"PRESTON!!!" 

                        The unconscious Preston who was peacefully and safely laid down in the back seat was nowhere to be found.

                         The entity has abducted Preston within a split second.

                          "No… no, no, NO!" she cried in genuine terror, generously fueled by the very thought of losing her lover, for the possibility of it happening was tragically at its highest at this very moment. In fact, it might've happened already! She could never, ever afford to lose him. Desperate, she crawled her way into the large opening where the missing car door should have been. 

                        In order to properly scan the surroundings and find where Preston could have been dragged out, the devastated Danicka poked her head out of the vehicle, as stupid of a decision it was. But in her defense, everyone truly does stupid shit for love, apparently. Especially when they've got nothing to lose anymore, with the exception of their loved ones. Danicka had nothing but Preston. 

                         And believe it or not, Cryomancy and a pair of fancy glowing eyes weren't actually the only gifts the Emergence had given her. Danicka had been ultimately ditched by her own severely abusive family, a bunch of religious nutjobs, two years ago by the time she made the decision to come out and undergo transitioning as a necessary means to treat her dysphoria. During this phase of her life, she had been in a horribly tough predicament; she had no one to rely on to continue her transitioning and school. While she tried her very best, Danicka admitted that if not for her dear Preston offering help and supporting him in every way he could, she probably couldn't have survived at that time. They met each other nearly three years ago, and not once did Danicka being a trans girl affect their relationship. From taking part-time jobs together with his girlfriend, protecting her from discrimination, and up to sharing his home with her, Preston's love knew no bounds. They worked together as a team to help each other out through thick and thin. And when the fateful storm arrived, it instantly forced Danicka to receive a new body. A full-blown and beautiful female body most women always desired to possess. This was something she was always grateful for as it was, undoubtedly, a miracle. If not for the Emergence, she wouldn't have this physique she always dreamed of achieving. 

                      And if not for the Emergence, Preston wouldn't have been in danger.

                      "Preston…" she weakly called. Her tear ducts were going all out at this point whilst her pupils adjusted as much effort as they could to see through the blanket of shadows surrounding her and the mustang. 

                      But after several seconds of fruitless attempts of squinting through the darkness, a slight movement was spotted, albeit barely, about a dozen meters away, 2 o'clock from where she was positioned and facing in. She at first could not confirm what it was... until a blood curdling scream rang throughout the night. 

                      AAAHHHHHH!

                      It was Preston's!

                      It was at this exact moment that something snapped within Danicka. 

                      Instinctively, Danica's body underwent autopilot. In turn, reasoning officially left her severely distressed brain, as her objective was ultimately reprogrammed from ensuring survival to initiating a do-or-die attack against the enemy if it meant saving her dear lover. For Danicka, she had no reason to live any longer without Preston, as much as she loved the euphoria this new body had given her. For if Preston was the price for this… HRT would more than suffice instead.

                       Grasping the Glock's handle tightly, Danicka mindlessly and furiously crawled out of the mustang like an enraged tiger. Despite the limping caused by the glass impaling her leg, she regardless was able to pull a decent job at sprinting towards the screaming Preston while preparing herself to empty the magazine to this entity, whether or not it may be effective; whether or not knowing that much how to properly wield a firearm herself. If Preston goes, she'd be coming along without hesitation.

                        As she limp-ran her way through the darkness, faint noises which can be identified as severely pained groans were picked up by Danicka's ears. Naturally, as she drew closer to it, it grew louder. 

                        "No… please, no…" she found herself mumbling as she hoped her boyfriend wasn't all that hurt, while simultaneously being forced by his screams and groans of agony to expect the worst.

                        What she discovered was a half conscious Preston, albeit shivering and lying face down on the layers of snow underneath the shade of an enormous tree and near the base of its bark. Both his lower legs were violently bent into a perfect L shape facing forward. The shinbone, snapped in half, bloodily popped out of the calves, rendering him unable to walk nor even stand. The sight was in every way mentally scarring for Danicka; nearly anyone would be when they were to be in her shoes. 

