Everything blurred into a frozen haze like my mind had become a windshield covered in frost. The only thing keeping me warm was the image of the fireplace back at the castle. 'Mara probably won't let me use it anyway though… Not unless I really am about to die… I bet she sent me out here knowing it would be like that, trying to make me willingly push myself out of self-preservation or something stupid…'

I continued to trudge through the hard winds that turned my hair to ice and numbed my hands until they couldn't move. Listening to her every order pissed me off so much that I refused to run… An act of childish rebellion… although, I'm not sure I could have in the first place if I was being honest.

'Do I lie down and die, or do I keep trying to live? It feels like both options are rather meaningless, like it doesn't matter either way… and my feet are still moving… So I guess I won't give up just yet… Even that's just me listening to Jerry though… Well, at least it's good advice…''

I continued putting one foot in front of the other. At one point I just set the bucket down and curled my knees to my chest, it was only getting colder and colder but for some reason, the warm feeling before death never came. As if my body still refused to give up.

'Of all the ways to die, freezing to death is probably one of the worst… I can't find the strength to move. Maybe I should have run after all… You know… A part of me is hoping they do get punished for keeping me alive instead of killing me as an infant…'

My legs begun shaking even more violently from the cold as I stood up again. 'At this point… Am I just staying alive… out of spite?' The castle came into view and my body fell completely still, so much so I had to quickly confirm I was still alive, twitching my fingers… Unable to feel them, I confirmed with my eyes that they moved. 'Well I mean… It's right there… So at this point…'

The ground quaked underneath me and a giant plant erupted from the earth. It had sharp jagged teeth and long vine-like arms. A monster that was normally no larger than a fist suddenly appeared before me bigger than a building.

I put on what was probably the most pitiable smile imaginable and sat down again. "Sure, This works too…" I almost laughed. There was no point in fighting it. I hugged my knees to my chest and closed my eyes. 'At least I won't be cold anymore…'

"SIYA!" It was like time stopped, I opened my eyes and I could see everything frozen in place. Each individual raindrop was sitting still in the air. My father was soaring through the sky on his horse wielding a massive double-edged ax and swinging it towards the monster.

It was like a switch flipped in my mind as the pounding in my head worsened. I could see the monster's movements like a pattern and calculate everything from speed and trajectory to power. I could even see where I would land if a strike hit me, sending me several feet through the air. It was as if everything had already happened, like I was reliving a dream.

In a split second, time began moving again and I felt a massive surge of adrenaline. My brain began thinking so fast that I couldn't even catch up with it. My father jumped off his horse and swung his ax again, cutting off several vines, but they grew back almost immediately. "Siya! RUN!"

I tried to stand up but my feet were so numb that when I did I tripped and rolled my ankle. As I hit the ground I began looking around to try and find a boulder, or something I could hide behind, but it was an open field. "RUN WHERE!" I screamed, my voice cracking under the pressure, only a sliver of rational thought remained as more calculations filled my head.

I couldn't run towards the castle, as the monster was directly between us, but if I ran backward I'd probably freeze to death. As I looked down at my hands I could already see my fingers turned white. Even the smaller monsters wouldn't die easily until the rain stopped. Besides, what if there were more of them? I knew the fight wouldn't be over quickly.

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He slashed at it again but its vines continued to regrow. "TOWARDS THE CASTLE. TAKE THE HORSE"

I tried to stand on my ankle but the pain and lack of feeling made it difficult. Even under normal circumstances, I had a hard time mounting a horse on my own, so that was out of the question. The size difference was too massive. Besides that, the stirrups were set for my father, and he was easily three times my size. I tried my best to listen nonetheless. limping around the monster and moving toward the castle. 'If I stick to the outside of its range then I'll be fine'

I felt a rush of air as a vine whiffed past me right over my head. 'I'm too close!' The thought shot through my mind like a bullet, coming with another surge of adrenaline. Time paused again and my eyes opened wide. I knew where every attack was going, where it would move, and how its vines would whip as it flailed. 'What is this… What is happening?' all the calculations my brain was doing finally began to make at least some sense as time cracked and began sprinting ahead of me.

"SIYA!" I heard my father scream, his voice now barely registering as everything around me fell silent as though I had entered a massive tunnel.

