Pain! My whole body hurt!
My skin burned, my bones groaned, my blood boiled, and my organs trembled. Unprecedented pain flooded into my mind like countless red-hot iron needles piercing my skull and relentlessly prodding my sensitive nerves.
In the crater, the petite blue-haired girl curled into a ball. Her clenched silver teeth chattered, sweat soaked her entire body, and her body spasmed without pause. Her scattered consciousness grew increasingly muddled, while her overwhelmed body approached the brink of total collapse.
Was I... dead?
A sorrowful thought surfaced in her mind, and her painful struggle gradually weakened.
"At the hour of rest, forget not the song, forget not the prayer, forget not me..."
Amid the chaos, an ethereal, holy chant drifted into her ears, like the hymns she had once heard in church.
"With my lightness, I shall cast off every burden..."
Accompanied by an unreal sensation of detachment, her frail consciousness drifted away. Her soul passed through darkness and rose into endless light, finally immersing itself in a pure white sacred spring to receive the baptism of life.
Warm... comfortable...
At the same time, Aresia vaguely felt her burned skin tingle as it healed, her boiling blood slowly cool, and her broken bones reset themselves.
All pain, all burdens, were wrapped in that warmth and melted away...
Aresia, sensing something in her embrace, fluttered her eyelids.
In her daze, she seemed to see gentle spirits of light dancing around her amid the shade of a breeze-stirred forest. A saint strolling across the grass gently held her in his arms, softly humming syllables like a lullaby.
Was this... heaven?
I think... I saw angels. I saw the Lord...
The violence once buried deep in her flesh and bones unknowingly dissipated. Her little face, previously twisted in pain, became peaceful and