Han Yu was surprised as it saw the rat move in years.
Chitterfang crawled weakly from his robes, without every opening its eyes before collapseing against his neck. He chittered faintly before curling up again. Its fur was warm to the touch, almost hot, and its breathing was steady.
Han Yu let out a shaky laugh that turned into a cough.
"Still with ," he murmured hoarsely.
He forced himself upright, teeth clenched as pain finally caught up with him. Bruises blood across his skin, muscles scread in protest, and exhaustion pressed down on him like a mountain. Yet beneath it all, there was a strange clarity in his mind, a steadiness that had not been there before.
He checked his surroundings quickly.
The riverbank was narrow, hemd in by steep slopes and dense clusters of frost covered trees. Snow fell lightly, muffling sound. There was no sign of the Wyvern, no crushing pressure in the air, no echoing roars.
For now, he was safe.
Han Yu pulled himself to his feet and staggered deeper into the treeline, forcing his legs to move despite their protests. He found a hollow beneath the roots of an ancient tree where the snow was thinner and the wind less cruel. There, he collapsed again, pressing his back against the frozen earth.
Only then did he allow himself to slow down.
He closed his eyes and turned his awareness inward.
The tiny fla burned brighter than ever, no longer fragile or uncertain. It was still small, but its presence was undeniable, radiating a heat that felt ancient and resolute. Han Yu did not know what it truly was, or how it had survived such conditions, but he knew one thing with certainty.
That fla had saved his life.
As exhaustion finally dragged him toward unconsciousness once more, Han Yu's last coherent thought was simple and heavy with truth.
The Harrow Mountains had tried to kill him again.
And once more, he had survived.
Ti slipped away as the snow continued to fall, burying his tracks, the river's secrets, and the path of a man who refused to die.
Snow continued to fall long after Han Yu's consciousness slipped deeper into a slumber.
The white flakes descended silently from the sky, layering the world in cold and stillness, yet none of them managed to touch the place where Han Yu lay. The mont his breathing evened out and his thoughts dissolved into true sleep, the tiny fla within him reacted as if it had been waiting for that exact mont.
It flared.
HUA!!~
Not violently, not explosively, but with a calm inevitability, like a furnace door opening to reveal an endless sea of heat inside.
The warmth surged through Han Yu's ridians, washing over his organs, bones, and blood with a force far greater than before. It no longer rely resisted the cold or repaired damage.
This ti, it circulated deliberately, following paths that Han Yu himself had never consciously guided, reinforcing weak points, smoothing blockages, and tempering his body as if it were raw tal being reforged.
A portion of that overflowing energy leaked outward.
Before it could disperse uselessly into the air, it was intercepted.
Chitterfang, still curled against Han Yu's chest, absorbed it.
The small beast twitched as the heat poured into it, its tiny body reacting instinctively. Its heart began to race, blood rushing through vessels that glowed faintly red beneath its fur. The rodent's temperature rose sharply, matching Han Yu's, yet it did not stir in pain or panic. Instead, it seed to sink deeper into unconsciousness, as if embracing the transformation.
Both bodies grew hotter.
Much hotter.
HISSSS~
Their skin flushed, radiating heat intense enough to overwhelm the surrounding cold.
SIZZLE~
The snow beneath them lted instantly, seeping into the ground before evaporating with sharp hissing sounds. The falling snow above never reached them, turning into vapor midair and drifting away before refreezing farther out.
The dry patch around them expanded steadily.
Ten ters.
Twenty.
Fifty.
By the ti the heat stabilized briefly, a perfect circle nearly a hundred ters wide had been cleared of snow entirely, leaving bare stone, scorched earth, and the blackened remains of dead trees standing like silent witnesses.
And still, the heat climbed.
Han Yu's clothes were the first casualty.
Pufff~
The thick furs and layered fabrics that had protected him from the Harrow Mountains' cold began to smolder, threads curling and blackening. Within seconds, they ignited fully, flas racing across them in silent obedience to the greater heat.
WHOOSH.
The fire burned hot and fast, leaving nothing behind but drifting ash that was carried away by the rising warmth.
Chitterfang's fate was no different.
The small creature's fur singed, curled, and then vanished entirely, burned away without resistance. Beneath it was bare, pink skin crisscrossed with glowing veins, giving the hairless rodent a deeply unsettling appearance, like a tiny, living furnace wrapped in flesh.
Neither of them noticed.
Ti passed without asure.
Hours bled into days, days into sothing indistinct. The fla gradually subsided, compressing itself back into a smaller, denser spark deep within Han Yu's body. It did not disappear. It simply quieted, as if satisfied.
The snowstorm above weakened.
Clouds thinned.
And eventually, morning ca.
A single drop of water fell from a thawed branch overhead and landed squarely on Han Yu's face.
Plop
His brow twitched.
Another drop followed, colder this ti, splashing against his cheek.
Plop
"Huh…?"
Han Yu's eyes snapped open.
He inhaled sharply and imdiately froze, his gaze darting left, right, and then wildly upward as his heart began to race.
"What… where…?"
He pushed himself upright in a sudden motion, only to blink in confusion at the sight around him.
There was no snow.
None at all.
He sat in the middle of a wide, barren circle of exposed rock and dirt. Dead trees stood scattered around him like charred skeletons, their bark blackened and cracked.
Beyond the edge of this strange clearing, the world abruptly returned to normal, thick snow piled high and undisturbed, forming a sharp boundary as if soone had drawn a perfect line around him.
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