Punishment Halls

PUNISHMENT V

KILLING MOON

Despair made her heart ache once the van’s metal door slammed shut with a resounding clang, devouring all light from the outside world… And sealing their fate with its echoing finality.

She was scared, incredibly so. It was such an overpowering fright that Koral couldn’t help but extend her trembling fingers towards Kirana, clenching her sister’s hand tightly. The familiar sting of tears threatened to take hold, as it so often did whenever no one else was looking.

The twins weren’t alone inside the confines of the vehicle. Treated just like cargo, many other children huddled together, either clinging to one another in trepidant uncertainty, or cowering in the worn plastic and rusted steel corners.

‘It wasn’t fair… Not now, not like this…’ The reprimand was repeated inside her mind as the van’s old engine roared to life with some struggle. Yet despite the sickening turns of her stomach, the wheels soon enough lurched into motion, every bump and dip in the dilapidated asphalt making them all jump and sway within the near-pitch blackness.

Danger lurked at every corner. This was something the young girl understood all too well, even at her eleven-years old. The streets were all they had ever known, so naturally, they didn’t merely had to learn how to navigate them to survive —they had to bend them to their whims.

A pair of identical blonde girls with striking aquamarine eyes, a rarity among the typical traits of the country, was a surefire way to startle shopkeepers and to distract the city folk. While Kirana played the polite and gracious role, Koral was the rowdy, sneaky and aggressive one —darting in to swipe whatever valuables she could while her sister diverted attention. Their contrasting personas perfectly complemented their thieving trade, honed to a razor’s edge by years trudged upon unforgiving alleys.

But for Koral, it wasn’t much more than that. A mere facade.

For despite her best efforts of keeping a strong outwards front, and Kirana’s refined display of fake vulnerability… It was the latter one who kept an indomitable will and unshakable conviction between the two. Time and time again, it was her sister who had to dry her tears, offering an unwavering smile in the face of hardships and keeping them safe whenever they had to flee from the authorities or unsavory grown-ups.

Naturally, she was the mastermind behind their daring escape from the orphanage. While it was true that she also rejected the mere chance of the two of them being separated, at times Koral felt like she was simply going along with her older sister’s meticulous plans.

Yet to her eyes… Few sights were as beautiful as Kirana’s honey hair, flowing freely as they ran under the twilight glow of the evening sun.

Indeed, if this were to be just another one of their usual coordinated schemes… Koral was certain that things wouldn’t have spiraled so disastrously out of control.

But their twelfth birthday was rapidly approaching, and she craved for nothing more than to give her sister a fleeting illusion that their lives were not a constant struggle, scraping by in the mud just for something to stave off the hunger. For that, she needed money, yet still… She should have known better than to try to swindle alone in the city’s most dangerous corners.

The risks she took were foolish, targeting the adults that were entirely out of her league —recklessness born from a naive desire to prove that she could also be strong if she so wanted.

So why? Why did Kirana follow her? Why did she have to stand up alongside her once she was caught? Why was she now sharing the catastrophic consequences of her stupidity?

“Don’t worry, dummy.” Sensing the guilt gnawing at her thoughts, the older twin forced her own breath into a steady stream as she enveloped Koral’s shoulders in a protective embrace. Their link as twins had always been like this. There was nothing she could hide from her perceptive attention Kirana always knew. “No matter what happens, no matter where they take us.”

>> “We’ll always be together, ok?” Her softly murmured words carried a soothing cadence, tranquilizing Koral’s heart despite the unsettling creaks and groans of the vehicle’s ancient chassis. “So don’t you cry anymore. There must be a way out.”

Gathering her fragile resolve, Koral looked around them with more discerning eyes. There were approximately ten other children in varying states of distress. Some whimpered softly, their faces streaked with fresh remnants of tears, while others stared vacantly, eyes hollow from who knew what kind of horrors they had been forced to endure during their abduction. The air was thick with the mingled stench of stale sweat, fear… And also another unmistakable scent —that of both recent and dried blood.

She shouldn’t be too surprised. She had heard the stories before through hushed rumours and warnings… About how those taken by the northern Cartel were never seen again.

To end up living such tales firsthand was something Koral had thought herself and Kirana too resourceful to ever face… Yet now, in the dim light filtering through the cracks of their weathered prison, she had to confront the reality that they were no different than the others they were trapped with —those she had once dismissed as foolish for even getting caught.

