Warmth (Klance Warmth series Book 1 of +4)

2: Frozen Time

Flashes.

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Catches of color.

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Soft, muffled sounds.

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Darkness rivaling the depths of a gravity hole.

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Silence.

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a

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l

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o

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n

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e

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Muffled murmurs.

?

Tha-thunk.

??

Knock-knock.

??!?

Hiss.

Cold. So cold.

Falling.

Warmth.

"...up..."

He forced his eyes open and immediately squeezed them shut again.

"Too bright," he mumbled through an unexpectedly hoarse throat.

"Wake UP!"

"What the quiznak?!?" he screamed, very much awake.

He pushed himself away from whatever -not a thing, he realized, a person- whoever had been holding him and flailed for balance. He still felt clouded, like his mind was full of yelmor fur, but his eyes were wide open and zipping all over the place trying to figure what the frackin' quiznak was going on around here. He stabilized himself by using the healing pod as a brace.

Healing pod.

"Father?" he called softly, not sure if he was hoping for a response or just seeking some sort of comfort in the endearment.

"Gone."

He blinked and turned to the voice he recognized. There, standing next to the rather large Altenoid alien with blunted ears -what happened to them? Were they cut off?- was his sister.

"'Llura?" he said, attempting to swallow the lump in his dry throat.

Tears brimmed over his older sister's blue-violet eyes and down her cheeks. He straightened, feeling the lingering sleepiness begin to fade away from his mind leaving a cold, sinking feeling, settling like a stone in his gut.

"He's gone," Allura said again, her voice watery and hoarse like his. "He's gone. Father's gone. He's dead."

Dead?