Iris lay down beside the fire, her body trembling, her eyes red, coughing, her nose runny, and her bones hurt every time she moved. She is trying her best to lower her fever, but the cold is making her situation much worse; all she wants is for it to stop being cold.
Holding herself up, she sees how she is running out of wood, but she has enough food, but the lack of water is making her worry if she would not survive for more than a week. She wants to hug the fire to heat her and to continue shining. Every time the wind blew, she felt a surge of fear that the fire might turn off.
She looks at Apatura and the plant being the size of a small dog; she feels happy seeing how the plant is growing and how nothing is happening to Apatura. She wants to be inside the cocoon to heat herself.
She uses a large amount of energy and concentrates to create her shield as long as she can; she doesn't care if it will be resistant. All she wanted was to have another layer to stop her from shivering.
Closing her eyes, she imagines her shield like a blanket. After a few minutes and her body sweating, she looks up and sees her shield being twice its size while having twice its thickness. Seeing this, she is crying, having a glimmer of hope in surviving.
She carefully positions her shield on top of her; she then notices the sudden change in temperature. She knows she can't keep this for long, but if she can heal before her mana runs out, then it will be worth it.
Iris tried to crawl herself into the meat of the rabbit, but her bones felt as if they were being smashed with every movement. She had used her shield to pull the food closer and then immediately put it on top of her.
Iris slowly raises her body on top of a rock, grabs the rabbit meat, and carefully takes a bite of the rabbit. She began biting and then suddenly spitting it out; her throat hurt with each bite.
Cough
She looked at her hand, seeing hints of a unique color of blood. A combination of purple and red. She felt her heart palpitate. In pain, she starts eating; each bite and swallow causes her immense pain. She eats until the pain is too much for her to bear, falling unconscious.
…
Iris finds herself seeing a dark red sky with a crimson moon shining upon her. She feels strange; her body feels strong and warm. She tries to stand up, but as she positions her hand behind her to stand up, she feels a warm and thick material. She looks back, her eyes petrified, her body shaking.
Iris sees the hand of what appears to be a human; she starts looking at her surroundings, seeing that she is on top of a huge pile of remains from many different animals and humans. The pile creates a path to a large building. A building having a large note symbol on top of it as the building is painted with splashes of blood.
…
Iris wakes up, her body trembling, the images of the remains constantly replaying in her mind. She takes deep breaths trying to calm down, but the shock is too much for her; her fever appears to lower due to her fear.
After a few hours of calming herself down, she sees the fire lower; she raises her hand.
…
Iris finds herself awoken inside a beautiful building. She is lying down in the middle of the building, the people looking at her in surprise, but she sees how different these people are. She stands up, examining how some have extra extremities and different forms. She looks more carefully at the building. Seeing its colorful windows depicting a painting of a demonic being. The inside is black and golden.
Someone suddenly picks up Iris; she feels how four hands pick her up and carefully positions her on her legs.
She looks in front of her, seeing a being with a large red almond-shaped eye, staring at Iris. Iris feels strong pressure; her legs feel stuck.
The being then closes its eyes, lowering the pressure on Iris; she looks back and sees all of the creatures. Seeing the terrifying image, she slowly retreats back to where she sees a door.
After walking and not losing sight of the creatures, she feels the door handles, slowly pulling them back, and after hearing a small opening, she slowly leaves, her heart racing and her body profusely sweating.
She looks back and is taken aback by how dark and gloomy the atmosphere is. The creatures passing by all have a depression engulfing her.
Is this a dream? Where am I? Who are these people? Iris then looks down; her white linen dress changed to a darker, thicker red dress.
…
Shiver
Iris wakes up to the sudden wave of cold, which finally puts an end to her fire. She is now stuck with the cold, her body still ill with her pieces of wood officially running out.
Iris feels a wave of surrender enter her body; she has no more energy left to give to fight for her end goal. All the suffering she has been able to survive, but this is the most dire of situations, a situation where if she hadn't had that desire to live, the forest would have ended her.
…
How are you, Iris?
Iris wakes up in the same black room where she found the butterfly. A soothing voice calling her. She tries to locate it but then remembers that she knows nothing about this room.
"Are you here to help me?"
I don't know? Do you remember the law of equal exchange?
"Yes, the law that everything that happens has an equal negative effect."
Correct, and you might be wondering what the exchange of the guardian might have been?
"It only left a seed," Iris said shyly.
That seed will either save you or be your demise. The voice suddenly lowered and distorted.