Tony collapsed, the upper half of his body on the bed while his lower part stretched out toward the floor, capturing Kratos’ attention.

The latter was currently holding the last piece of omelette midway into his mouth when he noticed Tony and paused, his eyes squinting with curiosity.

’Huh?’

Not exactly sure what had happened, he resumed his actions, chewing the omelette in a wild way that was impossibly unexpected for a handsome beauty like him. Afterward, he took a sip from the remaining pineapple juice as if to confirm its taste before gulping it all and rushing to Tony.

He approached Tony, and as soon as he bent forward and had contact with him, he immediately pulled his hands away, his eyes widening in realization.

’His body is evolving,’ he surmised.

Tony’s body was literally boiling at the moment.

He took off the sheathed sword that was still crossed at his back, dropped it on the desk beside the bed, and helped Tony’s unconscious body to lay fully straight on the bed. Then, he stood upright once again, looked around the room before scampering toward the direction of the kitchen.

While in the kitchen, Kratos was finding it difficult to really understand its setting.

’Where could it be?’

The first place that came to his mind was the cabinet hanging above. He stretched up his hand, but his height was not doing him any good. He even tried standing on his feet, but his efforts were yielding nothing.

At last, it occurred to him to use a nearby stool.

"What rubbish," he sneered, frustrated. "Where can it be?"

Kratos was disappointed. He hadn’t found what he was looking for. And to make his efforts not worthwhile, the kitchen’s setting was not contributing.

He stepped out of the kitchen and glanced once again at the unconscious body still lying on the bed.

’Not good.’

Just then, a humming sound reached his hearing. He hadn’t paid attention to it since he was in a haste.

Turning to his right, he ventured toward the source of the sound. The closer he got, the cooler the surrounding atmosphere became. Upon this observation, his chin widened into a smile.

He had found what he was looking for.

The Frostvault.

He stared at the tall, white monolith humming against the kitchen wall. In his world, a Frostvault was carved from rune-etched stone, always breathing out a visible plume of winter with every opening.

’Weird,’ he mused.

This... thing had no frost on its edges. Nothing to really show visible cold. It just seemed like a smooth, seamless door and a thin metal handle that felt warm to the touch.

With no time on his side, he dissolved his thoughts and pulled. Immediately, a clean, sharp, white light from inside the box itself exploded, spilling over glass shelves and neat plastic drawers.

Kratos ran his eyes through the inside of the "frostvault" and shook his head in disbelief.

’They store food in here?’

He had the urge to collect anything that interested him, but on second thought, he shifted his gaze to the section of the plastic drawers at the top and retrieved two cold bottles of water. Then, he reached out to the bottom, where a separate door opened to a deeper cold, and pulled out another two bottles of freezing water.

Kratos snatched the four bottles from the humming white monolith before jamming the door carelessly. Then, in three strides, he was already at Tony’s bedside.

He reached out his hand and touched Tony’s forehead... His body was still heating.

So, he pivoted and dropped the bottles on the desk beside him before reaching his hand out to the sword he had kept sheathed since crossing worlds, and...

SHLIING.

The faint sound of steel whispering was heard.

He tossed two out of the four bottles straight up, causing them to spin slowly, albeit in his eyes, water sloshing inside. Then, his blade flashed in one clean, effortless arc.

Immediately the steel kissed the bottles midair; it split them open like fruit, a curtain of cold water crashing down over Tony, soaking the bedsheet, his hair, and his skin alike.

But it didn’t seem to be enough.

So, Kratos sheathed his sword back into its scabbard and dragged a stool closer, carelessly allowing its legs to scrape against the floor.

Once he was settled, he rolled the long hand sleeves of his robes up his arm and collected the remaining two bottles of ice-cold water in his two hands. He pressed them flat against Tony’s chest and neck, letting the cold seep in before he leaned close, blew air into the latter, and then paused.

He repeated this process several times. Press, blow, and pause.

At times, his sleeves will roll down, causing him to drop the bottles, and he’ll roll them up again and continue the cycle.

At some point, he paused for a long time, staring at Tony’s face.

A sliver from his short, brown hair fell out, running across the divide of his closed eyes. Moreover, his handsome features were nothing not to be proud of. Even now his eyes were shut; it made him look...

"Tender," Kratos muttered. "Cute little brother. I will protect you," he added and continued the cycle once more.

Before long, the bottles grew warm. So, he would have to rush back to the kitchen to swap them.

***

Meanwhile, while all those were happening, Tony found himself floating weightlessly at the center of a white endlessness. Silent, and brighter than any sun he had ever known.

When he looked up, his eyes narrowed.

Hovering a few feet away was a body. His body. It turned slowly in the void, showcasing every inner part of him visibly.

His ribs were visible. His shoulders narrowed. And his eyes were closed like a carved statue.

’Why am I here?’

He continued staring at the body, trying to make sense of what was happening. Why was he here? Why has his body doubled? What is this endless space he is in?

All these questions flooded into his mind with no answers. Hence, he dismissed them and focused on the second version of himself. The version that outlined his body’s structural frames perfectly.

While he stared, some changes started.

It wasn’t pain. It was pressure. Like someone was pressing their thumb into clay. But Tony understood that whatever had emanated this pressure was happening to his body frame in front of him, while the subconscious self absorbed the feeling.

’Wait? Subconscious? Is this my sea of consciousness?’

Before his thoughts could settle, Tony felt his muscles knot along the arms, filling out. His chest broadened, scars etching themselves across skin. His spine straightened. Jaw sharpened.

While he secured the feeling, his structural frame body secured the visible changes.

The floating body stopped looking like the man he’d been and started looking like the man he would have to become to stay alive in this world. He was practically staring at a stronger version of himself now.

It felt like shedding a skin he had outgrown without ever noticing it was too small.

Until he suddenly felt a pulse.

It was faint at first. A cold rhythm that didn’t belong to his blood or his heartbeat. It tugged at the edges of the white space, threading through his new muscles, his new bone, like frost crawling across hot steel.

’Wait, hot?’

Only now did Tony realize that steam vapor was rushing out from his body.

At brief intervals, the pulse would stop. Then continue again, becoming stronger and more insistent... until the whiteness suddenly shattered in his wake.

And Tony’s eyes snapped open.

’What’s wrong with him?’

Tony had wanted to jolt upon waking up but was restricted.

Hovering inches above his face was a handsome beauty. Sharp cheekbones... instead of cold, blue eyes, they looked shockingly teary. The eyes were staring at him, carrying a pensive edge to their gaze.

But then, Tony snapped out of it and pushed the body away.

"What are you planning to do?" he asked, his hands touching something wet on his bedsheets.

"What did you do?!"