The soldier had a few moments of relief: the wood remained solid, steady, and sure, maneuvering beneath his hands and weight as they were dictated. With the portions finally obedient, and free of disaster, he persevered in his efforts and concentration, sliding pieces back and forth to ensure they were adequate for the task, affixing metal rods where they were required. It was the last instances of calm and sanctity – for no sooner had he positioned one of the more formidable chunks in its rightful place, did dust fall from its hiding place, sliding in a single movement that brought an instant reaction to the great, hulking man.
He shuddered – and the notion became so bizarre that his brain, his skin, his flesh, couldn’t keep up with the chilling, possessive wake. It was as though he’d been thrown into a frozen lake, plunging deep into its fathoms and depths, incapable of finding the surface, struggling to breathe, struggling to move, struggling to do anything but sit there and shiver. His teeth clicked together and his fingers shook; his mind calculated worlds from beyond the parallel, nonchalant, glacial walls and towering mountains, metallic guards reigning along border walls, tedious hours spent wandering through snow, ice, and rime. The beast might’ve cried out but he couldn’t recall; it felt like hours before his hands would move of their own accord, that his lips didn’t turn blue.
The monster shook his head and shoulders, rubbed his hands up and down his thighs in attempts to restore feeling to their filaments – he couldn’t explain anything that lingered on his skin or in his mind, and by simple perseverance, by numbing conjectures, he tried to continue in his efforts to restore the foundation, the column, the portal of the shop. Deimos coughed once or twice too, focused his eyes, his gaze, on his surroundings, but they altered from dimension to dimension, and he was frozen there, stilled and chilled, rapacity clinging to his motions and notions as his fingers felt like knotted, gnarled growths, struggling to maintain their prior abilities. He wasn’t about to stop – but yearned instantly for the frenzy and inferno of fire.