From a boy far too small, clutching onto a tattered stuffed animal like a lifeline, to a young woman who reacted fiercely whenever other children approached her. All of their disheveled appearances and the still-recent marks of hurt in their bodies signaled a very clear message —whatever hell they had been thrown into had only just begun to bare its fangs.

Yet amid this waking nightmare… Kirana remained as her anchor, a solitary point of security in a sea of anxiety. Against her best wishes to appear strong and reliable, Koral clung to her sister, enough for her nails to dig into her skin.

Not even once did the older twin protest… Nor did the ominous and uncaring rumble of the wheels ever cease, carrying them all deeper into the abyss of the unknown.

While her handle on the passage of time was loose inside that claustrophobic metal cage, Koral sensed they must have been on the road well over an hour, and way more than enough to leave the familiar streets of their home city far behind.

After she had finally calmed, Kirana gently released her embrace as she allowed Koral to catch her breath on her own, the older of the twins probing both the door and the thin interior walls with testing fingers. Perhaps this was her own way of coping with the mounting panic, channeling it into a meticulous examination of their prison.

Sadly, no amount of searching appeared to yield any promising result. They remained hermetically sealed inside, with no escape hatches or weaknesses to exploit, even if the only thing awaiting them on the other side was the high-speed blur of the asphalt.

But even as Kirana returned to her side wearing a disgruntled expression, the younger sister knew that the frustration simmering behind her eyes meant that she had no plans to accept this development without a fight. She refrained from voicing any potential strategies aloud, leading Koral to rationalize her tense silence —perhaps she was yet to formulate a definite plan for their extreme situation.

Believing that such a breakthrough was imminent, Koral waited for Kirana with bated breath… Yet no clever scheme ever came out of her lips, not even when the van gradually juddered into a complete halt.

It must have been hours they had been on the road inside that purgatory of motion, one that now appeared merciful when pitted against the heavy silence that fell on their collective shoulders —broken solely by the fearful shuffling of other children shuddering in anticipation, as well as the opening and closing of doors paired with heavy steps against the ground happening right across the thin steel barriers.

Same footsteps now inching closer and closer, making Koral’s heart lodge in her throat. It was only Kirana’s voice that managed to break the paralytic tension threatening to engulf them all.

“The moment that door opens, you run.” She said, her tone utterly serious and unflinching as her eyes bored into the menacing gate. “Don’t give yourself any chance to think, just keep moving your legs. Run, no matter what.”

Cursing the unfairness of Kirana unveiling her plan at the last possible moment, Koral had no chance to even object before the locks clicked open. In a fraction of a second, her sister charged forward, slamming her shoulder against the door and ramming it against the face of whoever stood on the other side.

Clenching her teeth, Koral burst through the sudden opening, leaping from the elevated surface and wincing as she hit the ground hard, knees immediately protesting the impact. Her eyes needed some moments before adjusting to the intense, harsh lighting reflecting on the sun-baked soil, yet she pushed herself upright despite them and broke into a desperate sprint —heart thundering in her ears.

The world blurred around her as she ran, ragged gasps for breath tearing at her throat, and the arid air burning her lungs with each panicked inhalation. Escape was her singular driving force for the time being, repeating her older sister’s words like a mantra.

Koral could hear more pairs of feet stomping the ground not far from her, yet she barely even dared to look their way, catching only glimpses of her surroundings in her peripheral vision. The vast and endless expanse of the desert, interrupted solely by a brutal concrete building, its exterior bleached bone-white from prolonged sun exposure. Coils of rusty barbed wire lined up menacingly, and in the far distance, she could see the tiny figures of the men she would soon enough be forced to elude as well.

But more important than any of those details, even more than the immediate thugs giving chase to both her and the other children seizing their chance to escape… All of their shared shouts blended into indistinguishable noise as Koral realized that Kirana was not among them.

Her legs jolted to an abrupt stop as her eyes desperately scanned the chaos for any sign of Kirana in a frenzied state. She knew it was wrong, that it was against her sister’s instructions, but she couldn’t help herself —her body simply refused to carry her further.

And then she found her.

Whether it was a consequence of her initial daring stunt or a conscious decision to stay behind as a decoy, Kirana was struggling against multiple pairs of arms trying to contain her. She employed knees and bared teeth in ferocious attempts to make her capture as difficult as possible, but they were grown-ups, and she an eleven-years old.

