"Fuck. Fuck!" Azael's breath came in sharp gasps. "If I turn back, that thing will catch me. If I stay, it'll eats me. So the only way out… is down."
His eyes locked on the abyss.
No time to overthink. No room for doubt. He yanked the Ice Bear Fur tight across his chest like a shield. "I'm not dying," he muttered through gritted teeth. "Not here. Not like them."
He remembered the healing light. The way it stitched him back together after the bear tore him apart. "It'll heal me again right?. It has to...."
The Ice Giant's footsteps boomed behind him closer. Louder. The ground trembled with each step. Snow cracked like bones snapping.
Azael didn't look back.
He closed his eyes.
Took one deep breath.
And jumped.
---
Wind screamed in his ears, sharp as glass. The cold stabbed at every part of his body, clawing at every inch of exposed skin. But the fur held thick. It wrapped around him like a second skin, cutting the worst of the wind, slowing his spin just enough to keep him from blacking out mid-fall.
"This is gonna hurt," he whispered. "I know this is gonna hurt—"
CRUNCH.
His skull split open on the ice below. Bone gave way. Brain matter spilled onto the frozen ground. Both legs snapped clean through. femurs jutting through torn flesh, knees bent backward like broken branches.
He should've been dead Instantly. But he wasn't. He was still conscious.
Every nerve on fire. Every shattered piece of himself screaming. Pain so deep it felt like his soul was being flayed alive. He couldn't move. Couldn't scream. Could only lie there, eyes wide, watching his own blood steam in the cold before freezing into black ice.
"The fur… didn't help at all…" Darkness pulled at the edges of his vision. Then as azael hope for, the white light appeared.
It poured into his skull, knitted bone, pulled brain back inside, reset tendons with a series of wet pops. His legs straightened. Skin sealed. The agony vanished like it had never been.
Azael sat up so fast he nearly toppled over. He touched his head whole. A wild, disbelieving laugh burst from his throat. He jumped to his feet, grinning like a madman
Then the harsh snowstorm hit him. Cold stabbed his neck, his hands, his face. "Oh----shit!" He snatched the fur off the ground and yanked it back on, shivering violently. "Right. Still in Hell. Got it."
Above him, snow rained down from the cliff edge. He looked up to see the Ice Giant stood there, red eye burning like a coal in the storm, staring straight at him.
Azael didn't hesitate. He raised his middle finger. "HAH! Can't get me now, you bitch!"
For a heartbeat, the giant didn't move. Then it retreated.
One slow step back. Then another. Disappearing into the blizzard like it had never been there.
Azael's grin faded.
"Oh… fuck."
Panic flooded his chest. "Did it understood me?.What if It knows I mocked it!?." He spun and ran.
"Azael, you idiot!" he snarled at himself, legs pumping, fur flapping behind him. "Why'd you taunt it?! Now it's hunting you for real!" The storm swallowed his curses.
-----
Azael's legs gave out.
He collapsed face-first into the snow, too tired to care about the cold biting through the fur. His vision swam. His thoughts slurred. He hadn't slept not once since waking in this frozen hell. His eyes kept dragging shut, heavy as stones, and no matter how hard he bit his tongue, how hard he pinched his arms, his body was done.
"Maybe… I should just stop". The thought didn't scare him anymore. It felt like a relief.
A tear slipped down his cheek and froze instantly. He didn't wipe it away. Just let it sit there, sharp and cold, as exhaustion pulled him under.
He didn't feel himself loosen his grip. But the wind did. A sudden gust caught the edge of the Ice Bear Fur and yanked. The thick pelt tore free from his arms, fluttered like a wounded bird, and began skimming across the snow, faster and faster, carried by the storm.
"WHAT----?" Azael jolted awake. "NO! MY COAT!"
He scrambled up, slipping, falling, catching himself then sprinting after it. Without the fur, the cold hit him like a physical blow. His fingers numbed in seconds. His breath came in ragged, stabbing gasps. But he didn't slow. he also Couldn't. That fur wasn't just comfort it was the only thing standing between him and a slow, frozen death.
He chased it across the ice, lungs burning, legs shaking until the wind relented. The fur dropped onto the snow ahead, limp and still.
Azael lunged, snatching it up like a lifeline. He hugged it to his chest, burying his face in its warmth, trembling.
"Please… don't leave me," he whispered, voice cracking. "I need you." Then he notice a soft, steady glow on his cheek.
He turned around and froze. In the distance, rising from the endless white, stood a structure carved entirely from ice.
Towering. Impossibly vast. Its walls shimmered with an inner light deep, radiant blue, like sunlight trapped in glacier depths. The glow pulsed faintly, casting long shadows across the snow, turning the storm into something almost beautiful.
Azael's breath caught.
"No…" His voice broke. "No way."
He took a step. Then another. Then he was running, tears blurring his vision, a wild, disbelieving laugh bubbling up from his chest.
"SOMETHING ELSE! FINALLY----SOMETHING ELSE!"
He'd walked for hours. Days? Time had bled together in the void. Nothing but snow. Nothing but pain. Nothing but monsters.
And now this. As he drew closer, the scale of it shocked him.
The structure wasn't just big it was monumental. Easily two thousand feet tall. A jagged crown of spires pierced the storm, each one glowing like frozen starlight. The ice wasn't clear. It was layered, ancient, threaded with veins of cobalt and silver, humming with quiet energy. It felt like it was grown out of the snow land.
Azael staggered through the arched entrance the place has no door, just a yawning threshold. Inside, the space opened up like a cathedral.
A central chamber stretched farther than he could see, lit entirely by the ice itself. Stalactites of frozen crystal dripped from the ceiling, some as thick as tree trunks. Walls branched off into corridors, each lined with smooth, vaulted arches. Ice blocks some smooth, some jagged rose from the floor like thrones, altars, or tombs. There were no footprints. No signs of life. Just silence, and that endless, soft blue light.
For the first time since arriving in Hell… he wasn't afraid. He was awed. A grin spread across his face, wide and unguarded. "Omg… omg… omg…"
Then practicality kicked in.
He scanned the room, eyes darting to every shadow, every corridor. Could something be hiding in there? Another bear? Another giant?
"Right. Safety first." His voice dropped, breath fogging in the air. He spotted a massive ice block in the far corner, sheltered by an overhang. "Perfect".
He rushed over, spread the fur across the surface like a mattress, and collapsed onto it.
Warmth flooded his body instantly. The deep chill in his bones began to loosen.
"Okay," he murmured, pulling the edges tight around his shoulders. "I'll scout this place properly once I'm awake. But if something's in here… I won't survive a fight right now."
His eyelids were already closing. "One nap. Just… one nap." His breathing slowed.
And for the first time in eternity
Azael slept.