Asteriel | Alec Lightwood

Chapter 13

Icy cold, a momentary feeling of being freezing, but that is quickly overcome by scorching heat. Which makes no sense, as what I mostly see around me is thick snow, and clearly the weather is frosty, as my breath is steaming. I feel I'm straining myself like I've never done before. I'm standing in the middle of two glaciers, my hands outstretched in front of me, and what makes me able to see my surroundings is the light that comes off them, like the sun itself.

I can hear hissing and clank of blades, as well as groans, howls and gurgles noises behind me, and I know there's a fighting going on. In front, demonic creatures are trying to reach me, but some invisible barrier is preventing them of doing so. But despite all the noise around me, that's not what catches my attention, but a breathy husky voice, calling me desperately "Aster! As! Please, stop!"

I try to look around, searching for the source of it, but I'm not able to find it. And suddenly, I feel pain radiating throughout my body, the glaciers start to make cracking noises, breaking apart, and soon I see me and the demons being swallowed by ice. The only sound I can hear now is wail, but I don't know if I'm the one doing it, or the demons. Perhaps, both.

My eyes snap open, and I jolt straight up from my sleep, gasping for air, my heart pounding and I'm covered in sweat. I'm breathing heavily, and of course, I know what this was, another nightmare, but way different from my usual ones. My eyes scan my surroundings, and I remember that I am in one of the Instute's bedrooms.

After my friends came to rescue us from the vampires early in the morning, I discovered that apparently I can feel emotions of others, the reason why I don't know, nor how to control it, and why it's happening just now. I know that I was always an empathetic person, but not that much.

Alec was bewildered about it just as much as I was, but right now, there was nothing much we could do, since he as well didn't know how this was possible without an empathy rune. He also told me what he learned about the Prophecy with Hodge, and now apparently, my next clue is with the most heinous person, Valentine Morgenstern.

We came back to the Institute, and I could take a shower to finally get some real sleep, without being knocked onto it. At least, try to sleep, but I knew it was just a matter of time for my nightmares to come haunt me again.

Suddenly, my door burst open, which makes me slightly flinch but I'm instantly calmed down when I see it's Alec, quickly making his way towards me.

"What happened? I heard you scream." He looks around the room, searching for any threats.

"I'm sorry for waking you up. It was just a nightmare, please go back to sleep." I reassure him, running a hand on my face, as always I notice how my skin is on fire, so I get out of bed to splash some water on my face and get rid of the sweat.

"Wait." He grabs my arm, but as soon as he touches me, he flinches jerking his hand away and hiss, looking at it.

"What's wrong?" I quickly approach him, but when I focus on the hand he's looking at, I notice his fingertips are red. "Did I just burned you?!" I desperately ask him.

"Don't worry, I can heal it." He calmy tells me without bother, reaching to pick his stele.

"How are you not freaking out?! My skin just burned you!" I bellow and dash to the bathroom.

"Aster, what are you-" Alec calls out to me, but stops middle sentence when I immediately get under the shower, instantly pouring cold water on me, not even caring about taking off my clothes. The moment the water touches my skin, steam starts to appear and cloud the entire room. "Oh my god." I mutter, bewildered. Alec runs to me.

"By the Angel, Aster." He says, furrowing his brows, with a worried expression. "I needed to lower my temperature." I trail off, the steam starting to dissipate, and I know it worked cause I'm starting to shiver from the cold. Alec hurries to pick a towel for me.