At that moment, Koral realized that if she had in her the capability of sneaking past the Cartel members giving chase or lying in wait… It would mean deserting her twin sister to a brutal fate.

And that was something every single cell, every fiber of her being, vehemently refused to allow.

A primal scream tore from the young blonde’s throat as she whirled on her heels, hurtling back towards the fray with reckless abandon. Self-preservation was eclipsed by an overwhelming drive to reach Kirana’s side —all consequences be damned.

They would not be separated, not here, not ever. If they were to suffer, they would endure it side-by-side, defiant to the bitter end.

That was her conviction. Stronger than any man or woman that would dare raise a finger against them, firmer than any potential danger, or even death itself. An unyielding resolve that overpowered her fears, forged in the crucible of the harsh slums they called home, and tempered by years of struggle and survival against all adversities.

But also one that would end up ruthlessly snuffed out by a fierce blow directed at her head, interrupting any future assault in its tracks. A sickening crack echoed through the parched air, reverberating in Koral’s skull as something hard and unforgiving collided with the side of her face. Her world exploded in blinding agony, as her vision abruptly fractured into a thousand shards of distorted lights and shadows.

Hotness trickled down her cheek, mingling with the salty taste of her tears as the force of the impact whipped her neck violently. Her knees buckled and her feet left the ground, and soon enough, she was gasping for breath that refused to fill her lungs as the dry dust clung to her bloodied face. Disorientation fully enveloped her senses, all sounds and vibrations distorting into a discordant jumble.

She tried to blink, but her left eye refused to cooperate, as her sight became completely obscured by a veil of crimson. The world continued to tilt precariously as the fractured images bled into one another, clinging to consciousness by the edge of her nails as she refused to be consumed by the encroaching darkness.

Somewhere in the distance, she could make out Kirana’s muffled cries, fueling her desperate attempts to remain aware of everything despite the searing pain that bolted across her now shattered skull.

Hoisted up unceremoniously and carried with disregard, the blank ringing in Koral’s ears made it difficult to discern much beyond the angered admonishments being thrown between the Cartel’s members. Whether they were directed at her, or the man who had struck her down, was a detail drowned by her sister’s anguished screams piercing the fog.

Time became an abstract, unmeasurable construct as Koral stubbornly fought against the ebb and flow trying to swallow her like a live tide. She was only of how she was eventually brought inside the building, away from the sun’s searing glare as the cacophony of the remaining children still being herded and captured outside faded into the distance.

While her left hemisphere was an indistinguishable mess of deep red and black, the young blonde’s unfocused right eye made out the blurred form of a bald man, approaching her soon after she was callously tossed onto the cold concrete floor. His dark-skinned finger wove before her face, struggling to even properly track the sluggish movement.

With similar bluntness, her ruined left eye was forced open, a surge of searing agony driving Koral to whimper piteously. She didn’t need a diagnosis to deduce she wouldn’t be using it anytime soon.

“Shit, man… You fucking blew the little bitch’s eye, I think that shit’s leaking.” The bald man’s tone carries a casual dismissiveness, almost sarcastic in its indifference. “No mercy, huh?”

“We’ve got a good batch going.” Another voice responded with an audible sneer, as if she was nothing more than damaged merchandise to be sold at discount. “Who cares if one or two gets a bit banged up along the way?”

The words hung heavy in the stifling air, their disdain bringing Koral back into agonizing focus out of sheer spite. Even when her trembling form instinctively wanted to curl inwards, she forced herself to look beyond the looming figure of the man above her and sought Kirana, watching helplessly as her sister was similarly dragged into this merciless hell.

“A shame. You had a pretty face.” She was told, coarse fingers disgustingly ruffling Koral’s already blood-soaked hair. “Guess you won’t have that going for you anymore.”

“Don’t touch my sister!” Kirana’s blood-curling scream rang out as she thrashed against the restraining hands restraining both her arms and legs, yet still buckling wildly. “What did you do to her!? Leave her alone!”

Even as her body demanded to be freed from suffering by surrendering to oblivion, Koral’s impaired gaze locked with her sister’s, pretty aquamarine eyes boring into her remaining one with despairing urgency.

