Ti freezes with a single brush through the air. It feels as though even the forest itself has forgotten how to breathe. Only I remain moving; my friends—Anna included—are locked still, suspended in the mont. That’s one thing I can still do, even against those bound to the main plot: I can freeze ti itself. And I will not allow it to move again until I figure out how to reach Amara.
And so, I begin my trial by fire.
"What should I try first... I rember how that realm felt, but to teleport there... does that even count as part of my own book? I an... I guess it does? Doesn’t it?" The thoughts spiral, and my mind already feels like it’s splitting into a million pieces.
I lift my quill-arm and write into the air:
{Summon Amara to }
Nothing happens. Only then do I rember—Amara wasn’t even her na until after she t .
"Tch. Fine. Let try to go to her instead."
{Teleport to the realm of the punishnt quest}
The glowing letters fade into nothing. Not even in my strongest form can I force my way in.
"This is so stupid!" I snarl, kicking dirt, my chest heaving as my heartbeat slams against my ribs.
"Stupid system, stupid Big Boss! Why are you all plotting against ? This makes no sense at all! AHHHH!" The scream tears out of , ragged and raw, but as it rips from my throat, I feel the smallest bit lighter, like I’ve finally let so of the poison out.
I try again and again, tearing reality apart in every way I can imagine, but after a month of endless failures, I collapse to my knees in the dirt, beaten and hollow.
"I can’t get to her... does that an I’m no longer fated with Amara?" The words slip out, bitter and raw. And sohow, it hurts more than just missing soone I liked; it feels like I’ve lived alongside her for countless lifetis, only to lose her now. Is she forever gone? Or am I simply too blind to understand my own powers?
"Damn it all!" My fists slam against the ground, pain spilling into the forest around . But nothing answers. Not even the trees stir; the whole world’s essence is locked in frozen ti.
I glance at my friends. Their smiles remain suspended, unmoving, frozen in a mont they’ll never rember. Only I—this idiot—am left to carry the weight of loneliness. Anna knows Amara’s na, but not her truth. She can’t help . Roxy and Powder don’t even rember she ever existed.
"It’s all pointless..." I fall back onto the earth, staring up at the fractured sky through the gaps in the leaves. My voice cracks as the thought twists its way out of . "Do I need to die... just to see you again?"
"Death..." That word won’t leave alone. "Perhaps..." I summon my massive quill, preparing for sothing so stupid that even the stupidest person in the world would laugh at right now.
I begin to write into the air, as if rewriting the stars themselves. Each stroke feels unbearably heavy, every line clutching at my heart:
{I shall die, only to resurrect ten days later. Yet even in death, I shall keep my powers. Even in death, I shall remain conscious. Even in death, my soul shall not rest. Ti outside shall not move until I return. I have a single purpose—to find and bring Amara back to . If I fail, I will accept that we were never fated. But if I succeed, I will never let her walk through ti alone. I shall remain by her side forever. This is my vow, both to myself and to the powers I command.}
As the letters bleed into the air, they twist into burning strokes of crimson ink, spreading across the sky like constellations being rewritten. My body trembles, the weight of my vow sinking into my bones.
And then... I feel my flesh begin to unravel, threads of peeling away, curling upward like smoke caught in a storm. My heartbeat slows, each thump echoing like a drum too far away to reach . The air grows colder, sharper, and for the first ti, I feel myself parting from the world that chained .
My arm dissolves first, breaking apart into strokes of quill and ink. My chest follows, the gem inside pulsing once more before shattering into a storm of light. Every piece of scatters, rewriting itself into dust and ash, carried by a wind only I can feel.
The sky bends above , colors bleeding together until there’s nothing but pale silver and black. The ground vanishes. Soon, a void pulls deeper with every passing second.
"Amara..." I whisper, my voice torn away in the storm.
My final breath slips free, and I collapse into the abyss. The land of the dead welcos with open arms.
It’s so cold... The world squeezes tight, as if trying to erase who I am. But sothing, so mysterious power, wraps around , refusing to let the laws of death claim .
I fight against the weight pressing down, my eyelids heavy as stone. When they finally crack open, I see a single candle burning faintly before . Its fla wavers, fragile yet stubborn, the only light in this endless dark.
Everywhere else... nothing. Wherever I look, there is only a silent void; just that candle, flickering against a sea of silence.
Suddenly, the candle’s fla wavers, as though sensing sothing I cannot yet see. The silence gnaws at , louder than any scream, until— clink... clatter... The faint rattle of chains stirs in the darkness. My breath hitches. Amara? The sound grows closer, dragging across the unseen floor, accompanied by the grinding scrape of bone against bone.
From the void, sothing takes shape. Hollow sockets gleam faintly, catching the candle’s light. A skeletal figure erges, its steps slow, deliberate, each movent echoing with the deathly chorus of chains and rattling bones.
And still, it cos closer.
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