Chapter 20: Freezing hell

[A/N: If you are eating while reading this, then please finish your meal first because I don't want some people to puke.]

After charring my body until I was no longer recognisable she changed her tactic and rained down icicles on me which pierced my body multiple times before I started dodging them.

The thing that shocked me was my speed of healing, which was improving as I bled.

Suddenly a murky green liquid was shot at me. I was already in a pinch because of those falling hazards but now she did this.

The green liquid hit me harder than any metal which caused me to vomit blood, but I should not have done that because the green liquid invaded my body.

Soon an unbearable pain started to take over me, I was forced to bend on my knees as I looked at my hands. Massive blisters were covering my body, making me rethink about the definition of pain I knew. Suddenly, the blisters started popping and releasing the pus inside them.

I laid there screaming in pain and irritation but the woman who is my "trainer" was laughing her ass off, a few metres away from me.

Blood kept dripping out from the open wounds and the healing I was gaining confidence at was nowhere to be seen.

Tia approached me with light steps and said "This is the start Ryan, because everything else can come later. The first thing you need to fix is your insouciant nature."

After this another hell was created for me, a huge pool of cold liquid appeared out of thin air. A sudden punch came at me with full force and cracked my skull at various points before I fell down in that freezing hell.

What is frostbite?What is cold?The real fear of cold should be your skin cracking and you can hear it. This was not the end of it as the liquid went inside my body through the cracks on my frozen skin.

If my skin cracking was bad then this was absolute madness. My organs were starting to rupture. I tried to move my frozen body but it was not possible, the Divine Energy, Mana nothing was moving inside my body. Everything stopped but I was not able to close my eyes. Even the moments before I lost consciousness, no one came to save me.

Save me?...pfft...what a joke, people never come to save you when you need it.

This is just like that day.

"Oii Ryan do you want to play in that new park they made?." Elijah was smiling with all his might.

"So they finally completed it, are adults really that lazy?, it was supposed to be completed by last year." I stretched my body as I got up from my panda shaped bed.

"I don't know but mom said that lazy people are always disrespected by others, I don't want to be like that." He was fidgeting nervously. It seemed like even the thought of getting disrespected bothered my chubby friend.

Even though Elijah was 9yrs old he was taller than most kids, standing at 160cm.

"Damn! Eli, did you gain more weight?." I teased him but like always, he got furious when I said that, he ran after me.

"Haha....haha, you can't catch me fatsy." I saw him closing in with his strangely fast body.

How is he so fast with all that fat in his body?

"Kids, don't run around like that, you will hurt yourselves." My mom said in a soft giggling tone but a hint of worry was still visible in her voice.

"Bye mom, we are going to play." I said in a cheerful voice.

"At Least eat something before you go out." she said but how can I stop when Eli was chasing me like I stole his pants.

Oh this is a great idea, and he hates wearing underwear.

"Ryan you chipmunk! you are minced meat if I catch you." Elijah roared at the top of his lungs.

"Hey shall we meet Alaya before playing in that new place?." I said trying to divert his mind from chasing me but in that short window he jumped at me and smacked my head with his Chubby hand.

"Aaahh....it hurts." This guy actually hit me, thank god he didn't have anything in his hand.

"Now that you learnt your lesson, yes, we should go and meet her and maybe we'll get free ice cream from her." Elijah was already thinking about food.

"How hungry can you be?. Always thinking about food." I could not control my laugh after seeing my friend's salivating face.

"Who does not like free ice cream, let's go." He said before we started "marching" towards her store.

Alaya was my dad's friend, she was a beautiful tanned woman. My dad and her were childhood friends, just like me and Elijah.

"Oii Ryan, did you know my sister got a boyfriend." Elijah smirked while giving out some interesting information.

"Good for her, but you didn't tell your mom right?." I looked at him but he just had a mischievous smile on his face.

"Don't tell me you snitched on her." I facepalmed because how stupid he was, now when his sister finds out she will beat him up for a whole week when she gets time.

"Peace to the body, Peace to the soul. Amen." I muttered under my breath.

We reached Alaya's store. It was a two storey building which was really popular among the people in the area. The store was divided in two sections, the ground floor was a cafe. We sometimes come here to chill out and talk with some girls who come here every Sunday like us.

As for the second floor, I don't really know much about it but one day I went inside with dad and saw a bunch of people dancing and drinking. We didn't stay there for a long time, and I think that place is where adults enjoy their time at night. She owns the whole place and is very rich.

This reminds me of the time when I went on a car ride with Alaya. Almost threw up that day.

"Oh Ryan and his friend Elijah are here." a man wearing a black tshirt, which was what the staff usually wore here. His name was Owen and he was Alaya's younger brother.

"How are you Owen?." I asked the guy with a friendly smile.

"Fine, did you come here to meet my sister?." He asked after crouching down to reach our head level.