For as brittle as her awareness was… The flickers of rational thought sliced through shock —taking everything in heart-rending clarity.

“Feisty, this one.” A voice grated as Kirana was brutally slammed to the ground, a ruthless boot grinding into her throat to hold her firmly in place. One by one, more of the captured children were brought inside and shoved to the sides. An unwilling audience for the incoming atrocities. “You gave me quite a hit back there, whore…”

>> “Better make sure I repay you in kind.”

Already cursing her existence, Koral understood full-well what was about to happen. They would make an example out of her and Kirana, a vicious reminder to ensure none of the others ever entertained the notion of opposing their captors again.

“Damn man, are you sure you wanna do that to her?” The bald man questioned, though he didn’t sound particularly conflicted. “Shouldn’t we just focus on the busted one? She’s damaged goods anyway.”

Koral’s trembles ceased at once, her blood freezing in her veins as a tangible, asphyxiating horror sank into the pit of her stomach. She realized, with dawning dread, that just perhaps it was only she who would pay the price of all mistakes.

With what little remained of her waning strength, she raised her head so her eye never left those of Kirana. Seconds fleetingly stretched into eternity, as she gave a solemn nod, her battered lips curving into a grim, apologetic smile.

“No!” Kirana forced her addled mind to action, sinking her teeth viciously into her captor's leg and taking the brief opportunity to spring back to her feet. Tear-stained eyes brimming with defiance, she lurched towards Koral, desperately trying to place herself as a shield by kneeling in a protective stance. "I'll do anything. Just don't hurt my sister anymore!"

Once more, the younger twin cursed how unfair Kirana was. She was only a bunch of hours older… So then why? Why was she so hell-bent on keeping that big sister charade? Why did she have to be this radiant, even now?

“Shut the fuck up, Milo!” The much older and deeply angered man coiled back after recovering from the bite, staring daggers into Kirana as even more men began to surround them fully —as if to smother them further into hopelessness. “I can’t do the already fucked-up ones.”

>> “Besides, look. This little shit wants to have all the fun for herself.”

Koral tensed as the bastard’s shadow engulfed them, his silhouette blotting out all else as he grabbed Kirana’s legs, dragging her body across the floor. The younger twin similarly wanted to cry out, to beg both the Cartel members and Kirana for a different resolution… Yet her voice was stolen by the blinding panic constricting her throat, and her motions being kept subdued by the grip of the man called Milo.

“Stay put.” His tone was strange, completely lacking in empathy even as his grip on Koral softened just enough to avoid further harm. “You don’t have to watch this.”

Whatever naive hope of keeping Kirana safe from this fate was eradicated with brutal swiftness, as a large fist connected squarely with the older twin’s temple in a sickening burst of force. The blonde girl’s struggles ceased into a sluggish halt as the back of her head slammed into the unforgiving concrete beneath, falling into disturbing stillness that sent tremors through Koral.

That ‘she didn’t have to watch?’ Who the hell did that man think he was!? As soon as his finger moved to cover her remaining eye, the younger twin jerked her head, baring her teeth as she bit down his hand ferally. She didn’t need his twisted sympathy, nor did she want it.

Milo let out a silent grunt before shaking before wrenching his hand, shaking off her teeth. Yet he didn’t deliver the death-sentence Koral so desperately craved if it could mean sparing Kirana’s life.

“Fine, do whatever you want.” The bald man sighed, with Koral’s head already numbed enough that she barely registered the pain of his fingers tightening in her blood-matted hair. “This is the world you’re in from now on.”

>> “Make sure to remember it vividly.”

Trapped and powerless in the face of torture, Koral could only watch in impotent anguish as the remaining men converged around Kirana’s motionless form like a pack of rabid vultures, descending upon carrion…

And with clear tears falling from her right eye, and blood-red ones streaking down her left… Koral swore at that moment that she would make them pay for this —be it at the cost of her own life, or even after her death.

So even with her impaired sight, the younger twin kept her gaze unblinkingly fixed ahead, refusing to look away from the unfolding horror. She watched as Kirana’s beautiful aquamarine eyes, once so vibrant and full of determination, now met hers —the two sisters sharing a moment of unspoken connection in those final moments of innocence.

Their gazes never parted, all the world contracting around her form, even when Kirana’s frame began rocking and convulsing from the brutalities being inflicted upon it.