                      

                        "LOVE!" she screamed. She quickly, yet carefully rushed to embrace and help her poor guy. Yet before she could even close the distance between her and her lover, something dark and large seemingly dropped down from above just a foot in front of Danicka with a freakishly hard yet muffled thump on the snow, the drop's impact causing the Cryomancer to feel a slight tremor. It was a tall figure. Most, if not all of their features have been perfectly concealed by a long ebony hooded robe, including the face, hiding confidently beneath a thick layer of shadows the hood and the night provided, rendering their appearance before Danicka's very eyes to be both human and phantom-like. Yet ignoring the ghostly vibe their current appearance was giving and the staggering seven-foot-three approximation of a height they possessed, Danicka could still detect a pair of large protrusions on their chest and the stunning width of their hips sticking out like a sore thumb. The loose cloth didn't do a good job covering their figure. Their hands, however, had extra long nails-- no, claws growing from each finger, each particularly looking sharp enough to slice through steel and concrete like butter. 

                       Danicka knew that this… creature was, without the slightest of doubt, their perpetrator. 

                       She wasted no time and took swift action to fire the gun at the perpetrator, only for this action to be interrupted halfway through with the fastest roundhouse kick to her outstretched hand. The kick's initial force was enough to bruise her wrist and send the gun flying away. Danicka whimpered in pain, clutching her bruised left arm with her much more fucked up right arm. 

                        "Congratulations," the figure calmly spoke up. The voice's mere characteristic of being high-pitched and elegant on first impression was more than enough to conclude that they were, indeed, female. "You've passed the test with an 85 percent score."

                                      

                        So it is indeed some kind of a game to her, just I thought, Danicka concluded, while dealing with her new bruise. 

                        "Too bad you never got a perfect score," the hooded person implied, with a barely detectable hint of sarcasm in her tone. A sigh followed suit, thick frost smoke coming out of the black void underneath the hood as a result. "You were able to ensure survival through your intelligence and willpower, but in the end, failed to answer my final question for suddenly making a dumb decision most horror movie characters would do unfortunately. Love, as beautiful as it is, completely overrides a person's logical reasoning in order to prioritize triggering one's primal instincts when the situation calls for it. The first of Buddhism's Four Noble Truths, if you didn't know, teaches us that we all receive suffering as a price for living. One of the reasons for suffering is desire. And what is love? Technically a form of desire. Love, in the end, will hurt you. Love, in the end, could kill you. As much as I can't deny that it's human nature, I find it quite overrated. And it's why The Four Noble Truths and Buddhism in general are among the few things I find very interesting that you should try exploring their wisdom too if you have the time. Like, it's really interesting. I could discuss it all night. And…" Her words trailed off, pausing for ten good seconds immediately afterwards, upon realizing something. "Oh, dear. I'm doing it again. B-but uh... but anyway, what matters here is you've proven yourself worthy of being a participant in my project for passing the test."

                                    

                     Danicka, successfully recovering from that kick, groaned in pain as she forced herself to create and wield another ice katana, spending a significant quantity of the severely small amount of energy she currently had. "Whoever the fuck you are, whatever the fuck you're talking about, and whatever the fuck you want, NO ONE TOUCHES MY PRESTON!" She grasped the sword by the long handle with both hands, and prepared to attack the enemy. 

                     "Oh, dear, please, no, stop it. You can barely even stand anymore." they calmly stated. 

                      

                     "Shut… UP!" Danicka swung the blade in a diagonal line to try slicing the hooded lady's torso; her execution of the strike was impeccably steady, quick and precise despite the severe condition of her body at the moment, thanks to her kendo training. She was unhesitantly going for the kill due to the sense of retaliation boiling within her chest. 

                     Unfortunately, this fight was never in her favor to begin with. 

                     The enemy was able to avoid the blade's edges with ease by swerving her body backwards at an incredible speed. Danicka stepped forward for a bit to maintain her opponent's body to be within her attacking range. Having adjusted this issue, she tried a perfectly vertical slice coming from below. It was not very effective; the very blade was caught bare-handed at mid-momentum by her enemy without somehow ever receiving any cuts, before squeezing the solid blade with a terrifying strength Danicka could never win against… until it broke in half like chinaware. Every inch of this lady's hand, Danicka could see, was nothing but feminine and perfect, as if they were sculpted by the heavens themselves. The three-inch feral claws attached to the fingertips, on the other hand (pun not intended), seemed deadly sharp enough to cut even diamonds, upon a much closer inspection. 

