A soft groan escaped Lena’s throat, her head feeling as if a group of miners, maybe dwarves, were using pickaxes to try digging themself out of her skull. Even the soft noise she made was enough to send a fresh spike of agony through her tortured mind and a shiver down her spine.

  For a few seconds, she remained motionless, just trying to breathe without gagging from the disgusting taste in her mouth until a fresh shiver ran down her body, assaulting her sluggish mind with the realisation that she was freezing cold and shivering because of that.

  After groping around for a few moments, the only thing she managed was to roll out of bed and land on the cold floor, driving a fresh spike of pain into her body, especially the arm she landed on. Then she managed to push herself into a sitting position and began looking around, trying to make sense of her surroundings.

  Things were hazy, her mind was unwilling to get into gear and work as it was supposed to, the sensation far too reminiscent of the few times she had drunk far too much. Never this much, though, never to the point that she had no idea what she had done or why her body was aching in places it really shouldn’t. To make matters worse, she had no idea why she was naked or where her clothes had ended up. She only knew she was cold, getting colder by the moment.

  A soft groan, likely the same sort of noise she had made just moments before, made her eyes wander over to the couch she had slept on, her eyes going wide when she saw the guy sleeping on it, the position making it obvious that she had been curled into the guy she didn’t know. Who appeared to be just as naked as she was. Just as cold, too, going by the goose bumps she could see and a few other obvious indicators that he was cold.

  Where realisation would normally have been an instant process, her mind was still sluggish enough to make it less like a tidal wave and more like creeping molasses, but, after a second or two, she let out a strangled gasp, halfway between moan, scream and whimper.

  The noise was enough to wake her bedpartner, and wasn’t that a strange thought, given that she didn’t even know his name. For a few moments, his eyes were clouded by pain and confusion until he blinked a few times and they slowly focused.

  Another groan came across his lips, followed by a noise that might have been a question, though she had no idea if it was one about her name, the situation or something else entirely. Given how incoherent the noise had been and how wobbly her mind felt, it could have been about anything. Or not even a question in the first place, it might have been his name, but that felt far-fetched.

  “What happened?” the guy asked, this time a little more coherent.

  “Don’t know,” Lena admitted, her teeth clattering a little in the cold. The guy cursed quietly, then lifted the blanket he was halfway wrapped in, confirming that he was completely naked, and that he was very, very cold.

  “Come on, you sound cold,” he told her, his voice still a whisper, “And you look as wasted as I feel.”

  For a moment, Lena hesitated, then crawled back onto the couch and into the offered embrace, her back nestling against the guy’s chest. She felt incredibly awkward, but the warmth she felt when he lowered the blanket helped a lot.

  “Thanks,” she whispered, her mind still trying to make sense of the situation, or even of her current acceptance of it.

  “Mhm,” the guy behind her grumbled, “Any idea what happened? I don’t even know what day it is, let alone how we ended up like this. Or who you are, for that matter.”

  “Lena,” she replied, her face twisting into a frown as she tried to remember some details that might help to make sense of the situation.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Pleasure,” the guy behind her replied, “Name’s Gerald, though most people just call me Garry.”

  “I remember a few people saying it was Christmas time, right?” Lena asked after a minute or two of contemplation, after she had forced her mind to work through the thick sludge that seemed to cloud her every thought, making her feel a little numb.

  “Yeah, they wanted to celebrate. Get into the spirit of the season, or something like that,” Garry replied, and she felt movement against her shoulder when he nodded.

  “Somebody found drinks, right? I have some flashes of carolling, or at least something similar,” Lena’s thoughts were still sluggish, even as a part of her wondered just what might have driven her to sing in public, given that she couldn’t carry a tune, even if she were given a bucket. She didn’t even like to sing; she never had. So, why did she remember walking around their small city, singing songs that she barely recalled, some not even in a language she spoke? Had she really gone along, just trying to make the appropriate noises?

  “Must have,” Garry agreed, “You know, I’ve been drunk before, but I’ve never felt this out of it.” he paused for a second, “Do you have any idea how we ended up like this? Or what we’ve done? If we…” his voice faded away, clearly as uncomfortable with the situation as Lena felt.

  “Must have,” Lena replied, using his own words, the sensations in her lower body confirming what she didn’t really want to acknowledge.

  “Shit,” Garry’s words were soft, but oh-so-defeated, “I’m so sorry.”

  “Not sure how to feel about it,” Lena admitted, her mind slowly starting to work as she was accustomed to, and she started to freak out as it did. “Something is really screwed up, though, I’m…” she paused, trying to put her thoughts into words, trying to make sense of the whirling, muddled mess in her mind.

  “We should get up, try to find out what happened, right?” Garry suggested, his voice hesitant, uncomfortable and more than a little confused.

  “Yeah,” Lena agreed, moving a little as she looked around for her clothes. Sadly, there were none around, but, luckily, Garry was enough of a gentleman to let her have the blanket so she could cover herself, even if it left him naked, and obviously freezing.

  “Come on, we’ve slept together.” Now, it was her turn to raise an arm, offering him shelter within the blanket after they both got up. Looking around, there was another couple, cuddled in a position similar to theirs, only they were on a narrow bed, and just as dead to the world, and apparently as naked, as the two of them had been just minutes earlier.

  “Should we wake them?” Garry asked, looking over.

  “No,” Lena shook her head, “Let’s just find out where we are, and maybe how we got here.

  “Say, do you feel like you should pray to Sunna?” Garry’s voice was even more muddied than earlier, making Lena blink in confusion.

  “I…” she paused, thinking about the routine she had kept for the better part of a year, ever since coming to the Blessed City. Wake up, pray to Sunna, exercise for a bit, and get to work on whatever project was active at the time. She had never really questioned it, and now, she was starting to wonder why she hadn’t. Somehow, noticing the lack of compulsion managed to break through the fog still dulling all emotions, freaking her out for a few moments before the earlier calm returned.

  Together, the pair shuffled over to the door and into the cold outside. For a moment, the pair simply stared, their minds not quite ready to accept that they weren’t in a hallway as they were supposed to be, but that they were outside. And about half the building they thought they were in was gone.

  “What the hell happened here?” Garry cursed, looking across the snow-covered landscape and the numerous broken buildings they saw. Some looked singed, others as if they had simply collapsed, unable to bear their own weight.

  “No idea,” Lena replied, shuffling a little closer to him, seeking a bit of warmth.

  “We need to get clothes. Then, we need to find out what the hell happened and where we can go next,” she decided, after thinking for a second.

  “Yeah,” Garry agreed, spotting a bit of rubble where his old home had been. “Let’s get going.”

  Together, they walked through the snow, neither willing to investigate the odd shapes in the snow too closely. They were far too human-sized to indicate anything good. As they walked, they started to remember the night. As more and more memories returned, they realised that this must have been the craziest and, apparently, most destructive party either of them had ever experienced. Or imagined, really.

  What had started out as a Christmas Party had somehow morphed into a combination of orgy and rager, wild enough to break the entire town. And neither of them had even the slightest idea how or why it had happened. They just knew they were, quite literally, fucked, and started to cling to one another, after their world had broken for the second time.