"Rosse, are you alright?"
A voice calls out to her from beyond the dark oblivion.
'This voice...'
She could not see whoever it was that spoke. She could not even tell if her eyes were even open or not.
But she could somehow hear a voice - no, a multitude of voices that seemed to resound all around her. Echoing as if she was in a grand hall.
'They do not sound like our Heavenly Father...'
She wondered listlessly. Her body feeling weightless with no sense of balance as if she was suspended in the air.
Where is she even? She remembers having been recently encased in ice by the old woman. So why does she feel as if she is in some void?
On that note...
'Oh no! What happened to everyone else?!'
She tried to look around but to no avail. The only thing she could see was the pitch darkness that surrounded her, causing her to feel very anxious. The last she could remember was that all of them were in the same boat; encased in ice.
Yet she did not feel cold at all. Uncomfortable certainly, but she did not feel any chill.
Rather-
'Huh? I can't feel my body...'
-She literally cannot feel anything.
"Rosse...if you can hear us...please...", the voice pleaded, "Do not reach for the light!"
Just as the voice had said those words, a bright white light glimmered before her. It's light felt like it was beckoning her to touch it.
It felt weird that she could hear voices but not feel she even has a body.
'Why?'
She tried to speak. But she could not feel her mouth open. What happened to her body?
A moment later, a warm feeling slowly enveloped her like a gentle embrace and soon she could feel her body and her limbs and yet, she could not see anything else. It was as if her body was invisible; existing yet cannot be seen.
"Please! Rosse...do not reach for the light!"
She looked at the glimmering light. Its golden heavenly glow - whilst silent, beckoned her to reach out and grasp it.
[The light is the symbol of the Lord Almighty.]
Those were the words of the Pope who looked after her back in Rome and that is the truth that she knows.
'There is no mistaking it for even I personally know, the light is the grace of the Lord Almighty. It is his grace and blessing to this world.'
She put her invisible hands together and started to pray.
"Rosse! Don't! Your going to damn the rest of the world if you do that!"
The voice frantically called her out but it was for naught. For she deduced that the voice is simply an attempt of the Evil One to confuse her.
'There is no way the light could ever be the damnation of the world!', with all her willpower she raised her invisible hand to reach for the light and as soon as she felt the warmth touch her palm, the light intensified and another voice spoke;
"Thy faith is unerring o beloved Saint."
The light intensified.
The voice gave her a feeling of assurance; a feeling that everything will now be okay.
But the feeling of anxiety did not waver, because right now she had other things to worry about;
'Oh Lord! Please! I implore you, O Holy Father! Save my companions from their plight!', She pleaded to the voice with all her heart and soul.
"Fret not, for the Holy Father has heard you and so shall you be saved.", the voice replied.
Immediately, the darkness started receding. Turning the surroundings into a blank white space and now revealing her body;
Covered in ice from head to toe, only her one outstretched hand that reached out to the light was still unfrozen.
"With the blessing of the Holy Father, you are granted this Mark."
A streak of silvery light appeared on her palm that started to seemed to stretch down her forearm as the ice melted.
"With this Mark, save your companions and judge Evil. Oh gracious Saint, speak now the words that appear in your mind."
The ice melted along with the ever intensifying light and bathed her with a feeling of exaltation and power.
She felt like she can now save her companions as the 'words' float in her mind like a loop.
'The words...they...'
Before she could ruminate further, a nagging feeling snapped her out of her reverie and she remembered that she needed to save her companions. Thus with utmost conviction she spoke;
"Audite, Dominus respondit. Inclina, Domine, ante judicium Sancti."
The ice that encased her shattered along with the immediate disintegration of the white space that surrounded her. Returning her to the snow-covered tundra that she and her companions were previously on.
"Wha-?!", the old woman who had cast that glacial curse upon her and her companions had a shocked face.
But she paid it no mind as she continued to speak the 'words';
"Nominis mei coeli cantant. Ego sum Rosa alba, et officium meum hoc momento te iudicat, qui es, nequam."
She felt power well up unfettered from within her and still she was not finished speaking the entire verse;
"Maledicta tua in hac terra igne caelestis solis ardebit!"
And with the final word, and intense ray of light broke through the bleak gray clouds and showered her with a light so warm that everything that was touched by the chill of winter started to thaw.
However, the old woman growled and pointed the white icy staff towards her.
This time, she - Rosseweisse, felt no fear. This time she felt - no, knew that she can now save her companions.
This time...it's her turn to save them.