                      "I told you to stop," the villain reminded her. Next thing the girl knew, her throat was letting out whimpers of pain as she found herself lying down on the snow after a sudden, swift and powerful slap to her own face. She knew that the level of strength applied to the slap would, without a doubt, create yet another bruise, seeing how her ears rang like a school bell on hit. She was admittedly surprised by her consciousness still being intact even after all the injuries she sustained. 

                       Danicka tried getting up immediately afterwards to continue her futile attempts of attacking, only to be pinned down firmly by the villain by pressing a foot down on her abdomen. The Cryomancer tried to lift, punch, or anything she could think of in order to get it off her, but to no avail. They never budged, not one bit, and every movement only added more pain. 

                        

                       "Calm down, calm down. I'm not here to murder your dear Preston. You're the only one I need. You've been qualified to be among the lucky participants of a… project I've been working on for a while."

                       "A project…?" Danicka managed to croak out in a struggle. 

                       "You heard it right. And I'm really, really itching to tell you about it right now, but I won't. You'll eventually know what it is when you see it with your own eyes pretty soon," they plainly replied. "But for now…" Without a warning, the hooded robe's entirety began to ripple akin to a body of stagnant water disturbed by dead falling leaves. It continued rippling and rippling until seemingly warped into some sort of an amorphous mass, much darker than the night itself. Then gradually, it appeared to retract like dozens of octopus tentacles, with each passing second exposing a portion of their ultra-feminine and flawless body. First it was both arms and both legs, then the torso, and finally, the head. Every inch of her body was devoid of any imperfections; she was beyond stunning; she was a goddess who decided to take a vacation trip by descending from the heavens. Her pale, smooth skin was even more emphasized by her outfit: a casual sleeveless black wool crop top with a turtleneck, which greatly visually emphasized the size of her bust. and a pair of short shorts of the exact same color just stopping in the middle of her thick thighs; short enough to not constrict optimal leg movement, and long enough to properly conceal her bulkless private region. A black leather satchel rested on her left hip, its strap being worn across her body and over her right shoulder. Her foot and the rest of the legs were completely bare, and considering her outfit of choice, the cold bothered the lady as much as Danicka did.

                       Straight raven hair cascaded down her shoulders, reaching the middle of her back. She sported a Hime haircut, judging by the locks and bangs perfectly framing her face, hidden underneath a plain white mask, devoid of eyeholes to see through or any features at all. It only covered about seventy-five percent of the face, leaving her chin and perfect yet pitch-black-colored lips to be fully exposed. 

                       

                        The black amorphous mass had gathered itself on her back, separated into two pieces, each one connecting itself to each of her shoulder blades. Within a few seconds, both pieces of the mass began to protrude out by lengthening themselves until they each resembled ten-foot long thin, bony and inhuman arms ending in stumps. In each stump, four apparent fingers gradually sprouted out. Three lengthened themselves simultaneously, the fingers stopping at varied lengths; the first finger being five feet and the third at least seven. The fourth finger --the thumb-- only about five inches, became a razor-sharp claw pointing upwards in contrast to the other fingers' downward direction. As a result, the arms were now a pair of enormous and intimidating bat wings, more than large enough to fully wrap the lady from head to toe if they had the patagia, which began sprouting out themselves upon being mentioned, completing the morphing process. 

                       The new appendages fully complemented her feral claws and the pair of bat ears standing and sticking out on top of her head, nearly a foot in length. Makes one wonder how in God's name the hood was able to fit them. 

                         "Okay… where was I? Oh, right. Sorry," said the bat lady, before clearing her throat to speak again. "For now, I need you to take a quick nap."  

                         She reached into the satchel, pulling out a small glass vial containing a strange black liquid. Popping the lid out, she increased the pressure of her feet, threatening to crush Danicka's intestines. The poor Cryomancer could do nothing but groan in agony, holding the woman's leg in desperation, tears flowing like waterfall out of her swollen eyes. 

                         "I want you to stay still, okay? Now, open wide," she ordered… nicely. 

                         Danicka gritted her teeth, attempting to shut her lips tight while fiercely looking straight into the woman's masked face as a sign of defiance. Like hell I fucking would!