"I am here to meet her but my friend here would like an Icecream, you can put it on my tab." I said in a solid voice or so I thought. My voice was far from deep, because I haven't gone through puberty.

"Haha...are you trying to say it like big brother John?. '' he started laughing but eventually gave Elijah an ice cream, Which he said was on him.

What a sweet guy.

"Owen, where is she?." He looked at me and shook his head.

"She is sleeping, Ryan can you wake her up?." he said and let out a sigh.

"Ok, I will, do I need to pour some water on her?." I asked with a devious grin on my face.

"Do what you see fit but don't overdo it." Owen said before he started talking to Elijah about some things.

I'll first check if she is really sleeping.

I entered the room behind the counter, this room was especially made for her who likes to sleep during the day.

The room was nothing out of ordinary, it was a room with a large couch and a bed. Alaya was laying down on the couch. She was wearing black leggings and a purple top. I went beside her and slowly patted her face but she didn't wake up.

A sudden thought popped in my mind and I brought my ear near her face. I was trying to hear her way of breathing.

Hehe...so you are not sleeping.

"Alaya, I know you are not sleeping, wake up or I'll pinch your no touch region." My mind started running on demon mode. She did not reply but it was confirmed that she is not sleeping.

I stood up on that couch and took a seat on her belly. Her belly was tough because she was a gym freak.

*pinch* *pinch*

"Argh...you brat, I did not expect you to be brave enough to pinch me." She said while she bounced up that couch.

Well the thing is when she got up in a jiffy, I should have been thrown off the couch but my grip has always been strong.

So I was still maintaining my position, not giving up.

"Can you leave them now?." She asked with a smirk.

"Ok." I said before jumping off that couch.

"So, what brings you here today?." She asked while fixing her clothes.

"Nothing, I just came here to meet you." I said while sitting on a chair which was kept opposite to the couch.

"Ryan, I have known you since you were a baby. Tell me what you need." She didn't buy my words.

"Do you know anything about the new family that moved here?." I asked her while looking straight at her eyes.

"You mean the Dawson family?No, not much is known about them yet. Other than that, they have a daughter who is always sick." She said with a pondering look.

"Their daughter, is it? then why do they hit her?." I asked if my mind was confused about the whole thing.

"So she is abused by her parents, but how did you find out?." She bent closer to me.

"So everything started like this" I said before I started narrating everything that happened yesterday.

It was raining yesterday. So, I sneaked out after everyone fell asleep. I was walking in the rain, jumping in the puddles of water. After a while, I reached the newly made park, which was supposed to be opened for kids today.

But I somehow sneaked inside and started enjoying the rain there. Suddenly, I saw a kid sitting on a bench, all alone, completely drenched. I approached her carefully because mom said never to talk to people sitting alone at night.

Muffled sound of crying was heard by me as I slowly went towards the kid. It was a girl, pale pink hair hiding her weeping face.

As if getting pulled by her, I asked "Why are you crying?."

She didn't reply and kept crying, I mustered up courage to sit beside her and patted her back.

"Do you like the rain?." I asked her in a soft voice.

"No, I don't like getting drenched." She said while gasping for air.

I noticed severe scars on her body, her skin pale as a ghost. Hearing her cry pained my heart but nothing seemed to work and she kept crying.

So I sat there with her until she stopped, I was cold, shaking a bit but I didn't say anything.

"You know I like rain because everytime it rains it feels like all of my life gets so calm and silent. Rain hides everything, your mistakes, your tears, your screaming. It is my first friend." I said while patting her head which was a bit hard because she was taller than me.

"Why did you talk to me?." Her voice was almost inaudible but my young ears were able to hear her.

"No reason. I do what I want." I giggled while looking at her.

"So what is your name?." I asked while swinging my legs which were too short to reach the ground while sitting on the bench.

"Amaya, what is your name?." She asked while removing the pink hairs which were hiding her face.

"My name is Ryan Miller, and I love to play all day long." My eyes were gaped after looking at her.

"You have golden eyes, wow." I was amazed by the unique colour which I had never seen before.

She immediately turned her face after I finished my words.

"Hehe...are you blushing?." A smug expression crept up my face.

"I am not." She said, still not looking my way so I changed the subject.

"Will you be my friend?." I asked without any hesitation.

Ok, she replied.

"So this is how it went."

"So you met that girl yesterday and you suspect she is being abused by her parents?. I'll try to find clues about it." Alaya said while leaning back on the couch.

"Now then I'll leave." I jumped off that chair.

"Wait, you were just here to say that, don't you have something else to say?." She interrupted me.

"No, mom said that I should stay away from cougars." After finishing I left my room at the speed of flash.

I heard her curse me but it was nothing new. After talking to Owen for a while we left for the park, but who knew that we would regret going there.

"Hey Ryan, pass the ball." A sharp high pitched voice broke me out of my stupor.