Jumping off my one good leg, and using an arm to help me, I vaulted the first vine and jumped away, avoiding another. The tip of the second vine nicked me, drawing blood and forcing me to spin, but I regained my balance in time to duck and roll under the final attack. My father moved to cover me and the monster refocused on him, giving me a much-needed breath of air.

The adrenaline in my body began rushing to my head. I was shivering like crazy. Or maybe shaking from the intensity of the situation. Despite the rain not letting up, the sun broke through the clouds. Somehow, seeing that helped me refocus.

"Come on, think," I told myself. 'It looks like a giant version of a bitterweed, only it can regenerate much quicker and has more vines. Normally, bitterweeds have a magic crystal inside of their mouths. If it's damaged or separated from their body they instantly die, that's why crushing them is so effective. Of course, the easiest way to fight them is to just rip the crystal out because of how weak the attachment is inside their body… That thing's mouth is big enough for me to fit inside whole, if I reached in it would bite off my arm… Wait but, I could fit inside whole… Right?'

I paused for a second considering it. It wasn't exactly a good plan or even a sane plan, but it was a plan nonetheless, and whatever string of numbers my brain was somehow running together seemed convinced it would work… I think… I looked at my father battling it head-on, continuing to use the same tactic that wasn't working. He got struck by the vines and began to bleed. I knew he was far too stubborn to fight anything without using a head-on approach, no matter how stupid it was…

"I have a plan," I muttered. I was even starting to get excited. 'This is it, the adrenaline, the rush of an intense moment where you do something crazy, the anticipation of how they'll react.' "I HAVE A PLAN!" I yelled. Nothing bothered me anymore, it was like I was feeling what it was like to be alive for the very first time.

'The monster only has one row of teeth, it does have a low level of acid and poison in its mouth, but it's not that bad. It mostly digests through its stomach after swallowing. Its mouth is so big even father could fit inside of it whole. I just have to get to it. If I can, I should be able to rip the crystal out.'

I took a deep breath in. My father didn't say anything, he probably didn't even hear me, too focused on the battle. "Ok, let's go." My foot was probably in much worse shape than I thought, but with the new rush of adrenaline combined with the numbness of the cold, I felt almost good enough to run on it. Even if it did hurt. I was so used to pain in general that I hardly noticed. 'If it ends up being permanently damaged maybe I'll finally have an excuse for being weak.' I smirked, analyzing my path of approach and reading the monster's movements. 'Oh, I like this.' It was almost completely focused on my father but its vines whipped violently all around. Because of this, The safest place close to its mouth was easily behind his back, so I quickly moved next to him and waited. As the monster struck him, forcing him back, I slipped to the side and rushed in. I ran as fast as I could and lept straight into its mouth, sliding in between its jaws just before it closed them.

all light was shut out from the outside. Its sharp-bladed teeth had nicked me, but I couldn't feel any pain from the wound on my leg, just the heat of blood slowly running down to my ankle.

The air around me was burning, but I went so far as to think it was a nice change from severe cold. The monster's acidic saliva melted into my skin, but not even that got a reaction out of me with how much adrenaline was coursing through me. 'I'm seriously deranged… aren't I.'

I heard the muffled screams of my father from outside but I couldn't see anything. Since it was pitch black anyway, I closed my eyes to try and help protect them. 'I thought I said I wasn't going to kill myself, then I go and do this? I'm not just deranged, I'm demented too. Well… at any rate, I guess I should try to finish my plan… Where's the freaking… Ah!'

I had been feeling around the monster's mouth with my hands and once I laid them on the rocky texture that contrasted the mucus-covered flesh I knew I found the magic stone that acted as its heart. I grabbed it with both hands and pulled as hard as I could. It gagged and jerked violently, swinging me around and making me let out a high pitched squeak as I clutched it with everything I had, terrified of falling into it's stomach.

My hands stung as I held on tight. I began to slip. I pulled again, this time using my legs to push against it and wrapping my arms around it, clasping my hands and gritting my teeth. Slowly but surely I heard it start to tear, which only made it reel even more.

In the end, its own violent shaking with my weight on the stone caused it to tear free. A loud pop echoed through the air. I opened my eyes as I began to feel the sensation of falling, and I could see all of the muscles around me contract as the monster spit me out, violently vomiting all over the muddy field where it had torn up the grass before falling limp.

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