Demigod Journals (Percy Jackson FanFic - Blood Of Olympus)

Duck, Roll and Run... Really Fast (Leo)

POV: Leo

((@Athens))

When I said that I would fight, what I meant was 'Annabeth, please do whatever you need to do real soon and fast' because I'm not really sure if I'd last even a minute fighting a thirty foot tall bronze giant holding a really mean-looking nasty chainsaw.

Granted that I've had several days of training with Frank - which was really awesome by the way, I'd give the big guy that credit at least, he was a good teacher - I wasn't still that confident facing a giant on my own. And really, a sword against a twenty-something feet long chainsaw was like picking a fight with Festus when he was still a complete bad-ass dragon, armed only with a toothpick. The odds weren't promising. It was ridiculous. This IS ridiculous!

I tried to quickly recall the one lesson Frank gave me regarding a fight against someone bigger and stronger than me. For example, him.

"It should be right up your alley." The semi-bull man (hehe I've been secretly calling him that) said during one of our late night practices. He twisted his gold sword, one that was similar with Jason, unnecessarily showing off his innate skill to handle any weapons of war. And yes, we were using real swords in training. I would have said something about it if not  for the reason that it may make me look like a weak scaredy-cat, so I shut my mouth and endured my hard-earned sword cuts, usually a dozen at most on a lucky night. "Brute force won't really do you much help in a bigger, more powerful opponent. Your hope would lie best in agility and cleverness."

I stared at my sword, no sorry, it's a gladius. I wanted the big sword like Hazel's but it was too heavy for me to actually be helpful. The first time I tried it, I almost hacked Frank's arm off. He said a spatha takes a while to get used to and requires a special training since it's often used by the cavalry. Now, I only knew the cavalry term because I overheard some of the Ares kids in camp before arguing whether Chiron is considered as cavalry or infantry. They haven't reached a conclusion when I decided it's really none of my business and stopped listening in. Anyway, the spatha - that's the big heavy sword, I preferred to just call it big sword - was replaced by the smaller sword, the gladius, and that was what I used eventually for sword training. I tried hard not to dwell on the fact that Hazel, little cute Hazel, was using the big sword that I couldn't even lift. I guessed shes just special that way. "Agility and cleverness, huh? So basically, I need to run fast and start chatting up monsters like Annabeth?" The golden flat surface of the blade reflected my grinning image in the moonlight. "Heh, that sounds easy enough. Bug and duck. Hide and tease. Piss off and get off. Heh. Heh."

"Yes, and you already have a lot a practice from running away from a very pissed off Annabeth anyway." Frank commented as he looked at me with a strained, almost grimacing face. Before, I just thought that that was Frank's I-think-Leo-is-too-loud-and-annoying face. But recently, after I got to know him more with our frequent night sparring, I discovered that it was actually Frank's I-think-Leo-is-very-funny-but-I'm-not-going-to-show-it-because-he-will-never-shut-up-again face. So I gave him my best toothy grin. He grimaced at me even more.

Enceladus, the spartan-looking giant, charging straight towards Annabeth brought me back to the present, a really fortunate thing too because it was the same moment that Mimas charged at me and I just barely had the time to roll over to one side to dodge the swing of his building-sized chainsaw.

The metal teeth of the saw rotating at impossible speed cut straight through the wooden flooring of the stage as easily as if it was cutting through butter or bread or maybe a sandwich. Oh you get what I mean. And I'm sure as hell that it won't have any trouble cutting me in half too and maybe turn me into a Leo sandwich, extra hot and spicy flavor. Sorry, All this fighting really made me hungry.

I ran as fast as I could away from my giant, using the first thing that Frank taught me. Evasion tactics. I ran, I rolled and even crawled shamelessly just to put as much as distance between me and Mimas. I needed the opportunity to think. I couldn't hope to last a fight with him if I tried doing what Annabeth and Frank were doing right now.

Both were holding their own in a very unmatched fight between a giant and a demigod. Annabeth had drawn out her white sword, deflecting Enceladus's jabs then rolled between his legs to stab him in the inner leg with her new dagger. She would run before the giant could catch her then met him again in with an offensive stance. If she's not attacking or rolling away between Enceladus' legs, she was mouthing off to Pallas to keep most of his attention on her. She asked him questions and riddles and even gave him a long equation to solve and find x.

