Blood spilled on the white fur of his coat, and painting the flawless snow with red.
A wave of furious wind pushed him back at the same time, carving a stark mark across the snow.
As Azreal gazed back at what remained of Raphae, her legs, with blood flowing down those remains.
His expression was contorted with shock and disbelief.
He looked around, moving his head frantically, left and right as he tried to understand what happened.
Then as he looked left he saw it...
It looked like just a black dot now, but he could see wings on it, as it flew further away.
Raphae was killed by a flying creature, which now is far away, but the fear and the panic already crept into his head, playing with his heart.
'What the hell should I do? Should I stay here? No; I'd definitely die if I stayed here; the creature would absolutely come back.
I can't run away either, can I? I'll just end up encountering another monster.
Should I dig a hole and hide inside it?'
This thought was the most appealing to him; so simple, so effective, if not for the snow.
Under the snow is so much colder for apparently no reason at all.
'She died... so she'll be recreated!
But where will she be?
Can I even go find her?
... fuck.'
It was unexpectedly shocking for him to see someone else dies, it was almost painful.
'She said something about a safe road toward the tower... we were going towards it, which means that she'll go there, so I'll just have to go there and wait for her.'
He averted his gaze away from her bloody remains with a deeply shaken expression, staring into the distance.
He couldn't see it; since it was also white, but the road that she mentioned has marks on both sides of it.
White tall columns of ice, many of them in fact, but it's almost impossible to see them from this distance because of their color.
He took a deep, cold breath, then he started running forward with all his might, which was not a lot.
Azreal ran forward, his feet barely managing not to slip on the snow.
Each step sinks deep into the snow, making it harder and harder to run as fast.
He could see the fog shooting out of his mouth with each labored exhale, and with each inhale, he felt like ice shards were cutting through his lungs.
He could feel his insides grow colder and colder, almost like his throat is slowly freezing, almost cracking.
But he kept running forward; those who knew the pain of dying a slow and agonizing death won't be bothered by the slowly freezing lungs, fingers, nose, eyes, lips, lungs, and throat.
It was definitely an agonizing pain, but not as painful as traumatizing as stomach acid of a giant snake.
So he continued, until he started to see the white columns clearly in the distance, the road didn't seem so far anymore.
Slowly but surely, he was getting closer. 'Oh my! Am I... I'm getting closer! Thank God, I can't believe it!
Am I really getting closer?
... wha! What is that?!'
There in the gray sky, Azreal could clearly see a flying black dot soar through the sky, as if wanted to crash into the white world of snow.
But before it did, it slowed, then it stopped moving against the background.
His eyes widened; he realized what was happening.
The black dot slowly grew bigger; it was getting closer and closer.
'Oh shit!'
Oh shit, indeed; if he doesn't reach the safety of the road, he'll definitely die, a slow, painful death.
He forced his crumbling knees to hold still, and he forced himself to run faster.
The columns grew taller and taller as he got closer, hundreds of tall white columns slowly reaching to the ski; as he got closer.
And... the dot now became a bird, and he could see its wings long and sharp.
The bird is massive, maybe bigger than he could imagine, that's why even though he can see the wings of the flying doom, he still has time...
He strained his muscles to go faster, but his speed almost didn't change, but he was growing more tired than he could possibly handle.
And then he saw the solid reflective floor of the road, a smile tugged against his skin; as he saw his salvation at arms length.
At the same time, the flying bird got even closer, cutting through the air like a flawless knife.
The bird screamed with anger, his voice almost coming from a human throat, his voice eerie and revolting, and deeply horrific.
Azreal jumped onto the solid ice of the road, and his foot didn't sink into the ground, and instead, he slipped on ice, falling on his butt.
He was feeling relief to finally feel safe for the first time, and his smile grew smug.
Then... he saw the bird getting closer, folding his wings close to his body, and in just a fraction of a second, he was swept into the maw of the massive bird.
It took sometime for him to fully die.
Inside the belly of the beast he already had no legs; the creature's maw wasn't big enough to sweep his whole body.
And he was being pressed down by muscles all around him.
He was bleeding, he was being crushed, and then the creature ate a few solid rocks of sold ice, the size of his skull.
After those rocks went in, the belly of the flying beast started to churn, wiggle, tug, and press, and pull.
The stones made it a thousand times more painful and agonizing, but it made it end faster.
Then he found himself in a boundless darkness, then darkness spoke -
(Do you want to die?)
... Azreal ignored the voice for now, he just curled into himself, hugging his own knees, then he started to cry.
Eventually, he said -
"Yes" with a weak voice.
Then darkness disappeared, replaced by an ugly revolting white.
He saw his own severed legs on the white road, with his own blood painted the ice with madness.
Eventually, he started running towards the pillar... the black pillar always looked terrible, but now it looked even more so.