Haruno's breathing had grown ragged again but not from cold. This time, it was heat.
She felt too hot.
Sweat clung to her neck, trickled down her arms and pooled under the thin layer of fabric she had left. Phaser had taken off his coat to cover her, leaving her in a sleeveless tank top and shorts that weren't meant for the biting cold of a blizzard. Yet, somehow, she wasn't freezing.
She leaned against the cave wall beside him with her back pressing against the rough stone. The faint heat of the fire was nothing compared to what she felt inside. She pulled at her top slightly, fanning herself with one hand, hair sticking to her skin.
"Why am I so hot? I should be freezing to death right now, not sweating like it's summer."
Phaser, sitting next to her with his legs stretched and arms folded, turned his head lazily toward her.
"Xana flow."
"Xana flow?"
"Yeah. The blizzard outside isn't just snow. It's laced with Fluvium interference. The cold suppresses your Xana flow. It slows circulation. Now your body's resisting that control, so it's compensating by overheating. Think of it like a fight between the elements inside you."
Haruno frowned, still fanning herself.
"So my body's heating itself up to keep my Xana from being inactive?"
He leaned his head back against the cave wall, closing his eyes briefly.
"Exactly. You're lucky though. It means the worm can't control you while your body's burning that hot. The downside is… well, you'll sweat like a pig."
She shot him a glare through flushed cheeks.
"You could've said that less rudely."
"You're alive, aren't you?"
She huffed, pulling the cloak tighter around her waist and sitting up straighter. Her hair was a mess, sticking to her forehead, but she didn't care. The air in the cave felt humid, heavy with steam from both of them, and most of that was because of him. She turned to him, narrowing her eyes.
"You don't seem bothered at all. Aren't you hot?"
He opened one eye and gave her a dry look. "No."
"That's it? Just no?"
He stretched his arm out lazily, flexing his fingers as faint steam curled off his skin.
"Mm. I don't overheat like you. My body regulates temperature differently."
"How? You've been warm since I woke up. It's like sitting next to a furnace."
Phaser tilted his head slightly, thinking. Then he said, almost casually.
"When humans consume the flesh and blood of a Fluvium and survive Flux Corrosion, they inherit fragments of Fluvium physiology."
Haruno blinked, unsure if she heard right.
"Wait, you ate a Fluvium?"
"The real Phaser did when he was five. It wasn't exactly voluntary but he lived through it."
"That's insane."
"Yeah, it was. Anyway, one of the traits I got is temperature resistance. My body adapts to extreme environments. In the cold, I emit heat hot enough to melt snow before it touches me. In heat, I emit a cold chill. I don't burn, and I don't freeze."
"So… your body creates heat in cold?"
"Automatically. It's how I kept you from freezing back there. You were turning blue."
Her blush deepened. She turned away, muttering, "You didn't have to say it like that…"
Phaser chuckled softly, rubbing the back of his neck. The warmth from his hand created small wisps of vapor in the air. She looked at him again, curiosity creeping into her expression.
"If you can't freeze or overheat, how do you even feel temperature? Like, how do you shower? Or—wait—don't tell me you don't need to."
Phaser turned to her with a half-smile that was both amused and incredulous.
"Of course I shower, Haruno."
"I had to ask."
"I still feel temperature. I'm just immune to its effects. My nerves register warmth and cold like anyone else's, but they don't trigger survival responses. No hypothermia, no heatstroke, no frostbite."
"So you feel it, but it doesn't do anything to you."
"Right."
"That's kind of unfair."
Phaser shrugged again. "Depends. You ever shower in near-freezing water just to get your body to ignite and start steaming?"
She frowned. "Wait, you do that on purpose?"
"It helps. My body runs hot after that. It's like self-regulation. I get so warm it feels like I'm sitting in a sauna. Makes it easier to endure blizzards like this one."
Haruno blinked, then laughed quietly, her exhaustion showing in the sound.
"You're seriously using yourself as a portable sauna?"
"Efficient, right?"
"That's one way to put it. I can't tell if I should thank you for keeping me warm or blame you for making it worse in here."
"You can do both."
A comfortable silence settled for a moment, filled only by the faint pop of firewood and the howling wind outside.
"How long have we been here, anyway?"
He checked a small cracked wristwatch, though it was clear the thing hadn't been designed for Fluvium Fields.
"Three days. Maybe more."
"Three days? Ugh, wonder I feel disgusting."
"Time runs differently here, though. Like all Fluve Fields."
Her eyes narrowed. "You mean…"
"We're not in the real world. We're inside their world. Here, time, space, even gravity shift."
Haruno's eyes darkened a little. "And that worm?"
He exhaled through his nose. "That thing's the predator here. A guardian, maybe. As you know, the Blood Odachi forces the one affected by it to face their loss of control and that thing feeds on it."
She went quiet. The firelight reflected faintly off her eyes, and for a moment, she looked like she was seeing the blizzard again.
"That explains why I couldn't stop walking. It's why I felt like… like I wasn't even in my own body."
"Now you know why the original Haruno Nishikata came out of this trial lifeless. She probably lost more than just control. Maybe that's why she almost killed Verdamona and betrayed her."
Haruno clenched her fists on her knees.
"That won't happen to me."
"I know. I'm not letting it happen to you either. We just need to get out of the worm's territory. Fighting it is suicide. It's a predator affecting one's consciousness. I'm sure it doesn't die in the usual way."
Haruno took a deep breath, her resolve slowly solidifying again.
"So we run?"
"Not run. We outthink it."
She rolled her eyes. "You always make it sound easy."
"It's not easy. I'm just glad it doesn't know any other way apart from walk."
She couldn't help but smile slightly at that.
"You know, Phaser…"
"Yeah?"
"You're kind of unbearable when you're right."
He laughed quietly, leaning his head back again. "That's the nicest thing you've said to me since we came here. Apart from thanking me of course."
She smiled faintly, shaking her head. The tension between them eased, even with the blizzard raging outside. The cave still reeked of cold air and damp rock, but with his warmth beside her, it didn't feel so hopeless. They didn't know when the worm would appear again. Or when the trial would end. But for now, at least for this brief, fragile moment, they were alive.
"We should sleep. I'm going to cover the entrance with my void and strings just in case there are other Fluviums here."
She nodded as she lay on the cave floor. She took out a blanket from a hologram beside her, which was her System Inventory.
"Well, goodnight. Can you cook later? I heard from Hinesia that you're a good cook. I don't know how to."
"Okay. Right after I got to bed. Goodnight Haruno."
"Night."