This Crual Place, Beyond the Blizzard (English Version)

Chapter 4

My thoughts lingered on the Storm after it happened a second time. We were seasoned, prepared for what was to come. Making sure our cover was uninfiltrated by the elements, we pulled together ropes and twine, tied them around ourselves and fastened the ends to various driven poles and stakes.

Maybe I'd been too focused on the Storm and its sizzling droplets to catch Yago unfastening himself and standing up. A yell from Alexi brought me to attention, but it was too late.

Yago, already several paces away, lumbered toward the edge of the platform. We all thought he'd jump, futile as it'd be.

He didn't.

Instead, he threw off his shoes, socks, jacket, pants... everything, until he stood stark naked, exposed to the elements.

At this point we knew better than jumping up to help. We had no fault in this. He'd come back eventually, after all.

Yet, I could sense something changing. I don't know what, or when it started, but it was there. A shift, a redirection of energy.

Yago howled as his skin bubbled and blistered under the Storm's ferocity. I think it was when his skin began sloughing off in great swathes that it happened.

Without warning, Yago's entire being burst into a furious red flame. A sparking vermillion plasma, crackling with the intensity of lightning.

Eyes watering from the heat, I watched transfixed as his silhouette, shrouded in hellfire, seemed to be eaten away into nothing. Not a puff of smoke or steam billowed from him. His backlit shadow disintegrated inch by inch until the last smattering of fragments were burned away entirely.

Absolutely nothing remained of Yago once the storm passed. Not one stray hair or nail fragment.

Of course, we expected him to grow out from the ice face. Right away, in fact.

Nothing happened.

We scanned every last inch of the cliff. Nothing.

It's been... hell, I can't even guess how long it's been since then. It's all so, so fucking arbitrary. Meaningless. Could be decades, centuries, millenia. My family might be long-dead by now. Hell, humanity could already have gone extinct.

And in all that time I've yet to see even a hint of Yago's return.

Maybe he's in another, worse place. Maybe he's dead. Or maybe he made it back home.

Those are the only possibilities I can imagine, and as far as I can see, that's a 2/3 chance of escaping this place. Escaping eternity.

Next time the Storm comes around, I think I'll follow that old man's example. Strip down to my most human form. Raw for the whole world to see.

And maybe, just maybe... the rain will set me free.