Round 161

Jeane's wings shivered uncontrollably as she focused every ounce of will into maintaining her shield magic against the encroaching cold. Each second felt like an eternity—one more tick before her body's heat leached away again, efficiency dropping another critical percentage point.

The generator room air grew colder still, the temperature plummeting toward absolute zero despite the massive machinery designed to prevent such extremes. Her skin turned ghostly pale beneath the thin layer of hydraulic fluid still coating her exposed arms and legs, the clear liquid beading up as it began freezing solid on her flesh.

"Silra," she managed through chattering teeth, voice strained with desperate need, "if you don't provide actual heat input soon, I won't be able to maintain this shield much longer. My core temperature is already dangerously low—you can see my skin turning blue around the edges." She gestured weakly at her exposed thighs and arms, the pale flesh mottled with frostbite starting to set in despite her best efforts.

The sorceress's crimson eyes locked onto Silra's face, desperation warring with pride as she fought the urge to simply beg outright. "I'm not asking for anything... unusual," she lied, voice cracking mid-sentence as another shiver wracked her entire frame. The magical shield flickered ominously, dropping another percentage point before she managed to stabilize it through sheer force of will.

"You're the medical expert here—I know you have solutions." Her wings drooped further, the leathery appendages growing stiff and brittle as the cold seeped into them. "Please," she finally whispered, unable to maintain her facade any longer. "If my shield fails completely, I won't survive this temperature for long."

The generator room air continued its relentless descent toward absolute zero, each degree lost making Jeane's situation more desperate. Her body screamed for heat—any kind of heat—and the magical shield required constant focus that was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain as her mind fogged with hypothermia.

"Just something to raise my core temperature," she pleaded softly, no longer caring about pride or dignity in the face of certain death if help didn't arrive soon. "Anything at all."