How ironic is it for a demon—a being born in the dephts of hell, a place known for its scorching flames that burns soul to nothingness—to be afraid of fire?
"Meow?" The black and purple cat appears next to a frightened Saki, looking at the young woman with curiosity, as if questioning:
Why are you afraid of your very essence?
Saki's silver eyes turn to small animal's eyes. She gulps as if trying to push down her fear but the cat's stare pressures her to speak, to confront her fear but she doesn't want to.
The tornado of fire, which had been spinning in place, consistently keeping its initial volume, expands violently. Saki, noticing the change, turns on her heels and starts running at full speed. As a demon, she boasts incredible physical properties such as thicker bones, enduring, souple muscles and joints far above humans.
In less than a few seconds, she has already put a distance of five hundred meters between herself and the fearsome tornado, but the phenomenon refuses to give up. In a single breath, it not only catches up to the woman, but swallows her whole.
To her surprise, there is no heat. Only a bone-chilling cold. So intense that time itself seems to stop its course. After swallowing its prey, the tornado calms down, retracting on itself. Saki stops running, hugging herself as a wave of cold assaults her.
She stands still, shivering and unable to take a single step. "... Shit." She curses, clenching her teeth in frustration. Though she is still conscious, she won't be for long as the cold keeps on getting stronger.
"Meow." The cat appears in front of her shivering figure, seemingly unbothered by the cold. It has that curious look in its eyes still. Then suddenly... "Why are you afraid of your very essence?" It asks, its tails calmly resting on the ground.
Saki's eye widened but narrowed the next second. "... This is a Grimoire's domain after all." She utters before falling to the ground.
That unnatural cold does not simply stops at freezing. It is sucking the life away from the young woman. Saki sighs in resignation, she feels like she is going to fall asleep and never wake up again.
"... Looks like it's the end of the road. What a shit show."
With that last thought, her eyes slowly close, to never to open again...
Or so she thought.
***
The cold gradually leaves as warmth replaces it. Saki, feeling the subtle change, opens her eyes, and surprise overtakes her.
"What the...!?"
There is a closet made of black wood in a corner of the room, not too far from it is a desk, on which remains blank paper sheets, and a chair under it, the bed on which she is sitting on has a light blue sheet and a familiar odor of grass.
"... There's no way!" She exclaims, rushing to the mirror resting against a wall near the closet.
Her short hair of black and purple, her silver eyes... They remain the same but her face looks more youthful, as if these years she spent fighting never occurred. She takes off her clothes in a flash, and to her shock, her dark skin doesn't bare any scar.
"I shrunk too!?" She exclaims, feeling her chest, arms, legs. "Well, I kept my height but..."
That is the only thing that remains the same. To confirm her suspicion, she pushes her window open. "... I really am back." She says in a whisper, unable to believe her own eyes.
She currently stands in her home in the village previously known as Boar Bay Valley. " Still as I remember it... Wow."