"Hah! My girlfriend is smarter than you! You can't possibly hope to answer that mentally!" Percy's voiced rang loud from their trap hole. "Heck, I wasn't even sure myself that that x ever existed. All my math teachers asked me to find x. Why are they so obsessed with X?!" He continued to loudly rumble on.

"Bet you need a pen and paper, it's okay to get some scratch paper. No big deal! You need to be sure of your answer or you'll ruin your reputation as Athena's rival!" Piper chimed in with her charmspeak that confused the giant even more and started to actually look for a pen and paper. The others that were trapped joined in, asking random trivia questions, while lord Apollo sang then paused to ask for the next missing lyrics.

 Annabeth was really something. It was so obvious that she's just trying to buy some time and distract the two giants but I guessed for a giant who wanted to oppose Athena's brain, pop quizzes were really not something it could ignore.

Periodically though, when Annabeth got the chance, she would check the contents of the old man satchel that was slung over her shoulder then frown like what's inside was pissing her off.

Frank was almost doing the same thing, not with the equation and bag thing but the charge then retreat then charge again thing - just with shape shifting intervals that really pissed off the suit-wearing giant. He moved much slower than Enceladus, probably not wanting to wrinkle his Armani -I'm just guessing here- suit so Frank seemed to have more progress in this area than Annabeth.

"You cannot run forever, you little runt." My bronze giant opponent said with a laugh while I ran towards the crumbling wall behind the stage.

"You have a very big bad mouth, you bad giant you!" I replied and started to dig my hand deep inside my tool belt. Annabeth's struggle with her bag reminded me that I still have my tool belt with me and maybe , just maybe it has something that could help me.

Now I was starting to regret skipping on Annabeth's strategy lessons. Even if she really did scare the bolts out of me, I should never have passed on the opportunity to learn. Wrong move, Valdez.

My tool belt, aside from practically giving me any simple tools that I needed, could keep anything that's marginally reasonable to keep in a tool belt - meaning it could hold anything in the size of a ps4 console or smaller. Anything bigger than that was tricky to fit in its pockets. Like a 32inch plasma screen would never fit in there. I knew because Coach Hedge and I once tried it. It's a shame, really.

My fingers searched blindly through the hammers and wrenches, hoping to find a familiar form - a recent invention of mine. It was a project I've been doing secretly for days now - secretly because I was certain that the guys would tease me if they saw what I was building in my free time when I wasn't maintaining the ship, chatting with Festus or playing pranks with the rest of the Argo 2 crew. I used the Archimedes sphere to help with its mechanics and Festus' charmspeak-upgraded motherboard as a pattern for the circuits and microprocessor . I really hoped that I had put it in my tool belt and not left it in the ship with my mini-sewing Calypso-

"You have a big mouth for someone who just keeps on running. Mother was right, you are the least dangerous of the bunch."

I frowned at that but the insult quickly passed from my head when I felt a rounded thing topped with springy, curly synthetic fibers. Aha! Found it at last! Idea began to form in my head just like a puzzle piece slowly drawing and arranging itself on its own. It seemed like a sound plan. And at the moment it was all I had. I knew Annabeth would do everything to get us the help of a god but I couldn't just stand here and wait. I'd have to get a god of my own and there was one nearby, I only had to free him from his mechanical confines.

And who could better to do that than me?

A moment of hesitation made me pause for a second. For all my bragging and pseudo confidence about my forging and technical skills, this trump card - if I could even call it one - was only a prototype. I haven't actually had the chance to test it yet for bugs and faulty wirings. What if it won't work like I hoped it will? What if it's laggy and crashes? What if I mistook the improvised personality program for a Zumba routine program?

"You know I'm actually disappointed, you're not even worthy to waste my time."

"Oh will you shut up for a second?! Gods, you are noisy." And was rudely interrupting my self-monologue. "Didn't anyone tell you that nagging is sooo not hot? And for someone who's bragging to be a better builder than my dad, well, Hellooo. Chainsaws are so last season! Can't you invent your own weapon of mass destruction?"

I knew I didn't imagine the next things that happened. Steam whistled out of the bronze giants ears and nose then he cranked up his chainsaw even more faster. The handsome metal face melted and twisted and was replaced by something terribly freakish and ugly. I would have laughed and made smart comments if not for the giant hurtling straight towards me.

