Stone Cold

Chapter One

The first thing I ever knew was cold.

Cold air.

Cold stone.

Cold metal.

I became aware slowly, as if each sense was being turned on one by one. The next sense was my hearing, a low, horrific, chant managed to reach my ears. I couldn't understand a word and that terrified me. Fear began to set into my bones, an irrational, primal, fear that overrode almost all thought. The sudden, sharp, metallic, scent of blood reached my nose and I froze. I knew that I was going to die. Right then, at that moment. With no idea of who, or where, I was.

The chanting had been growing steadily louder as I panicked on what I instinctively identified as slab of stone. And then the pain began. It started as a sharp sting on the palm of my right hand, followed by the bones of my left foot being crushed. A scream escaped my mouth, but was stopped at the sudden agony in my chest. It felt like a hole had been ripped in my heart. A searing pain in my side made it feel like I was being ripped in half.

The chanting grew louder and the wounds came faster and faster and worse and worse. I don't know how long it lasted, I don't even know how I was still conscious, much less alive. When I couldn't have been much more than bloody pulp, I felt a pain that put all of what I had experienced before to shame. It started in my fingers and toes, as if I had been a thread, and was being re-spun in an entirely different way.

It slowly made it's way, inch by agonizing inch, to the center of my chest, where the pain gathered. It suddenly lunged upwards, passing through my throat and into my head. An unnatural, demonic, scream had filled the air, and I was confused as to what it was, until I realized it was coming from me.

I stopped, tears flowing freely, as the pain built in my head, before vanishing entirely. In its place grew a strange strength. I knew at that moment, through the trials I had just witnessed, I had become an unstoppable force.

Slowly, deliberately, I sat up. The chanting had stopped, but the sound of beating hearts filled the void. A soft warmth built up in my throat, and my mouth opened slightly to better take in the scent of my new prey. Whoever had done this to me had made a terrible mistake. A soft grin settled on my face.

With ease, I broke through the chains, and in an instant I was upon them. Screams filled the air once more as my teeth broke through flesh and hot blood coated my throat. Before I had even been able to fully realize what I had done, the only chanters left were among the dead. None had escaped my supernatural wrath. My knees hit the ground and I took in a shaky breath.

It was like waking up from a dream. Unsteadily, I took the robes off of one of dead and threw it on myself. Looking at my surroundings for the first time made me aware that I was in a cave. Stumbling, I found myself at the entrance. To my surprise, I was faced with snow. Unfazed by the cold, I stepped outside. In the distance I was able to see tiny pinpricks of light.

I took a deep breath and marched forward into the wintery night. Snow flurried around me, sticking to the robe and my skin where it failed to cover it. The lights flickered in the distance in an intriguing pattern, as if more than snow was blocking their access to my eyes. The snow was deep and it was difficult to move through it, each step covered my legs in the white powder to the knee. Surprisingly, I didn't feel cold.

The wind howled as the snow began to fall thicker. The lights were a bit bigger, but otherwise were no closer. The pitch black from the storm was nearly overwhelming and I started to attempt to move faster. I marched, on and on, through the heavy snowfall, not even entirely conscious. The lights blurred before everything went dark.

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"Why is she still suh cold? What was she doin' out thur? I can' unnerstan' it," a loud, gruff, voice grumbled, not far from my head.

"You can ask her when she wakes up Odie. Don't fret so much ya ol' worrywart," a soft, feminine, voice responded affectionately.

"Buh Lorie, what if-" Odie started to ask.

"I said quit fretting!" Lorie cut him off, and a soft thump followed.

"Oi! Wha' ya go an' smack me fer?" Odie complained. Lorie just grumbled in response. I felt something touch my hand, and as if that was a trigger, my eyes snapped open. The first thing I saw was a pair of startling blue eyes, wide with surprise. The next was a grinning, bearded, face. The man, who I assumed was Odie, grunted in shock from his chair by the bed, while a woman hurriedly bent over and obscured my view of the man. Her hand brushed my cheek and she made shushing noises.

I sat up, " W-where am I?" I managed to stammer. Something in my mouth was making it difficult to speak.

The woman stifled a gasp before responding, "Odie and I's cabin. Odie here found you face-down in the snow cliffs. Don't rightly know how you're alive, but you are." I closed my eyes, that made sense, the last thing I remember was snow. In fact, it was the only thing I remembered. I opened my eyes to look around. Wood walls, and simple furniture met my gaze. I was laying on the only bed.

"How long... have I been asleep?" I asked softly, ignoring the soft twinge of pain in my mouth.

This time, Odie piped up, "Yah been 'ere fer about a day. I dun' know 'ow long yer was in them cliffs." I nodded slowly in response.

"I am sorry for taking your bed," I mumbled, while pulling the many blankets off of myself.

"Oh no! It's quite alright dear! Are you feeling okay?" Lorie reassured me.

I paused my slow crawl out of the bed, "I... think so." No pain in my limbs and my body felt moderately warm, contrary to what Odie said earlier. If anything, I was just tired.

"Well 'at's good, bu' wha' 'bout yer name? Min' sharin' it wif us?" Odie drawled. I opened my mouth to answer, but couldn't. Nothing came to my lips. Confused, I glanced around, taking in the room once more. There were some shelves on the far wall with a couple figurines on one of them. In between the shelves and I was a doorway on the left wall.

"I don't know it," I said finally.

Lorie frowned, "Well, that ain't no good. You need a name. How abouts we give ya one? Until you remember yers, at least?" I thought for a second, but agreed.

"Well then... what should we call ya?" Lorie wondered aloud.

"I thin' I know," mumbled Odie, while he gently reached over and held some of my carmine hair between his fingers, "I thin' it shoul' be Velvet. It kin' fits, eh?"

Lorie clapped her hands together, "It's perfect! What do you think, is Velvet okay with ya?"

I nodded, "Sounds better than any other."

Odie chuckled and let go of my hair. His gaze looked like that of an artist who was preparing a masterpiece. I wouldn't be surprised if he had been the one to make the figurines. Odie stood up from his chair and lumbered off through the door, mumbling something about getting firewood.

Lorie grinned, "I think you'll like it here Velvet."

|Song: World so Cold by Three Days Grace|