Calamity Upon This World

In both of his previous scenarios, his body got progressively colder as time went on, but almost involuntarily, he kept ignoring it.

However, not anymore, as it had finally reached a tipping point where the cold was starting to affect him.

Going from agonisingly burning alive in the flames of \'hell\' to freezing alive was definitely not an experience William ever thought he\'d have.

And if he were still conscious, he probably would have joked about his situation as usual.

But that was no longer the case; throughout these scenarios, Williams control over his body got reduced, and now he had none.

He was merely a spectator who experienced everything that happened to his body without being able to form thoughts or move his body.

His individuality was already waning; it was clear that it wouldn\'t be possible for him to survive for much longer.

**

"Mother, it\'s cold" said a boy wearing very thin and dirty brown clothes and a sweater with holes in it.

The boy had snot running down his nose as he shivered due to the feeling of cold constantly invading his body.

"It\'s fine, Nagi; just bear with it for a bit longer, please" said a dirty woman as she painfully smiled to try and make her child feel at ease.

The woman used her own clothes to wipe the boy\'s nose and wrapped her stall around him to make him feel less cold.

"But mom, won\'t you be cold if you give your stall to me?" The boy was confused by his mother\'s selfless act.

"Don\'t worry, silly, your mom is immune to the cold" the woman said as she lifted her arms to flex her nonexistent muscles.

The woman looked malnourished, with her cheek bones showing and dark circles having formed under her eyes.

She was also shivering from the cold, but she made sure to hide it and put up a brave front so that her child wouldn\'t be worried.

And despite her poor acting skills, due to the boy\'s young age and trust in his mother, he believed her and said.

"Wow"

The woman had a smug expression on her face, seeing her son\'s admiration, which made her forget their family\'s poor condition, but not for long.

"Here, keep your sister warm," said the woman as she handed her daughter to her son, who hugged her tightly to allow some of his body heat to wrap around her.

After handing off her daughter, she removed the bag that was on her back and took out some cute dolls that were made by knitting.

The woman and her children lived in a city and used to be fairly well off.

But after her husband died in a car accident, things started going wrong. Almost everything that could go wrong went wrong.

And now, a whole year after his death, they were forced to sell dolls and other nicknacks on the street just to live from day to day.

They had lost their house and moved from one spot to another every day.

It was December 25th, aka Christmas.

It\'s a day of joy and celebration as everyone around the world celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ by giving gifts to their loved ones, spending time with them, and enjoying delicious food together.

And even those who don\'t celebrate Christmas usually at least take the day off to rest and spend time with their family.

On such a joyous and happy day, Nagi and his family were forced to sell dolls on the streets if they wanted to afford food for the day.

As one would usually expect from Christmas, it was snowing heavily, and the snow had piled up on the streets.

While everyone else who was seeing the weather from inside the comforts of their home while drinking hot chocolate might consider the atmosphere festive and that it embodied the \'Christmas spirit\'.

However,Nagi and his family had no such thought as to them weather was very lethal.

Because of their thin clothes with holes in them and spending all day on the streets with nothing to warm up their bodies, the possibility of them just dying from hypothermia was very real.

And when your life is on the line, it doesn\'t matter how pretty something is; to you, it will just look demonic.

After a whole hour of shouting and advertising, an elderly couple finally stopped by Nagi\'s mother\'s shop.

The couple were in a black car and were just going home after buying some cake to eat on Christmas.

But on their way back home, the elderly woman\'s attention was caught by the dirty-looking woman, who seemed to be selling something on the roadside with her children beside her on the joyous occasion of Christmas.

"What are you selling here, dear?" the woman asked in a kind voice as she asked Nagi\'s mother, who was excited at finally getting a customer after a whole hour of nothing.

"Handmade dolls, ma\'am."

"Oh my, you\'re really talented; they look beautiful," the woman said as she picked up the doll and inspected it.

The woman was surprised by how finely detailed and well crafted it was.

"You must really like knitting," the woman asked.

"Yeah, ever since I was a kid, I really enjoyed knitting and found it relaxing."

"But as I grew up, I just didn\'t have the time anymore to knit."

"It\'s just too bad that I only started knitting again after everything that happened," she said with a bittersweet expression as she once again relived the trauma of everything that had happened to her.

The elderly woman had an understanding expression on her face, knowing that there must have been quite a traumatic chain of events that led the family to their current position.

"Dear, how much is a single doll?" she asked.

"Around 3.99, ma\'am."

The elderly woman placed her hand on her chin as she started thinking.

Nagi\'s mother grew worried, thinking the women wanted to bargain.

But to her surprise, she asked.

"How many dolls do you have?"

"Around 20, ma\'am," she answered despite being a bit confused.

After hearing her, the elderly woman took out $200 from her purse and handed it to her.

"I\'m sorry, ma\'am, but we don\'t have that much change," she tried to explain, a bit confused by the actions of the elderly women.

"Oh no, you\'re misunderstanding; I want all of your dolls, and you can keep the change; I don\'t mind."

"You see, I have quite a lot of grandchildren, and I believe your dolls would be the perfect present for them."

Nagi\'s mother was a bit stunned to hear her until, after a few seconds, she finally processed it.

"Thank you so mu-" before she could thank the elderly women for the generosity she passed out.

"Mother!!" Nagi rushed over, seeing his mother collapse, fear creeping through his body.