                         "Open. Wide."

                         The villainess pressed even harder. 

                         "AACKHH!"

                         This time, it was so hard Danicka was forced to yell out in pain, coughing out an awfully concerning amount of blood as she did. 

                         "Good! That's it! Just like that. See? It's not that hard to do." The woman stooped down, with her foot pressure maintained, as a means to pour the liquid down Danicka's bloody and gaping tongue. Slowly tilting the vial down, her black lips contorted into a smile of--

                         BANG!

                         BANG!

                         BANG!

                         Three gunshots rang throughout the night, each one loud enough to continue echoing across the skies within several seconds. 

                         Danicka's eyes were squinted shut, preparing herself to endure whatever that black liquid would do. Will it kill her? Mutate her body into something grotesque? Knock her out to an irreversible coma? Well, she'll never know; not even the slightest drop was able to touch her lips. But those gunshots… did they hit the woman? Her own abdomen was immediately freed by the time they fired. Who pulled the trigger, anyway? Out of understandable curiosity, she opened her eyes. What greeted Danicka was the vial lying on the snow, its contents spilled to waste, and the now upright woman's generously sizable tush facing her instead. 

                        The bat villain's attention was now on Preston, who somehow managed to quietly retrieve the Glock!

                         In spite of his legs currently in bad shape (pun intended), Preston was able to sit up and pull the trigger. 

                         The woman, however, seemed to be unaffected, her right hand somehow tightly packed into a fist. 

                          "Huh, looks like super-hearing isn't the only ability the storm gave you, after all," stated the bat lady, before pointing at her ears. "These can hear even the softest of whispers from a mile away, and the fact that you were able to do something behind my back without ever alerting me means--"

                          "That I can mute... any noise I make. That's right. I can manipulate… the volume of any sound my body causes." Preston, breathing through the pain, prepared to aim his gun at her again. His hands were audibly shaking from the winter temperature and trying to endure his current predicament. If he could mute the gunshot, he would have. Unfortunately, any sound past 80 decibels he could not control in any way whatsoever. "I'm not letting you get away with hurting my Danicka, if it kills me."

                           "Gotta admit. It's a nifty superpower, dear. Perfectly ideal for stealth and, well, burglary and heist, if you're into these kinds of jobs, of course. And… oh, yeah, assassination too. Not a fan of it, though." The lady proceeded to raise her packed fist and stretched her arm out to Preston's direction. "And just a little tip: if you wanna bring a weapon for self-defense, at least try choosing the ones more appropriate for us Emerged folks next time. In terms of effectiveness, typical firearms are… a hit-or-miss, nowadays." With that, she opened her palm, letting its contents fall. "This is what I'm talking about."

                          The bullets. 

                          She managed to catch all three with ease. 

                          

                          Ignoring the cold, Preston's palms gripping the handle were paradoxically sweating from realizing how screwed they were. Regardless, he kept the barrel aimed at her, trying to think of any options to get themselves out of this messed up situation.                        

 

                          "And since your gun didn't work, you know what happens next?"

                          Preston's sweat intensified. Danicka could no longer lift even a finger, forcing her to helplessly watch whatever her lover's fate ends up being. 

                          "This."

                          With a single thrust, the villainess' hand shot out of Preston's back, spraying crimson everywhere. Preston's body fell. It was too painful. Too painful to even scream. 

                          Pulling out her hand skewering his chest, she took a black handkerchief from her bag and began wiping her blood-soaked hand. 

                          Danicka's eyes were filled with terror and despair. Her lover, the only living person who cared about her... gone. So… what now? Where will she go from here?

                          Now, she was truly alone.

                          Now...

                          She has nothing left to lose. 

                          A primal ear-splitting shriek escaped her throat. In turn, reasoning officially left her severely distressed brain, as all that grief and despair were converted into pure anger.

                          Ice spread like an infection around her, twentyfold more aggressive this time. The temperature dropped drastically, even surpassing -90 degrees Celsius, the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth. Within the radius of thirty-meters from where she lay, a snowstorm began to form. The wind stirred, as snow and hail rained down and flew everywhere. The cold wind moved in a circle, surrounding the Cryomancer. The wind speed accelerated, continuously… continuously, to the point where the storm transformed into a tornado that freezed anything it touched… with the exception of the dying Preston, whom the cold won't ever touch, a barrier of wind coating him as protection. Frost spread on his fatal wound, stopping the bleeding successfully.

