The room was a perfect cube of white, lit from an unseen source. No shadows. No corners. Just the endless, humming blankness. Inside it, stripped to a thin gray uniform, stood Jace. He was the subject. Across from him, a sleek drone hovered, its single red sensor like a pupil.
He reached out. His fingers, clumsy and numb, hovered an inch from the surface. He could feel the cold radiating off it, a negative heat. His arm began to tremble from the shoulder down. cold fear trainer
"Candidate 734," a voice announced, smooth and androgynous, emanating from the walls. "Your fear response to thermal threats is rated unsatisfactory. Today, we begin recalibration. The protocol is called 'Cold Fear.'" The room was a perfect cube of white,
He took one step forward. The cold bit into his shins. Another step. The air was so frigid it felt thick, like breathing splinters. Just the endless, humming blankness
Jace stared at the sphere. His mind, a sharp tactical instrument, became a slurry of static. Don’t. It will stick. It will tear the skin. The nerves will scream and then go silent. Then the bone… He could already feel the phantom burn of frostbite, a pain so clean and final it made a bullet wound seem like a bruise.