With swift moves, I pulled out the rounded thing from my tool box, manually activated its secret switch and threw it towards to hole in the stage where Apollo and the rest of my friends were now confined. A bit of bronze glinted pass the night but Mimas was so focused on me, he hardly noticed it. Now all I could do was cross my fingers and pray to dad that my mini invention works. And if I programmed it correctly, it should do the very thing I needed it to do. Be as crafty, as cool and as awesome as its creator.

...

I ran. Again. After I left my very special, ultra secret device to work on its own, I bolted straight towards the theater exit and out to the eerily quiet city of Athens. I figured that the giant would follow me but it was late when I realized that a thirty feet tall monster wouldn't exactly fit through the gate used by humans. And so I'm saying this now, as a public apology to the people of Athens and people like Annabeth, especially Annabeth, who really liked the historical place - I'm sorry! Really! I didn't mean to have the giant destroy the remaining facade of the concert hall. I feel kinda guilty. Whoopsies?

Mimas bounded up to me, one heavy metal foot after the other, snarling and cursing at me, calling me every ugly adjective he could think of. I retaliated with words like uncool, un-awesome and definitely-un-hot which made him really angry despite the lack of finesse of my vocabulary. Oh well, I wouldn't blame myself, I was too busy thinking up of a good fighting strategy.

I took another thing from my tool box, this time it's a bomb looking pokeball and after igniting the protruding wick with a snap of my fingers, I threw my pokebomb as high as I could, aiming for Mimas' face.

"Stop running from me, you demigod trash and let me just kill you now!"

Ignoring him, I screamed almost just as loud. "Pluto! I choose you!"

Mimas paused, surprised at my excellent delivery and also because he finally noticed my pokebomb that exploded right at his face. "What the-Ahhhhhhhh!!!" Whatever he was going to say was replaced with his un-giant-y scream when a ten ton boulder materialized above him and proceeded to sit and flatten him and his chainsaw with the energy of a mega heavyweight rock and gravity.

"Oh hot DAm!!!" I yelped flabbergasted at the result. When Annabeth and I had the idea of making bombs that contained demigodly powers - like the flash and music bombs of Apollo cabin - I knew that it'd be a cool weapon. But never did I thought it'd be this cool! "Thank the gods for Hazel and her dad!" Hazel supplied the boulder I used. She's really a peach.

I used my tool box as an inspiration for the pokebombs. Something small that could contain bigger things. It took me a while to figure out how to actually make one but Annabeth helped me drew out the plan and we used Hazel's weird misty magic power to bend the space continuum. Apparently, there's this other dimension where only people with weird misty magicky powers could open. And the gods too,of course. They were after all, the weirdest, misty-est, most magicky people - being whatever ever. So really, thank you to too, Hecate.

"Ugh! Brat! You'll pay for that!" Mimas twitched underneath the small hill of a rock that pinned his face to the ground. I knew it won't be easy to defeat this guy but really, for a moment, I actually thought I had killed him. Dam it. Where are the gods? Has my mini invention failed?

With a heavy push, the giant managed to push the rock off him and blindly swatted at me. It happened too fast - and also because I allowed myself to relax and be caught off guard - that I wasn't able to dodge the bronze hand coming my way and it sent me flying high in the air to a house at the very base of the acropolis.

"Gah!" Pain assaulted my senses for several seconds and I actually forgot where I was and what I was doing. All I knew was that I was falling. And rolling. And every weight placed on every inch on my body were complaining. My body hurt everywhere like I've been trampled on by hundreds of bull-sized Frank at a stampede over the concert of One Direction. "D-dam."

The earth shook beneath me and all of my alarm sensors were ringing. I took that as a sign that I needed to get up and hide if I still wanted to live. Clutching my left shoulder, i tried hard not to think how it seemed to be in a weird position. I still remembered the time Jason set Piper's dislocated foot. I couldn't puke here. That would be just embarrassing. I scampered to my feet, picked up my sword and went to look for a place to catch my breath.

I took a piece of flattened ambrosia from my pocket and popped it in my mouth. Instantly, I was filled with nostalgia as my mouth was filled with the taste of my mom's cooking. It tasted slightly burned but it was the taste of what my mom used to make for me. And for a moment, it tasted like her hugs, her kisses, the memory of her love. The pains in my body receded to a dull hum.

