Cold.
It was inevitable, it filled everything around him, it paralyzed him and invaded his thoughts, it impeded his movements, his words for help froze before being spoken. On the outside it was suffocating, overwhelming, and eternal, an unending cosmos of darkness and non-existence, while on the inside, it parasitized the mind and disposition, like a poison of hopelessness. A thousand thousands of blue dots glittered on all sides, all appearing to be far away, unreachable, but at the same time so close that he could feel the frost of hatred emanating from them.
They were eyes, he knew right away, now how he had that knowledge he couldn't say. All, without exception, cursed his presence that suggested something beyond the infinite frozen universe, despised his existence that contested the great sea of nothingness in which he found himself, and soon wanted to erase the tiny seed of warmth that was inside him, and that he now realized was growing out of control. When he felt something different, he clung to it like a child clung to its mother's skirts when frightened. The seed grew until it couldn't any more, until it completely covered his insides. He could feel his extremities now, and the light coming from within him revealed a ground covered in leaves, red and dark as blood, hot. Their touch was so comforting that he dropped to the ground right there, shaking and crying with relief. He felt the tears slide down his chin and was able to feel his body now, while getting up, he saw that the eyes were gone.
He was startled when two flames lit up a few meters ahead, better illuminating the path that he now saw was flanked by beautiful trees. Their trunks were as white as snow but their leaves were hundreds of bloody hands. They all had faces, all of them grave and somber, but none of them frightened him once he understood why they were there, their trunks were too close to see beyond and their branches formed a thick canopy that prevented him from seeing up.
-"they're hiding me"- he understood.
He advanced along the path that the sentries made, crossing the flames, and found at the end an entrance that seemed to be of a cavernous hut, made of reeds and dark wood, its interior was completely dark when he approached, he felt safer. He was about to enter when something stopped him. One arm reached out from the shadows, its skin was somewhat scaly and a greenish-gray hue, the nails were black and sharp.
"You've seen enough kid"
"Close your eye"
His voice was soft and gentle, without any expression of malice, yet it held firmness and authority. So he instinctively complied, and opened his eyes.