The winds were harsh and sharp. Every step Vegis took, he gained another scratch from the wind. The coats he was wearing kept on being shredded on his path, the shoes on his feet were soaked and frozen, the exposed portion of his skin started to get frostbite, and any drop of blood from the numerous cuts that adorn his body would freeze as soon as it touched the ice below him. By the time he got to the beach, Vegis no longer had any coats and all of his clothes were covered in frozen blood. The sands were covered in snow and there were trees that he couldn’t tell why but felt familiar to him. Passing by, the needle leaves of the trees seemed to follow him as he passed by. Time passed and it became very dark with the clouds clearing and revealing the moon. Shooting across the sky were thousands of objects burning in the atmosphere of this place. One of these objects turned around and managed to crash itself directly into Vegis’s back causing him to slam into the ground in front of him. Incredible itching came from the hit area and so Vegis tried to scratch his back against the trees until he skin rubbed off and all that was left was exposed bones and muscle. Vegis continued to walk forward leaving a thick trail of frozen blood behind him.
Voices soon came and went the further inland Vegis got. Whispers of disappointment, screams of anger and anguish, sobs of sadness, and more blasted him as he soon saw a familiar sight from years ago. A long road without end. Vegis looked around for any other sign of a trail he could follow but everything else disappeared other than the tree, snow, and the long road ahead of him. Vegis followed the road once again but this time was different. Every step changed him. A patch of fur here, a section of orange appeared there, a deep itch forming inside of him. His teeth fell out, and new sharper ones came into their place. He tripped once and fell to the floor with pain filling his arms and legs. They got twisted and stretched into sturdy arms and legs meant for moving. The markings appeared on his and started to stray from their original position, the runes in the markings rearrange into new sentences. Days of walking transformed him from an injured man shivering from the cold into a wolf like beast infused with metal. A large bulge started to form on his back as he walked forward until they burst, shooting blood, light, and metal everywhere. The light and metal stopped in the middle of the air before recollecting themselves into four panels in the rough shape of insect wings. The top and base of the wings were made of metal with the light making out the rest of it. Their color shifted from orange, purple, pink, yellow, white, and more. The metal was just a dark gray but had a strange shine to them.
Vegis stretched the wings to their limits and tried to fly above the trees but he immediately smashed his head into an invisible ceiling. He fell to the floor and laid there for an hour, just thinking, “That was stupid”. When he got up, he continued to follow the road for days, a trail behind him made of frozen bits of skin and blood. Months passed and he could see in the distance the same city as last time, but this time on the night side. Frozen and still, nothing in there. It took only a month for him to reach the city but when he entered the city, plants attacked him. The trees uprooted themselves from the sidewalk to try and crush him, the vines slithered like snakes and tried to bind his limbs, bushes would shoot leaves that would burrow into his flesh, and more. Vegis had to slash, bite, and run as much as he could. A moment he wasn’t moving was a moment they got closer.
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Almost a year passed since Vegis got into the city and the plants still were out for his blood. Several of the taller buildings were overtaken by the plants to try and cage him, but he would always manage to rip through them. Vegis could feel himself becoming weaker everyday and if he doesn’t reach the building in the center, he would fall to them. The tallest building was kind of a dead zone to the plants since they couldn’t handle the heat of the unblinking sun. After some planning, Vegis manages to get near the tallest building and enters it from the moon side. Inside, everything was made of ice shaped like plants. Ice chairs sculpted to appear like vines, tables made in a way that made it look like an umbrella plant, and the chandeliers were upside down trees. He wandered the first floor until he saw something that he didn’t notice last time, or perhaps couldn’t notice. An elevator.
He timidly walked over to it, each step filled with more and more tension.
1 step……
2 steps……
Another step…..
Eventually, he managed to get in front of the elevator and pressed the button to go up. A low hum rumbled behind the elevator door, getting louder and louder as time passed. The sound of ice and glass could be heard after a loud snap happened stories above Vegis. A loud boom followed by the shattering of the elevator doors happened, pelting Vegis with metal and ice fragments and even stabbing into his eyes. The only one that was left was the newest eye of his that could peer into things beyond. He hobbled into the elevator and pressed the tallest floor. It took 30 minutes to get there and when they got there, Vegis removed the fragments and healed.
When the elevator reached the top, it was only a couple of floors under the one he wanted to go to. Vegis slowly walked over to the entrance to the stairwell and opened the door. He slowly climbed the stairs, cramped due to his expanded size. When he got to the top of the stairs, he passed through the doorway and entered the room with the special doors. Slowly, he walked over to them, and felt almost nothing. The pressure that blew away his flesh last time was not there, but as soon as he touched the door, unending frost covered his body. It slowly consumed his flesh bit by bit, until all that was left was his metal bones. He began to regain consciousness and slowly took control of the ice, forcing it to mold itself into new flesh and allowing him to face them.
