The Kingdom Walls

CHAPTER THREE

Aurora jolted awake.

And she was on fire.

Arching off the bed with a deep gasp, she sucked in a lungful of air. Her fingers curled into the sheets as she continued to suck in deep gasping breaths. It felt like a hot iron was being stuffed down her throat. She could feel her heart pounding on her chest so hard, she was afraid it was going to blow a hole right through it. She was burning. What felt like molten lava was scorching through her veins, boiling her from the inside. She opened her mouth to scream, but the liquid heat seemed to flow in an upward surge, crowding to her middle then moving up to her esophagus, stifling her scream. She frantically clawed at her neck, as she started to choke on the pressure climbing up her throat. It felt like a sharp piece of hot coal was attempting to crawl out of her windpipe. At last, after what seemed like an eternity of torture, she bent over and threw up over the side of the bed, releasing whatever was frying up her throat onto the wooden floor. She was almost certain that she vomited her tongue too, as scalded as it felt.

A black, somewhat fuzzy, but oily looking ball of glob came out and dropped on the floor with a wet plop. It was slightly steaming.

That just came out of her mouth?

A short shriek broke out of her and she frantically back-pedaled on the bed, banging her back on the headboard. Bile was crawling back up her throat again, although the liquid heat was gone. Now it was just back to the good old, standard green vomit—that she puked again into a nearby trash bin. She heaved and heaved until there was nothing left but her internal organs. Hell, for all she knew she might even have thrown up some, with how hollowed-out she was feeling.

After the dry heaves passed and her body felt like it was about to break in half, she wiped her mouth and lay back down on the bed, curled up into a tight ball and moaning softly.

What was happening to her?

She was drenched with sweat and her clothes were already plastered to her skin. But then soon afterwards, and very abruptly, she started shaking uncontrollably. A deep shudder worked through her entire frame. She was surprised the bed didn't start shaking too, with how hard and fast her tremors were escalating. After the heat in her blood have simmered down, she was suddenly freezing, her teeth chattering so bad she was afraid they were going to crack. She grappled with the damp blankets, pulling them over her, curling her body into a tighter ball.

I must be dying, she thought miserably. Again. 

The lava that had been raging through her veins has now suddenly transformed into ice, crackling through her bloodstream in an avalanche of sharp claws, freezing everything in its path. Her head felt like it was on the verge of rupturing. Her skin seemed to be rolling and stretching over her bones, with a thousand sharp needles gleefully stabbing every single inch. Her scalp felt like every single strand of her hair had turned into knives that were currently trying to hack into her brain. Her bones felt like they were being snapped and then reformed inside her body repeatedly and she dimly thought she could actually hear the crunching sounds. Her chest felt like something was trying to peel her rib cage open with a crowbar. Even her eyes felt strange, stinging and hot—the only part of her body left that was not freezing. Then her shivers escalated until she finally felt the whole bed shaking with the strength of her tremors. She was convulsing violently now. Something warm trickled out of her nose and a sudden sharp pain made her back bow over the sheets as the agony peaked. 

Then finally, she let loose a blood curdling scream.

And darkness claimed her once again.

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