I looked around and saw that I was at the playground with my friends. But I remember being outside the cafe.

How did I?.

"Pass the ball you twit." a short guy said he was the shortest guy in the group. His name is Doyle.

"Who did you call a twit you smelly pig." I kicked the ball with the intention of it hitting his face but I sadly missed.

"Oye Elijah did you play that new mario brothers game." A black kid asked while he dribbled the ball.

"No, my mom didn't buy that for me." Elijah said before stopping him.

"You guys can come to my house, we can play together." Doyle said before he snatched the ball away.

"You sure about it?, the last time we went to your house your Elder brother almost beat the shit out of us." Rene shuddered after remembering that day.

"You guys shaved his cat's head, what did you expect?, a waterfall of love?." Doyle scoffed.

"I just gave that cat a haircut, and that style is in trend." Rene said while he kicked the ball but it went astray.

"Haha you missed it." I was laughing while eating a chocolate bar which was in my left pocket.

"Oh no, that ball landed on the face of the bearded man sitting on that bench." Rene grimaced while biting his nails.

"Hey that man stood up and he is coming towards us." Rene said in a weird voice.

"Kids, do you want this back?." The bearded man smiled, his smile lacked a few teeths but this didn't make us laugh because that man looked really creepy.

"Yes please." Rene said before running towards him, but then that man did something horrifying.

*Bang*

Red liquid gushed out of Rene's head as he fell down.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

My friends fell down, screaming before everything stopped.

"Elijah run." I started pulling him but he was almost frozen there. He could not hear me, or even react to anything.

I kept pulling him but the scary man was now standing before us.

"Why did you do this?." Words barely making their way out of my mouth.

"Do I need a reason, I do this because I can, you die because you are weak, this is not my problem." He started laughing, which scared me even more.

My legs were shaking but still I didn't stop pulling Elijah, who was not responding to anything.

"Now it's time for you to die." The murderer grabbed my neck, he was strangling me, tears were flowing out of my eyes.

Someone please help me, I don't want to die. No, dad, please save me.

I tried to do everything my body could, pinching, scratching.

Everything.

Suddenly the world around me started moving really fast until I could not see anything.

This did not last long because after a while everything was clear to me.

The murderer who killed my friends was lying face down, he was not moving.

I tried looking for Elijah, who was now unconscious.

I dragged his body towards a tree and sat down beside him. A few minutes later someone informed the cops.

The newly built park was now a crime scene. Only survivors were Elijah and me.

No one came to save us, or kill this man but they came to see the aftermath. The man who informed the cops was watching everything but still kept hiding and watched the show from the sidelines.

Whom should I blame?, the murderer, my friends who just wanted to play, the cops or the man who was a coward.

Can I even do that?If I were in his place, I would not have done anything different.

Yes, the only one left here is me.

I am the culprit because of my weakness, if only I was strong, my friends would have been alive.

Sorry, it was my fault. Rene, Doyle, griffy, I hope you can forgive me.

"Kid are you okay?." The man wearing a blue uniform said before everything turned black.

I opened my eyes and saw the grasslands completely destroyed. The lush green colour they had was nowhere to be seen.

Black flames devoured everything they came across. I was in a crater which was at least 500m wide.

"Selene?, Tia?." I called out but no one replied. So I flew up that crater and saw deep marks of something crashing, the trail went really far away, it almost looked like a plane crash.

Where are they?

Umbra, do you know what happened here?.

"Yes." She replied her voice seemed grim.

"Who did this?." My mind was thinking about pessimistic things but somehow I maintain my composure.

"Ummm...do you really want to know that?, I mean both of those girls are safe so you should not worry about such small things." She was acting really weird but she said that both of them are safe.

Suddenly a portal appeared in the sky and two feminine figures came out of it.

Thank god they are fine.

"Ryan, are you awake now?." Selene looked at me with a slight smile.

"Ofcourse I am, where did you guys go?." I said while hugging Selene.

I glanced at Tia who did not look so fine. Her clothes were tattered and she had a gaping wound in her solar plexus, but the thing that scared me was my signature black flames twirling around that wound, making it worse.

I quickly dispelled it.

"Did I do all of this?." I tried to push this thought away but it was getting more credible as I looked around.

"Don't give yourself such credit, you weak dragon." Tia started laughing as the wound was almost healed.

"We just had a spar and you just managed to land a single hit on me. After that I beat you black and blue. Then my dad called me, he wanted to meet me and your girlfriend, so we had to leave you alone for a while." She smirked, the previous painful expression disappeared just like that injury.

"Ok, but why don't I remember any of it?." I was confused, wondering how everything happened.

"Hey stop this bullshit, I am hungry like the sin of gluttony. Let's eat our first meal in this pocket dimension." She pushed us towards the mansion.

I guess I am hungry too.