"Tsk! Dam it, Valdez. Focus!" I gave myself a slap on the cheek to clear my head. There was nothing I could do with my shoulder but atleast my hands still work. and as the ground continued to shake, it was getting stronger and closer by the second, I started to work.

I ran to a nearby abandoned-looking warehouse. Really, if I wasn't fighting for my life now, I'd really wonder where were the people of Athens now. Have they all been eaten by the monster parade? I hope not.

My plan was simple really. Attempt to trap the giant again but this time I wouldn't just stand around and do nothing. That was really stupid of me. I have a bit of an idea of how to incapacitate him. The idea popped in my head while I was limping to safety. I just hoped that he was actually built of metal all over and it's not just some fancy costume.

The inside of the warehouse looked like how any abandoned warehouse would look like. The metal frames held the rusting walls and ceiling of steel. Around the inner wall was a narrow walkway that stood atleast two stories high from my head. Maybe this was where the supervisors before stood to watch over whatever was happening in the warehouse. I couldn't tell what it was though. All that was left in the middle was a few wooden crates and a really wide expanse of free, dark space. Touching the light switch beside me told me that the circuit was still live and some of the bulbs were still viable but I'd rather hide in the dark for a while.

I pulled out an Aphrodite bomb and set it off in the middle of warehouse. Instantly, a magnified voice of Piper rang out everywhere, so loud that I didn't doubt it could be heard outside. It took a lot of effort from me to ignore Piper's repetitive 'Come here, stay here, rest here, sleep here' monologue. It wasn't as powerful as when Piper actually spoke it but it was still compelling. Like a siren's call, I was tempted to just stop and lay there, to forget the fight and just rest. But I couldn't. Thankfully, the wax that I remembered to put in my ear helped a bit.

I hid behind a stack of wooden crates while I waited for my prey (heh, I refuse to conform with the common standards of predator-prey setup). Mimas wasn't exactly agile and quiet so I knew the exact moment he entered the ware house. I pressed the gate switch that held ready in my hands and the automated steel door began to slide shut.

"Hahaha, what is this, you think you can trap me in here?!" Mimas laughed in the darkness, his loud voice booming everywhere.

In that enclosed space, I could finally hear the quiet but distinct sounds of an engine running. Like a truck revving, the hum of gears turning constantly at every combustion of fuel. It was a slight hum but it was there. And that was my target. If this giant was as mechanical as he seemed to be, I needed to cut off of his power supply if I wanted to incapacitate him long enough to get help.

"Come out, Valdez. I know you are in here." My giant called.

"What? You ran out of insults to call me already?" I said as I moved in the shadows of the crates as silently as I could. I was silently thanking my stars now that this giant didn't seem like one of the smart ones. My dad builds things and Mimas loves to wreck everything. My dad was clever and this giant, not so much. My dad was a God of few words and Mimas was only all talk. And screams. And insults. Gods! I hate him.

"I am done playing with you. You will pay-"

I decided to cut him off because I knew how much he hated being cut off. "Oh yeah. Well guess what, I still want to play. And I want to play Pokemon again. "Poseidon! I choose you!"

I threw another poke bomb and as expected, Mimas dodged it this time. I guessed I could credit him for learning fast. But then he didn't know this bomb. A flush of wave, a steady torrent of water gushed out from the spherical casing dosing my metal friend like he just had pissed the angry janitor in school and it decided it was time for him to have a scheduled bath - with water that he would never want to know where it came from.

"YOU LITTLE-!!"

I dashed to the stairs that lead to the upper walkway to avoid the flood of salty water courtesy of Percy and the Mediterranean Sea. Then I pulled another pokebomb, this time with a yellow lighting drawn on top of it and tossed it to the direction of the cursing giant. "This is a tag team battle by the way! Have you never had a pokebattle before?! Jason-I mean Zeus-wups Jupiter! I choose you too!"

The instant the ball hit my target, a flash of light filled the dark warehouse. The sudden glare blinded me for a moment but in the small second that I was able to roam my eyes over my handy work, I saw the warehouse now half filled with water. Lightning hit the bronze giant like it was the only metal umbrella in the middle of a thunderstorm. Continuously, it came after Mimas, attracted by the metal while the water carried the current to the kinks that I prayed it would reach.

