Chapter 90: Surge

Lucrezia dragged in a sharp breath as her arms strained under Vespera’s weight, her boots slipping against the frozen ground. Her muscles screamed, begging for their own reprieve.

“Vespera,” She called, but the lady wasn’t answering. It was as though her body had gone still, save for the faint rise and fall of her chest. “Come on… please…” She whispered, more plea than command, her voice trembling as she tried again.

Vespera barely stirred.

A low, uneven breath escaped her as her weight sagged further into Lucrezia’s hold. “No—no, stay with me,” Lucrezia murmured quickly, panic tightening her throat. “Just a little more… we just need to—”

A sound cut through her words before she could finish, and Lucrezia froze. Her heart began to pound, slow and heavy, each beat echoing too loudly in her ears.

Don’t look.

The thought came instinctively. Don’t—

But she turned anyway.

And her blood ran cold.

He wasn’t where he had been. The distance that once separated them was gone as he stood closer, almost too close, and her heart sank.

Lucrezia’s breath stuttered as her body locked in place, fear rooting her where she stood. The cold seemed to deepen around him, the air thinning and pressing inward until even breathing felt like an effort. His appearance was too sudden without footsteps or warning. Just… there, and that was what terrified her the most.

Up close, he was worse. Much worse.

The pale stillness of his face was no trick of distance because it was absolute, unnaturally smooth, and untouched by warmth or life. There was no single exaggeration in the solemnity of his features. The dark ridges that rose from his head curved like jagged horns, framing something that barely resembled a man.

And those eyes that settled on her had this impression of almost satisfaction, as though he had found exactly what he was looking for.

Lucrezia’s grip on Vespera tightened painfully.

Her instincts screamed at her to move. To run. Hide. Do something. But her body refused, trapped beneath the weight of something far beyond fear.

She quickly looked away. Oh gods.

He was coming.

Her fingers tightened instinctively around Vespera as her pulse began to race again, louder than everything else. “No…” She whispered under her breath, shaking her head faintly as if denial could change what she already felt deep in her bones.

She forced herself to move again, taking a step before another. Her boots scraped against ice and debris, slipping slightly as she struggled to keep her balance. Vespera’s weight dragged her down, making every movement uneven, and clumsy.

Behind her, that presence followed, and worse, unhurried but Lucrezia didn’t dare turn. If she did, she feared she wouldn’t be able to move again.

“Just a little further…” She whispered, though she didn’t know where she was going anymore. Away. Just… away.

Another step, and her leg buckled.

She caught herself just in time, a sharp gasp leaving her lips as pain flared up her side. Gods, they won’t make it. T-They wouldn’t…

Suddenly, Vespera moved. It was small, barely noticeable but Lucrezia felt it. At that moment, she felt the urge to move away. It was the barest sign, and if she weren’t entirely focused on her, she would’ve missed it.

Her hand lifted weakly, trembling violently as it rose between them.

“Vespera—?” It was just then that the realization dawned upon her.

A faint glow flickered to life in her palm. It was small and unsteady at first, until it started growing.

The violet flame returned, and unlike before, it surged wildly, gathering into something larger, heavier, and more unstable. It pulsed like it was fighting to exist, barely held together by the little strength she had left.

Lucrezia’s jaw dropped.

Her hand shook so badly it looked as though it might collapse under it, and fear wrapped her body cold. S-She was trying… but she was too weak.

Her breath hitched. “What are you doing—?”

Vespera didn’t answer, but the flame pulsed to life, unburdened by her quaking hand. Her eyes were barely open now, unfocused, and distant, but there was something in them. Something stubborn and final.

Then, with a sharp, broken inhale, she released it with a cry that echoed deeply in the night sky. The flame burst forward as an eruption, tearing through the air with a force that made the ground tremble beneath them, expanding rapidly into something massive, and uncontrollable.

The heat surged past Lucrezia, forcing her to shield her face as the light blinded her vision. The impact came like thunder, as the earth split.

A violent crack echoed outward as the frozen ground tore open between them and the approaching figures, hindered by a jagged chasm ripping through the fair. Ice and debris shattered and scattered as the force drove outward, dividing the space into two uneven halves.

It continued for almost twenty seconds. Lucrezia stumbled back, barely keeping her footing as she clung to Vespera.

Finally, it stopped, Lucrezia’s eyes went as wide as a saucer.

There was a distance—a wide, broken divide stretched between them and the others paving a side for her and Vespera, and on the other—clearly blocked—was him and the creatures.

For a moment, everything stilled. The chaos, the char of burning wooden stalls, and distant cries. The world just froze. Lucrezia’s breath came in short, stunned bursts as she stared at what Vespera had done.

It was… magnificent, yet terrifying at the same time. She didn’t know when hope flickered, so weak until she saw him.

He hadn’t moved, not even a single step, unmoving against ice and debris. Across the broken ground, he was exactly as before; untouched and unaffected as the creatures—almost hundreds—lingered near him, momentarily still, but not restrained.

The distance didn’t matter because Lucrezia felt that it hadn’t stopped him. It hadn’t even slowed him. She had a bad feeling that whatever it made was pointless in his capacity.

Her chest tightened painfully.

Behind her, Vespera’s arm fell when the light completely vanished, and Lucrezia turned quickly. “Vespera!”

Her face had gone pale… too pale. Sweat clung to her skin, mixing with blood and dirt. Her breathing was shallow now, barely there, and her lips trembled as though she was trying to speak.

Lucrezia leaned closer, desperate. “W-What? What is it?”

“…time…” the word barely formed as her voice faded.

Lucrezia frowned, her heart pounding harder. “What?”

Before Lucrezia could make sense of it, Vespera’s eyes slipped shut again.

She stilled, her heart lurching. No… no, that couldn’t be—

The thought barely formed before she noticed that her lips were still moving. Relief hit her all at once, leaving her a little breathless. She was still there. Still fighting.

Lucrezia leaned closer, watching carefully as faint, broken words slipped past Vespera’s lips, too soft to catch, and too strained to understand.

“Vespera…?” she called quietly.

No response came. Only that quiet, uneven whisper, barely more than breath.

Her brows knit together in confusion. For a moment, she thought it was nothing more than the drifting murmur of someone slipping in and out of consciousness until a faint breeze stirred, brushing against her skin unnaturally in the stillness.

Lucrezia froze.

It moved around them slowly, curling close, as though drawn by something unseen—drawn by whatever Vespera whispered. Lucrezia listened again, really listened this time, to not just the wind, but the words, and it took a moment to realize what it was.

A chant.

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