Chapter 1 - Invisible Fire

Arthur felt his heart pounding, beating against his breast as if it were trying to break out.

He grabbed his breast, his body acting as a furnace, a flame burning inside of him as he groaned and cried.

The flame spread down his body, he hugged his belly as the flames ravaged his intestines and fried his stomach.

Arthur fell to the ground, writhing in agony, his body immersed in an invisible bonfire.

He stared up at the shrine statue that watched him suffer and began to drag his body towards it, feeling like the statue would inhibit his pain and extinguish the invisible fire that roared within him.

His left arm, scraped and grazed from the fall that led him to this situation, grabbed hold to anything that stuck out of the cold rock floor and pulled his body closer and closer to the shrine.

His right arm was fractured, he'd broken it after landing on it awkwardly but it felt more like a small bruise compared to what his torso felt.

Arthur moved closer and closer to the shrine, determined to reach it, needing, wanting to reach it but not understanding why.

It could have been a way to latch onto something in his moment of suffering but to him, it felt more like something was telling him to go that way. An unheard voice, guiding him to safety.

His left arm scraped against the jagged cave floor, blood oozing out of the cuts on his forearm.

The veins bulging through the skin as he used all his strength to pull his skinny body closer to the shrine.

His hand landed on the step that held the statue and ancient offerings and lifted himself up on top of it. He dragged his entire body onto the step before laying on his back, staring up at the old statue.

His eyes were bloodshot and streaming with tears, blurring his vision.

He stared at the statue through his clouded vision, making out the cold expression it wore.

It could've been him hallucinating but he was sure he saw the statue staring down at him, its eyes aiming directly at him.

That was the last thing he thought before his vision was clouded with darkness. His final view, the statue standing tall above him.

And with a drawn out breath, shallow and sad, Arthur Kleinfeld had died.