I took the caution to not touch any metal while Jason's demigodly powers showed off. This time though, I wasn't jealous. In fact, I was very grateful to have such powerful friend that could summon the sea and lightning at command. They're the only reason I've been able to come this far.

It didn't take long before my nose started to get a whiff of the scent of burning wire and I could actually hear the sizzle of frying water and circuit board. The humming engine before also started to flutter at irregular beats, telling me that the combustion chamber and fuel was probably already compromised.

Mimas didn't stand still while I was sneakily destroying his internal mechanism. He was trashing around, trying to run away from the lightning bolts and smashing every crate he could find. Well, if he thought that I could be hiding in those then he wasn't at all that smart. Those crates were in the wet zone and I'd be stupid to stay there and got electrocuted by my own plan.

The minute of lightning show eventually stopped and the water began to seep away too, outside of the warehouse, maybe to return to the sea. And the brightness was once again became darkness and Mimas' loud curses and frustrated screams turned to eerie silence.

I let another moment of stillness passed before I went down from my hiding place and careful approached the big shadowy silhouette of my giant.

"Is it dead? I did it? Did I did it? Please, I hope I really did-" I mumbled to myself when the universe proved that It was too keen on proving me wrong.

"Roooooooaaaaaarrrrrrr!" Mimas' body sparked back to life and he literally roared. Not the usual I'm-intimidating-you roar but the real scary angry roar this time.

I cursed and ran. I couldn't let my previous mistake happen again. "Figures. I still need a dam God!"

I sprinted to the back door and out into the dark Athenian night once more. I only managed to get a couple of yards away when the warehouse's back wall exploded in a fit of giant rage. Metal scraps flew everywhere along with the rattling and creaking and cracking sounds of a very angry Mimas.

"RAAAAA RAAAAAA RAWWWRRRRR!!!" He bellowed as he came after me. No more cursing and insulting adjectives, just rawrrrr. I guessed that I've dealt some damage on him after all. Maybe I've short circuited his speech mechanism or the lightning melted the wires-

"Melting!!!" I yelped in both surprise and apprehension. Surprise because it's another idea that could work. apprehension because I've only managed to think of it just now. My brain function was slowing. And to think that I've even endorsed myself as being dad's son. The Greek counter part of Mr. Spock.

I circled down another block before heading back towards the empty warehouse once more. I didn't want to destroy any more of the city by having Mimas ran around the place looking for me while stomping and smashing everything on his way. Empty is good. Alone is uncomplicated.

"I need to trap him again. Third time's the charm." I fumbled inside my tool belt as I entered the big gaping hole Mimas left at the back wall of the building and took out the remaining poke bombs I've got left. For better or for worse, it'd be my last attempt. I hoped that the others that I've left behind in the concert hall were doing better than me. "I just have to- wait."

I paused at what I was doing when a shadow passed by my peripheral vision. And at that precise moment, chilly goosebumps ran over my body. "Hello." I called. "Is anybody in here?" My voice echoed around the dark warehouse but it remained unanswered. "Hmm, I could swore I saw someone. Nah, maybe it's just the nerves! Oh get it together self! No time hallucinating!" I told myself but I couldn't quite shake the eerie feeling. The presence was almost familiar in its dark, deathly coldness. It was like Nico di Angelo when he was giving me the death glare, swearing that he'd skewer me with his sword if I messed with Hazel, only this one was far more colder and creepier. But that couldn't be. Nico was with the others and he was nicer now, after he and the scary roman girl, Reyna got together. "Sheesh! Concentrate!" I slapped my cheeks and resumed to work. I couldn't afford to be distracted by the son of Hades right now.

When Mimas came, I was already waiting at the far end of the warehouse. His LED pupils were glowing bright red and were trained murderously at me. His eyes blazed even more when he saw the fist sized balls in my hand. Then he started breathing fire, much like an ill tempered flamethrower that could walk, huff and gruff.

I threw my second to the last weapon and from it sprang a neatly woven net of Calypso's fire proof thread reinforced with imperial gold. It was Annabeth's idea after she had fully inspected my fire proof gear. We reversed engineered the thread (I gave up my right sleeve for this) to recreate it then strengthen it with imperial gold that was littering around the Argo 2. I hoped it would hold Mimas long enough for my plan.

Mimas thrashed around as the net wrapped around him and much like the Chinese finger trap, it tightened the more he struggled.