Perhaps she should’ve looked away. Spare herself and her sister even that small dignity… But she owed it to her to bear witness. To make a tally of all transgressions in preparation for the reckoning she would eventually rain on their shoulders.

At times, the men shouted vile taunts and snarls that Kirana deserved this for daring to attempt an escape. That this was their corrupt idea of justice. Koral understood on some level that this was a scare tactic, meant to intimidate the other children into submission —but even if it wasn’t, their monstrous discipline could go fuck itself.

Fuck their cruel logic. Fuck their justice. Fuck them all.

A cold, hard knot of rage took root in Koral’s chest, hardening her resolve even as it displaced what little sanity remained. A seething desire for vengeance burned away all else as it spread like wildfire through her veins.

But that wrath was gradually eclipsed by a suffocating chasm of despair when Kirana’s vibrant eyes began to dim, their light fading beneath the spreading crimson stain on the concrete. Her twin tried to desperately reach out with a hand now missing its fingers, and Koral mirrored the futile gesture in complete desolation.

If they could not touch physically… Perhaps their spirits could do so one last time.

And then Kirana was gone from this world.

Koral didn’t need confirmation —she knew it immediately in the depths of her soul, as if a vital piece of her heart had been violently torn away. An empty husk was all that remained where her beloved sister’s vibrant warmth had once shined so brightly.

No amount of vengeance could ever salve the desolation that hollowed out Koral’s heart as Kirana’s eyes went blank and sightless. She could fantasize about retribution endlessly, but she understood then that she was just as culpable as those vile Cartel members.

It was her who had been originally captured. Her who had allowed Kirana to attempt that final, fatal gambit. Her lack of strength that left her unable to protect her other half. Her who had taken for granted her twin’s constant companionship, keen wit and lustrous life force…

… But she could contemplate how to punish herself later —once every single one of those sadistic bastards was buried six feet underground.

Unsure of how, Koral’s remaining eye abandoned Kirana’s unmoving body to fixate upon the men. Their smug, piggish faces were twisted in unfettered sickness, or even twisted enjoyment at the depravity they had wrought.

Their hands were still glistening with her sister’s blood, their bodies well-fed and sated from the spoils of their evil deeds. A primal loathing roared through her being like a caged animal locked in the depths of her core. She hated them. Hated their features, their sneers, their very existences —with every fiber of her being cursing them to death.

And from that towering tsunami of wrath, something new and monstrous took shape. As if blessed to harbor Kirana’s now adrift soul within her own, Koral felt an incandescent power surge forth within. An ethereal specter, given form by her unbridled anger and guilt, projected outwards —driving itself straight towards the murderers like a vengeful apparition.

The formless maelstrom erupting from Koral’s reduced frame rapidly took on a distinct shape, solidifying into the large silhouette of an adult woman swathed entirely in a layer of fabric-like black skin with erratic glistening of scales scattered unevenly across her. Over this seeming suit hung tattered strips of white material, fluttering like remains of a shredded dress.

Above all, it was the being’s head that filled Koral with awe and a hint of fear. A tumultuous mane of hair cascaded from it in waves of blues and white like a negative picture —lush phantasmagoric strands spilling and waving in their sheer abundance, obscuring any defined facial features to leave only an interrupted impression of her slim feminine form.

In a seamless, blurred motion, the specter’s arms extended with unnatural dexterity, her limbs ending in viciously sharp points like needle blades. Koral could only watch with parted lips, struggling to draw breath, as those wicked black lances stabbed mercilessly the nearest cartel thug towering over Kirana’s corpse. The being seemed to hover just above the ground, propelling itself with ghostly intangibility while her sword-like feet scraped the concrete floor.

Violence faded into a feverish crimson haze in the mind’s eye of the young blonde girl. The sprays of riven flesh and ropes of viscera fell to the ground as the avenging force began to lay waste, unstoppable and mercilessly. It was a mural of utter carnage unfolding in a frenzy too rapid for Koral to comprehend.

All she could process from the first crucial moments was only the gratifying crescendo of screams abruptly choked into bloody gurgles, one by one. At least, until more comprehensible words reached her ringing ears.

“The bitch awakened a Punisher!” One of the men fumbled in shock as they began scattering from the homicidal whirlwind. For most, it didn’t seem like they could actually perceive the presence of the monster —only reading her position through the arcs of blood being forced out of their torn flesh. “Milo, the fuck are you waiting for!?”

