Frostfire Legacy

*KIIIIN!* *KIIIIN!* *KIIIIN!*

As soon as Aster's senses returned, the sound of warning sirens deafeningly echoed in his ears. It was wailing so loudly that he wanted to plug his ears with his fingers. Unfortunately, he still couldn't move.

[Warning! Disconnected from the power source. Starting Shutdown Process…]

The icy cold was caressing his skin, and all he could see was total darkness. Only his ears functioned properly, letting him hear the loud warning notification that wouldn't lose to the siren's volume.

'Shutdown…?'

Due to the jaw-jitteringly low temperature, his mind was taking time to process the information.

*PSHHH!*

However, he wasn't given enough time to think. As the shutdown process of the Cryogenic Capsule reached its end, the lid started to release creaking sounds as it swung open, revealing the not-so-bright world spreading beyond.

"...!"

But the sight before him wasn't peaceful-looking at all.

The familiar, pure white laboratory looked nothing like its past glory—dark, dilapidated, filled with invasive tree roots, and covered with cracked walls. Aster could only see the outlines of everything around him because of the green glow of the emergency lights that illuminated the area.

However, within that scene, something alien was present. Despite his senses not returning to normal yet, the big pair of eyes, with vertical pupils, and the forked tongue that was licking the air now and then were burned into his vision.

"Remember, don't move immediately after waking up. Wait for the cold to fade first."

Almost as if experiencing a revolving lantern phenomenon, Aster's father's words echoed inside his head on repeat.

'Don't move… I can't move!'

Confused and ridden with fear, Aster could only stay still and stare at the red eyes directly. A dream? With all his senses as vivid as they were, he highly doubted it. As such, the giant snake looming over him, with a mouth large enough to swallow him whole while standing, was definitely not his imagination either!

*Hiss!*

Its long tongue licked the air, flicking right before his nose. Despite that, he kept his body as still as a corpse, not even daring to take a breath.

Luckily, the giant snake moved away from him shortly after.

Judging from the holes that could be faintly seen on its face, near its mouth, Aster guessed that it was searching for prey through heat—infrared radiation. His body being cold right after thawing saved his life!

'But I can't stay here for long…'

If time passed and his temperature returned to normal, then he'd surely be found in a heartbeat. He needed to escape before then.

Moving his eyes, Aster checked the surroundings. Other than looking extremely dilapidated, or rather, decaying, nothing is blocking the paths. Seeing that, his mind began to turn rapidly.

'With the state of the lab, I doubt the elevator is still working. Rather, where are all the workers? The researchers? Mother? Father?'

A wave of sadness hit him for a moment, but his brown eyes quickly returned to their usual fiery glint.

'First, I need to survive from here,' he asserted to himself.

The questions of "how," "what," and "why" should come later.

The giant snake, whose head was as big as the three-meter-tall Cryogenic Capsule, had its body spread, slithering around the entire place. Aster could tell that if he wanted to head to the exit, he needed to bypass its long, thick body first and foremost.

After confirming that the snake was moving away and heading deeper into the laboratory, Aster finally moved. He planted both hands on the edge of the capsule, pulling himself out of it. His nonexistent muscles, due to not thawing completely yet, creaked under the pressure, but he didn't mind.

Rather than minor injuries, his survival was the first priority!

*Thud!*

Aster landed on his feet, trying to limit the sound as much as possible. His head flicked up, checking the giant snake's movement, but it didn't show signs of noticing him just yet.

"..."

Tiptoeing, while being careful not to step on the random rubble around, he slowly inched closer to the fire exit. It was the only place with stairs that were directly connected to the surface. The laboratory was located on the 9th underground floor, so it would take him a long time to reach the surface from there.

*Slither* *Slither*

"...!"

The giant snake's body moved close by and almost hit him, causing Aster's heart to beat fast from surprise and anxiety.

*Huff!*

Aster took another deep breath before holding it in once more. Thanks to his use of a special breathing method, he usually needed five to six breaths per minute. Thanks to that, he could further limit the noise he was releasing.

'But my heart's beating so loud, I worry the snake would hear it!'

Taking a step back, making enough space not to accidentally touch the snake's body, Aster started to traverse the laboratory once more. He climbed on top of some sturdy-looking, dilapidated machines, dove under a few, and went the long way around, all just to stay under the radar.

It took him roughly a minute to reach his destination without alerting the giant snake.

As soon as he reached the barricaded exit, he heaved a sigh of relief before taking another deep breath.

*Huff!*

He then touched the door's locking bolt while hoping that rust hadn't locked it in. He should've prayed for something different right then.

*SCREEEEEEE!*

"...!"

As soon as he touched the handle, twisting it out of the lock, a loud screech as metal scraped metal echoed in the silent laboratory. At that instant, the giant snake's body stiffened and stopped moving.

"Shit!"

He could already guess what would happen next, so he didn't try to stay quiet anymore. He exerted all his strength, trying to push the bolt out of the way as it screeched louder than cicadas on a hot summer day.

*SLITHER!*

The sound of the giant snake moving fast reached his ears, making his heart pound with fear. "Come on! Open!" He groaned as he pushed it with all his weight added.

Still, he was weak.

Even before he was frozen inside the Cryogenic Capsule, he had always been a weakling. It was to the point that he needed a nurse to support him just to walk, after all.

If not for the situation forcing him to, then he would probably stay in the capsule and wait for someone to save him instead of moving his body around.

*HISS!!!*

Finally, the snake's head returned. It quickly turned to Aster, whose body temperature had already returned to normal. The snake rushed forward, fangs bared, ready to swallow him whole. The fire exit was still locked shut by then; the blolt stuck and refused to move.

"...!"

He let out a gasp before raising both hands to cover his face, shutting his eyes out of fear and surprise. However, his mind never stopped running. He was thinking of ways to survive against the snake, and for some reason, one idea was stuck in his mind.

'If only I could lower its temperature, I could force it to hibernate!'

*WHOOOOOSH!*

At that instant, something beyond his common sense occurred. With a loud sound, as if a powerful gale just passed through, the entire room's temperature dropped. Aster, who was waiting for the snake's bite, opened his eyes warily, only to see the entire place getting covered in ice!

The snake, with its large mouth wide open a meter away, turned into an ice sculpture in an instant.

"This is…"