The net however could not stop him from firing flames, fireballs and crazy light saber-ish sounding lasers at me. (Pssshttt... Vrrrng vrrng) It was really a good thing that I was made to be fireproof because Mimas' flame was different from the normal ones. The normal ones didn't even bother me but his was painful enough for me to know that if I wasn't careful, this kind of flame would burn me no matter how fire proof I was.

I danced around his fires and made my way closer to Mimas knees. In the crack between to plates of his imperial gold shin, I could see the gears and hydraulic plates that made his legs operational. I inched closer and for the first time. I let my fire burn as hot as I could possibly go.

I used my fire powers before. After being afraid of it and even to the point of hating it, I learned to accept it as a gift from dad. The fire that killed mom wasn't my fire and this fire, my fire had saved my friends before and now I was using it to save the world.

My body overheated. I could feel it in my pores, in every hair follicles in my body. Fire burned in me and through me, the same fire that fueled the world, the heat the moved continents and gave birth to new land and new life. Fire blazed within me, it engulfed me and though the heat was painful, I embraced it. I thought of it was embracing my dad. Like my mother's warm embrace only warmer, stronger. And though I may not fully like the queen of the gods, I believed in my dad. He helped me once, and my mom loved him so yeah. I believed in you dad.

I prayed. I prayed for more heat. I prayed for my father's help.  I prayed for the heat that melt this giant away. Gaea's plan and general nastiness has already cost a lot of innocent lives. My mom was innocent.

Suddenly, in the distant part of my brain that wast trying to burn the giant in front of me away, I had a revelation. I knew now what I meant to be a hero. It was not because I have a godly father or godly powers. It isn't also because I had hero training and people seemed to expect great and heroic things from me. Being a hero wasn't about killing monsters or bad Giants who wanted to destroy civilization.

For the first time, I truly understood what a sacrifice meant. It's not because others say that it I was the brave and right thing to do. Doing the right thing wasn't enough. It has to be a gift that a person wholeheartedly gives. A sacrifice  shouldn't be hard. It should be easy and done freely.

Being a hero meant being able to sacrifice for others. Being a hero meant to save those who cannot protect themselves. Without reservations, without second guessing. Without doubts and  certainly without regrets.

Mom said that I will grow up to be a great hero. "Heh, it's just as you said. I hope that you're proud of me, Mom." I whispered before I increased the flood of energy that bubbled within me, tapping with the part of me that I knew was connected with my dad. Energy so hot that a person could never hope to contain. My chest and stomach churned painfully like I was having a very bad case of acid reflux. (I could totally burp fire if I wanted to but this one's different.) Inside me, I could feel the power of a volcano about to rupture, the heat of a million burning flames. Dad answered my prayers. He was helping me now. "Thanks, dad. This is for you and mom."

The temperature and pressure within me rose steadily. Higher and hotter. But as I was about to let loose the flames of Hephaestus himself, I once again saw the shadow. Just behind my curled up, thrashing giant, looking at me with white glassy eyes. In front of me he turned from a boy of my age to a young kid, almost as young as me when I lost my mother.

"Mom..." He whispered shakily. I had no idea how I managed to hear him amidst Mimas groans and roars but I did. And I could clearly hear the fear and panic in his voice. "Mom! No!" He pleaded.

"Kid! Get out of here now!" I yelled as I could plainly feel the agony in my bones now, containing this so much power. If I didn't do anything now, this power would consume me inside out. "Get out of here!" Or he'd be caught in the fire.

But he didn't move at all. He just stood there, as if frozen by fear.

"Oh dam it." I pulled the last bomb  in my tool kit. A special one. The one that contained my own fire. It wasn't as destructive as what I was building up now but it should serve its purpose. I just hoped that I have calculated the right distance as to not injure the kid. Maybe singed him a bit but not kill him. I just needed to shield him and get him out of the way. "Sorry kid. But you have to go! Now!"

I threw the ball several distance in front of him and a tall wall of fire erupted between us. As I did, my pained turned unbearable and at that moment I lost all control. All hope of ever controlling what I hoped to unleash vanished as I was consumed with pain I never could have imagined. There was nothing but fire and flames. My screams of agony along with the metal giant were drowned by the crackling heat. Fire escaped through my fingers, my pores, my body and the world, everything around me - including myself - begun to melt and burn.