                          The wind lifted her body several meters off the ground, her eyes turning monochromatic blue, glowing brighter than a street light. This. All of this... was what remained of her entire body's energy. Little by little, her life force drained. 

                         The villainess, witnessing such a majestic yet dangerous phenomenon, formed a smirk on her face, ignoring the ice freezing her feet in place. The smirk widened into a smile, which in turn made way for a grin, exposing her razor-sharp incisors. Eventually, she let out a laugh of amusement. 

                        "I've underestimated the level of your Cryomancy, and I've never been happier!"

                         Ice coated her legs, quickly running up her hips. Ice immobilized both of her arms all the same. The wind gradually pulled her closer to the center, where a very angry Danicka was floating. 

                         "I'M GONNA FUCKING TEAR YOU TO PIECES!" shrieked the girl.

                         The villainess was not fazed by any means. She instead proceeded to gather up as much air as she could, for some reasons. 

                          "Ah, that's great to hear, dear."

                          At the very second before the ice reached her neck, she screamed at the top of her lungs. What came out of her throat was a blood-curdling, high-pitched sound in dangerously high decibels no human could ever emulate. It was so loud, in fact, that it was no longer just a scream, but a shockwave. A shockwave that knocked Danicka exactly ten meters away. Blood splashed out of every wound she had received earlier as the force tore them open. The total destruction of her eardrums and the rest of the inner auditory organs caused the crimson liquid to spray out of both her ear canals as well.

                          As the bat lady continued screaming, the tornado noticeably weakened. This was a cue for her to stop. It wasn't long until it started dissipating. About fifteen seconds later, all of the snow and hail began to find their way to the surface thanks to gravity guiding them. 

                          All the ice wrapping the villainess' body shattered with a single flap of her wings.

                          Dropping down a fluffy mound of snow, Danicka felt her consciousness slip away. All these injuries she sustained earlier were now giving her a reminder of why they shouldn't be ignored. In fact, it was quite a miracle as to how she was still alive (perhaps the Emergence gave her a borderline superhuman endurance as well?). Although, even if her suicide attempt was prevented, she'd go either way. 

                          The villainess stooping over to check on her lover was the last thing Danicka saw before her eyelids eventually dropped shut.

                           ----------

                           Preston managed to last longer than he should've, an outcome caused by Danicka's efforts to prolong his life. Regardless, his fate was decided. 

                           The bat lady pulled his body up to make him lean against the tree bark. He didn't have any strength left to stop her anymore, let alone lift a lip muscle to form a word. He could do nothing but to watch and listen. 

                            "I deeply apologize for what I've done, Preston," she said, squatting down to face him eye to eye. "So before I go, I wanna make it up to you. I'll tell you everything you need to know."

                            The dying young man didn't know what to say, if he could do so. He was confused, angered and curious altogether. He couldn't possibly form a response to this uncalled apology. 

                             She clutched her mask carefully… and took it off. 

                             "Do you know why I'm letting you see what's underneath this mask?"

                             Preston's breathing began to slow down.

                             "I never forgive anyone who sees it. Ever. Especially when they see… this part here. So yeah. The name's... Nyssa. And I'm on a quest to transcend that one law the universe has established. You know? The law you'll be following very, very soon?"

                            The snow underneath him was dyed red. 

   

                             "So… I commend your sacrifice for getting me one step closer to that goal. With that, Preston, I bid you a good farewell." To finish her short speech, Nyssa patted the boy on the shoulder, wore the mask, before rising up and spreading her wings to fly towards where the unconscious Danicka lay. 

                            Preston's body grew limp as the flickering life in his eyes faded into nothingness. 

                            Danicka's breathing was still intact, despite suffering multiple severe blunt and penetrating physical traumas, and excessive blood loss. Nyssa guessed the girl would succumb after or within six minutes.

