"Swallow the liquid."
Seraphina did not hesitate. The board of directors had just handed her a death sentence. She tilted the ornate porcelain vial back and drank the contents.
She expected a bitter chemical taste. She expected a thick medical syrup.
She tasted raw liquid fire.
A blazing golden warmth exploded down her esophagus. The sensation did not burn her flesh. It aggressively consumed the dead tissue.
For three long years every single breath felt like swallowing broken glass. The fibrous nodules had ground against her vocal folds with agonizing friction. She lived in a constant state of chronic physical suffering.
The pain vanished in exactly three seconds.
Seraphina gasped loudly. Her hand spasmed. She dropped the empty porcelain vial.
The fragile ceramic shattered against