>> “Kill her! Now!”

“Psh. That’s why you don’t go around kicking potential wasp nests without consideration.” The always detached cadence of Milo’s voice responded, making Koral’s eye widen as she remembered his presence next to her. She had stupidly forgotten about him in the blinding surge of rage… Yet the bald young man appeared unnaturally calm despite the hellish massacre still unfolding. “This is just the way it goes in our line of work. Nothing against you in particular little one.”

>> “Orders are orders. Otherwise it’s my neck on the line.”

The blue-haired monster turned towards her then, the endlessly cascading strands parting briefly to reveal the vague impression of lips opening to scream. But Koral didn’t have the chance to even hear it before the deafening blast of a gun clap drowned everything in the blink of an eye.

In that endless instant, her world went utterly black. An impenetrable void where not even the faintest glimmer of light penetrated. No sights, no sounds, just the illusive sense of floating adrift in a limitless expanse of oblivion. Had she died? Transcended into another plane of existence? Koral couldn't tell.

There was just… Nothing…

… At least until everything abruptly snapped back into place. Her hands were clawing at the concrete floor once more, her body completely paralyzed in the wake of that deathly experience. Her killer seemed just as stunned and disoriented as she was —for it had certainly happened. She had been shot in the head, the lingering smoke wafting from Milo’s barrel confirming it.

“Why is not stopping!?” One of the Cartel thugs cried out in a panic. “Did you fucking miss, cabron!?”

Koral raised her trembling eye to find the ethereal blue-haired specter still present, those endlessly lashing tendrils of ghostly tresses whipping about with furious intensity as they constricted and sliced through the men, perpetuating the brutal carnage.

"Did not!" Milo snapped back, his face contorted in a rare show of visible turmoil. "I shot her at point-blank!"

"Then do it again you stupid son of a bitch!" The other man bellowed “Kill her as many times as it takes to—“.

His words were abruptly drowned out by a deafening thunder.

Without warning, streaks of searing incandescence diced through the open gates, the brilliant rays of light cutting through the madness like solar flares. Hissing cries of agony erupted as super-heated beams cauterized flesh from bone, charring and silencing any in their path with gruesome finality.

The blinding radiance poured forth in an overwhelming deluge, mercilessly consuming everything in its path as it rapidly advanced across the compound's interior. Even Milo did not escape the judgment, sent back from his position above her —though the young girl was certain he had done something to intercept the attack.

For Koral? She could only cower and shut her eye against the blistering onslaught, her other senses overwhelmed by the reek of burnt ozone and the sounds of calcined bodies violently convulsing.

Then, as abruptly as it had begun, the fiery onslaught ceased —an eerie, scorched silence falling over the scene of smoldering devastation. Koral cracked her eye open once more to find the blue-haired specter's rampage had ended, the apparition now floating protectively before her with its tendrils splayed in a gesture of unearthly elegance.

A new figure strode purposefully through the settling smoke and embers, seemingly untouched by the inferno they had unleashed. He was an older man, wearing a long cream trench coat despite the exterior’s heat, though it appeared to sag at one of his sides. Partly obscured under a white fedora hat and the serious expression underneath, his weathered features appeared almost gentle —the gleam of his deep-yellow eyes offering a solace that Koral desperately needed.

On one of his shoulders rested a large golden eagle-like entity, its body holding as a centerpiece a rotating sphere reflecting light and shapes, emanating an unsettling radiance in a kaleidoscopic manner as sharp talons and a hooked beak surrounded the ensemble. It appeared like another creature similar to her monster, yet neither of them carried even the tiniest hint of danger as the old man walked near.

Still struggling to make sense of all, Koral couldn’t even flinch as the tall and muscular man knelt before her, giving her tiny shoulder a tender squeeze under his large hand. The motion parted his open trench coat, revealing underneath a tidy black suit… And the fact that he was missing an arm.

“It’s ok. I’m here now.” Were his short words, carried through with a sense of loss that shook Koral’s brittle foundations. Unable to contain herself anymore, tears burst forth as if a dam had finished breaking. “My name’s Apollo.”

>> “What’s yours?”

There was just one more thing she picked up then about that silver-haired old man, before emotions took complete control over her —how utterly cold it felt around him. His was a far reaching light that could never warm her like Kirana.