming the door and its frame.
I was about to kick the door open when it fell inward. I had to step aside, turning to protect the baby wailing in my arms. A man stood at the doorway, blocking our exit. At first, I thought it was Jasom. He looked like one of the farmers of the village by the clothes that he wore. But there was something about him that made me believe he was not of this place. His face looked very foreign. The lack of good lighting made me unsure of the color of his eyes. He had a beard. It was a pitiable growth as if he had only decided to wear one two days ago and was unsure about it. He wore a blue bandana on his head. His hair was either dark gray or dark brown. It was hard to tell. He was drenched from head to toe as though he had intended to enter the blazing furnace on his own.
He looked at me in perplexity. It was only then that I noticed him carrying a weapon--a dagger on his belt.
"Are you hurt?!" he asked me above the roaring flames. He had a northern accent.
I held out the baby. "Take him from me! Cover him in something warm!"
He took the crying baby from me without hesitation. He had leather gloved hands--skintight. I turned around to help the mother. His hand caught me by my shoulder.
"Where are you going?!" he demanded.
"There's a woman trapped in there!" I answered.
He tightened his grip on my uniform and started to pull. "I don't think so! Too dangerous!" he shouted.
I shrugged his hand off and gave him a cold and dangerous look. He knew then that I was beyond reasoning. He knew then that I was determined to save the woman or die trying.
"Leave! But if you want to help, find me a rope!"
I turned and ran. Returning to the edge of the hole of the main floor, I leaned to look. The woman was in a corner, terrified and crying. Her arms covered her head as if expecting the whole house to come crashing down on her any second now. The air around her grew hotter again in my absence. The fire was making its way down again.
"Ice!"
The air, again, became tolerable. The woman felt it. She looked up at me and started shouting, "My baby!"
"He's safe!" I shouted back. It seemed to give her great relief. I thought it odd for a moment how one could possibly think about somebody else at what could possibly be their last moment in life.
Odd, Celes? I thought. Why exactly are you here in this inferno?
I looked around me for something that I could use to pull her out. I saw none. The remaining furniture were far too short for her to step on to give her the boost she'd need.
"Look for something to step onto," I instructed.
She looked around her frantically. From where I was, I couldn't see anything down below that might've been of any use. The ramp had totally collapsed crushing most everything there was.
I did not hear him coming from behind which brought about my surprise when I heard him shout a pain-filled cry of a name.
"Rachel!"
The stranger leaped off the edge and down to the basement. The man landed agilely on his feet, next to the woman. The man said something to the woman. I could not hear what it was exactly, but the woman nodded in response. Then, the man knelt down on one knee, offering the other for the woman to step on. His hands supported hers up. I read the plan quickly and positioned myself at the edge of the hole.
The woman stepped on the man's left shoulder. Very slowly, the man stood up, lifting the woman off the ground. The two struggled for balance for a few seconds. She was hesitant to stand up on the man's shoulders for fear of falling.
"It's okay! Throw yourself up and catch my hand!" I cried.
She took one look up at me and kicked hard. The man stumbled from the force. Her hands reached for mine in the air. I caught her with one hand. She held on to it with both of hers. The man stood up again and pushed her feet up. My second hand held onto hers. I pulled with all my strength.
"General!" I heard Jasom shout from behind me.
"Over here!" I shouted. Jasom hurried to my side and helped me pull the woman up. The house shook and the roof structure dropped down another three feet. "Ice!" I shouted. "Jasom, get her out of here!"
They obeyed without question. I turned my attention back down to the basement. "Mister! You're a very brave man, but foolhardy!" I started to say as the thought had occurred to me that the situation hadn't changed at all. He, however, was nowhere to be seen. "Mister?!" I shouted.
Where in Terrae...?
There was a loud crack from above. I looked up and my jaw dropped as I saw the stranger hovering above me.
How the devil...?!
He was fumbling with something on his belt. He muttered a few colorful curses to himself. I heard a click and he fell almost right on top of me. I was stunned momentarily, still trying to figure out what had just happened. He grabbed me by the wrist and urged me to run with him to the exit.
The roof crashed down right after we had left the bad half of the house. It took down other parts of the house. A wooden beam blocked our exit. It burned furiously.
I extinguished the fire with a word of command. I expected the man to be surprised at the magical display but he remained reserved. The fire was gone but the beam was still in the way. It was big enough to effectively block our exit. There was no way around it. No way to squeeze through the space.
The bad half of the house continued to collapse taking down the rest with it slowly. We had to move again. Whenever we entered a new area of the house I used my magic to drive away the heat and flames. The man pointed to a window. Broken pieces of glass littered the floor close to it. It was our only exit.
"You first!" the man insisted.
I did not argue with him. I jumped out. Being on level ground, the fall was short. Picking myself up, I waited for him to follow.
He did not.
"Mister!" I shouted, looking back through the window. I saw a dark figure there. I knew it was him, but he was just standing there. "What are you waiting for? Get out of there!"
Smoke billowed out of the window. I lost sight of the stranger. I started to cough. From around the corner, I heard Jasom crying out my name. I took one last look inside and then ran around to the other side of the house.
Jasom saw me round a corner and sighed in relief. He pulled me away from the burning house as if afraid that I might decide to go back inside again.
"Did you see him? Where is he?" I asked.
"With the mother," he answered, pointing to the baby in his mother's tight embrace.
"No. Where's the stranger?"
Jasom looked at me, puzzled. "What stranger?"
The house groaned and crashed for the last time. With the fire unhindered by my magic, it consumed everything there was to consume. The three of us looked at it burn down completely. The mother sobbed though she had no more tears to cry. Her son was safe, crying and kicking. I felt dizzy. Jasom caught me and gently laid me down on the ground.
"Can I get you anything, general?" he asked me.
I closed my eyes in exhaustion.
"Water," I said. "Find us water."
"Thank you, miss. You saved our lives!" the mother said.
I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at her. "It was the least that I could do, Rachel."
The mother blinked in confusion. "Rachel? My name is not Rachel, miss."