With no suspense, the young girl's figure was soon covered in the raging flames, to the excited joy of the crowd.
****
"Am I....dead?" Thea had intentionally closed her eyes at the last minute, waiting for the searing pain of the flames to hit. However, nothing happened, making her wonder if her injuries were so severe that she lost consciousness and died in advance before she was set aflame.
Thea opened her eyes cautiously.
She was no longer in the stakes, surrounded by heartless villagers. Instead, she was somewhere else. It was pitch black and she couldn't make out anything at all.
"Indeed, I think I am dead," Thea reasoned, the strangeness of the surroundings confirming her conjecture of death. "Is this what the afterlife looks like? Eternal darkness?"
Her musing was cut short when a beam of light lit the darkness. The radiance was intense, and she closed her eyes again instinctively.