                            Just as Nyssa was about to hold her, a moth, white as snow, landed on the back of her right hand. It was slightly smaller than her own fist. Letting it crawl into her left palm, she examined it closely, taking her mask off again. What's it doing here, flying around in the middle of January? Regardless, the creature was, in every way, magnificent, she could not deny. She smiled, and even let a light chuckle out… only for these positive expressions to be replaced by pure anger. An anger that could boil her blood into evaporation. As a result, the insect was crushed by her hands within a split second. She then proceeded to gobble it up, wings and juices and all. After chewing and swallowing as fast as she could, she cleaned the mess off her hands by licking it with her thirteen-inch long pointy tongue.

                          With her mask back on and her hand all cleaned up, Nyssa carried Danicka like a bride, and let the wings do the job to fly herself away into the shadows of the night. 

                            

                          --------------          

                         

                         Several police cars trailed behind Cana as they arrived at the park, where an upside down vehicle, while buried in snow, was visible. 

                         Their arrival was completely delayed; the Police department was unexpectedly attacked by a drunkard with magnetic powers, and it took her and Celestine Cherry's help to subdue the bastard. Cana, not too long earlier, gave herself a punch to the gut out of guilt for delaying the rescue.

                          And it looks like she was too late. 

                          It had been exactly thirty-three minutes and seven seconds since the 911 department received the call. There were multiple calls from varied citizens residing near the location shortly afterwards as well, who all reported hearing screams and gunshots. The best Cana could do at the moment was investigate. 

                          She fixed her winter coat to stop bothering her grey-furred tail, and arranged her unruly back-length grey hair. She gently lowered herself into the snowy surface, panting in slight exhaustion. Celestine Cherry was overall much faster and more efficient in flight, but was unable to come along after receiving diarrhea from a spaghetti she ate that unknowingly contained milk as an ingredient. She held her urges the entire time she fought the drunkard. But, no matter. Cana still was overall more important in rescues and investigations. Apart from being overall better in combat, she was both a superheroine and an experienced police officer.

                           Cana took the steps towards the mustang as her cop buddies exited their vehicles to follow her. 

                           "Stay in your positions. I'll go on my own. Just keep an eye out."

                           "Got it, Detective," came an answer from one of the officers.

                           She carefully scanned the park, having the ability to see clearly through the darkness. There definitely were oddities present. 

                          She looked down, towards the snow, before repeatedly stepping on it. Far, far thicker than usual, as if a snowstorm had passed here several minutes ago. 

                          She raised her head by an inch, and sniffed. "Hmm, two. Two people. One female, one male. And… 

                           

                          "... Blood." 

                          Cana wiped some snow out of the upside down mustang to check its interior (with mittens, of course), and to see if there was anyone inside. Nothing but blood, snow, and a lot of broken glass shards. She sniffed again. "Ooh. A strong smell of sex traces inside. A couple, more likely than not."

                          She circled the vehicle, until she came across a large dent. Cleaning the snow off, the dent clearly showed someone punched the car hard enough to flip it upside down. The dent's center was a perfect knuckle mark. If she dug down the snow, she'll most likely find glass shards which might show how the crash occurred in further detail. 

                          Cana sniffed harder, and found something that made her right hand tremble. 

                          There was a third person.           

                          "If I'd fucking arrived much earlier..."

                         Scanning with her night eyes harder this time, she spotted blood here and there. Tracing the smell, it led her to the male victim's cold corpse, leaning against a large tree. A large hole was in his chest, implying he got skewered into a bagel. She held an arm. "Still warm. Alive, several minutes ago, likely left here to bleed to death."

                         Right in front of the corpse were faint footprints. They were large in size, and stopped in the middle of nowhere, as if their owner disappeared all of a sudden… or flew up. 

                         After exploring every inch of the vicinity whilst taking care not to ruin any evidence, she finally came across a mark on a fluffy mound of snow. A person had been laid here, more evident with the puddle of blood staining the snow. With a sniff, Cana concluded it was, indeed, the female. 

                          The male was killed, and the female, the one who dialed the 911 call, was nowhere to be found. Captured. 

                          Cana clenched her trembling right fist as hard as she could, until her nails dug into her palm. The wolf ears atop her head trembled in anger, as her breathing quickened its pace.

                          "Someday… someday, I'll get you, bat-bitch. And when that day comes, I'll enjoy every second tearing the flesh off your bones."