The young woman started to run; she didn't want to be anywhere close to the giant iron wolf.
Her footsteps left deep marks in the soft snow, and she was determined to stay alive, not just because she didn't want to suffer the pain of death.
Breathing heavily, the woman was slowly growing out of breath, and her lips almost turned white and blue.
As she ran, suddenly she noticed something rise from within the snow, it almost looked like a polar bear; with its wide fur.
But the young woman didn't run away; immediately recognizing a human being.
While the fur-suit made a person almost look like a bear, there simply weren't any bears in this place... that she knows of.
She stopped and then approached the rising human, and her face almost had a smile.
***
Azreal stood up, but he felt absolutely dreaded and spent; he was tortured and killed at least five times already... or was it ten? He doesn't like to count his suffering.
In reality, he did die ten times.
He took a deep breath and then coughed three times, his lungs almost got injured.
He was truly lost; unable to see what he could do, it almost felt like he was allowed only to suffer... and suffer more.
He flinched; hearing the sound of crunching snow, and it was too new to Azreal in this world.
He turned his head just to see a small human wearing an oversized fur-suit.
It almost looked like she was trying to camouflage between polar bears.
His eyes widened; seeing the first human, ever since he came to this hell.
The woman stared at him from a distance, then she waved her hand, her face almost had a smile on it.
The young man, on the other hand, has only horror covering his face, with a fearful expression.
The woman suddenly spoke -
"Hey! What's your name?"
Her tone was rather friendly.
Azreal lingered for many seconds, but eventually, he replied to the woman with a timid tone -
"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?
Are you a human?"
The woman smiled and replied -
"I'm Raphae... I'm a human."
Azreal took a second to reply, his expression softened a little, but he was still on guard -
"I... I'm Azreal"
Raphae wasn't surprised, but she still faked a surprised expression for more reasons than one.
She said -
"You are new here, right?
I also found myself here... four weeks ago."
Azreal was actually surprised, then he took a few tentative steps closer to her.
He opened his mouth to say something but suddenly stopped, then he looked closer at her and said -
"How exactly...?"
There was there was shock, surprise, and tension in the air, but he couldn't trust her yet, Azreal was very much scared.
But for some reason, she was very understanding, without taking a step closer nor making any sudden moves.
She spoke calmly -
"Well... there are a lot of humans who came here, not just me and you."
She took a second to continue, her tone became more soft and timid -
"All of us... suicided before finding ourselves here.
And... all of us can't seem to stay dead.
... take your time to fully wrap your head around it, I won't go anywhere."
He stared at her with a little bit of shock on his face.
'There are others?!' He thought, 'we all came here after suicide??'.
He could almost understand the possibility that this is where people who suicide go... but it's still weird to be actually in that place.
You can try to imagine heaven, but you can't truly imagine yourself in heaven.
And so, he couldn't really believe that he was in there, but the pain and agony of each death he suffered made it possible... no, inevitable to accept such a delusional fantasy.
He lingered for many seconds, but he finally spoke -
"Have you really tried everything?
... what about this land, does it have an end or a border?
Are we supposed to suffer forever??"
Azreal stopped talking and stared at her; waiting for a response, but surprisingly, she spoke calmly -
"We've tried everything.
This white land has an end, but the border is just massive flames and an ocean of lava.
The only way we think would work..."
She stopped talking and slowly turned to face the massive black pillar...
A few seconds later, she faced him again, then she spoke -
"We are not exactly sure about it... but this pillar is the only possibility"
Azreal turned to face the giant pillar and thought to himself, 'So that's what's it's about, that's why it's so tall, so everyone could see it...
Did she say, "A possibility"?'
Azreal turned to face Raphae, his expression is vulnerable now.
Then he spoke -
"Just a possibility?"
She took a second, then simply nodded her head, uncertainty written on her face.
Her eyelashes looked white; covered with the snow, and her nose was a contrasting red.
She spoke -
"I was on my way towards the tower. You can come with me."
With a nod of his head, the two now are walking across the snow, their figures almost like two bears; being covered with those white, wide fur-suits.
They walked across some distance as they spoke -
"So, what's with the black pillar?"
He asked curiously.
She answered without facing him -
"Well... we actually know little about it.
Whoever goes in never comes out of it"
She turned her face towards him, her expression thoughtful, then she continued to speak -
"We know about it; since not everyone went inside the tower.
Not everyone trusted the weird building, naturally."
He was getting more optimistic with every second.
There was a possibility, there was hope.
He spoke -
"So... we are going in?"
She simply nodded her head, but then she spoke -
"We'll also meet up with the others there once we reach the tower."
Azreal thought for a few seconds, then he spoke -
"Does the tower allow everyone to get in?"
She replied immediately -
"No... you need a key first,
But once you have a key, everyone can go in."