A Journey Unwanted

[Realm: Álfheimr]

[Location: Heart Kingdom]

[Pulchritudo]

[Banquet]

Gretel watched the tower coming toward her.

It was difficult to comprehend the scale of what she was seeing when it was moving with such unnatural speed.

The enormous structure had been torn bodily from its foundations and was now travelling across the estate as though some invisible hand had decided that the tower itself was nothing more than a weapon to be thrown.

Everything in its path suffered for it; a smaller building stood between Gretel and the tower. The tower struck it, and the smaller structure simply ceased to be.

Its upper floors folded inward beneath the impact, pieces bursting outward as enormous sections of stone were crushed beneath the tower’s advancing bulk. Windows shattered simultaneously as roof beams snapped. A section of the building was pushed sideways before collapsing into itself, sending a thick cloud of dust racing across the courtyard.

The tower continued, but another structure stood in its way. The same thing happened as stone cracked while walls folded. The tower ploughed through the estate without slowing.

Gretel’s eyes narrowed.

("I can’t outrun that.")

She had considered it for perhaps half a second. The courtyard was large enough that, under normal circumstances, she could have simply run perpendicular to the tower’s trajectory and escaped its path.

But the tower was moving too quickly; worse, its trajectory was being controlled. If she tried to flee, she would have to continuously adjust her direction while the enormous structure continued accelerating toward her.

There was simply not enough room.

("And if I keep running away from it, I’ll just give it more time to build speed.")

Her fingers tightened around the rapier.

The decision came quickly as she ran toward it.

The pressure hit her almost immediately, her hair whipped backward, and her clothing snapped violently against her body. Dust of masonry raced past her as the tower continued bearing down on her. Gretel lowered her body and pushed harder, her boots striking the courtyard stones in rapid succession.

A loose piece of stone struck her shoulder, but she ignored it. Another fragment flew past her cheek, and she ducked. The tower grew larger; its lower section was already tearing through the estate.

She reached the tower’s path; one of its windows was directly ahead. She planted one foot against the outer wall as her body rose. Gretel caught the edge of the shattered window with one hand and swung herself through.

The interior of the moving tower was shaking constantly.

Gretel landed on the floor and immediately had to compensate for the structure’s momentum. The tower was not stationary beneath her. Every second, its enormous body shifted as it tore through whatever lay ahead.

She stumbled one step and caught herself, then ran. The interior had been badly damaged by the tower’s movement. Furniture had been thrown against walls, doors had been ripped from their hinges, and stone decorations had broken free from their mounts and were sliding across the floor.

Gretel had no time to study any of it as she sprinted through the corridor.

The tower lurched, and her feet left the floor, but she caught the edge of a doorway with one hand and swung herself around it, using the momentum to keep moving. She released the frame as a piece of masonry fell from the ceiling.

Gretel ducked underneath it, and it struck the floor behind her and shattered.

Reaching a staircase, the steps were tilted at an awkward angle because of the tower’s movement, but she merely jumped onto the railing.

She ran along the narrow rail for several steps and bent her knees, jumping. Her boots struck the wall opposite the staircase, and she pushed off. Her body crossed the open space as she caught another railing.

The tower shook again, and another section of ceiling collapsed ahead. Gretel stopped for only an instant as she looked upward.

She could feel every impact, but she could also see the opposite side of the tower ahead. Light, an opening.

She ran harder; the corridor ended in a wall.

Gretel drove her shoulder into it; the first impact cracked the surface. She pulled her arm back, then punched. Her fist struck the damaged section, and the stone fractured, and she punched again; the wall broke apart.

Gretel forced her way through the opening as the tower continued moving; she emerged on the opposite side.

The wind immediately caught her as she was thrown clear. For a moment she was suspended above the estate, watching the enormous tower continue on without her. It crashed into another structure in the distance. The sound reached her a moment later as Gretel twisted in midair.

She managed to orient herself enough to land against the roof of a lower structure, but the impact still forced her to roll.

She caught herself, then stopped; her chest rose and fell rapidly.

Gretel looked toward Iphigenia.

The princess was no longer standing at the window. She was suspended in the air several dozen feet above the courtyard.

Her gown moved gently beneath her, and her red eyes remained fixed on Gretel.

Iphigenia raised one hand, and a dozen large translucent red spearheads appeared around her. They were constructs of magic, each one elongated and sharply pointed, their transparent surfaces filled with crackling red energy.

Gretel’s exhaustion disappeared beneath instinct as the spearheads launched. The first came from directly ahead, but she stepped aside. It passed her shoulder and struck the ground; the courtyard exploded. Stone burst outward as the spearhead drove itself into the floor before shattering.

The second came from above, and Gretel raised her rapier, striking it at an angle. The blade connected with the spearhead’s narrow edge, and the construct fractured. Red light split through its translucent body, then it broke apart into several glowing fragments that scattered harmlessly around her.

Another spearhead came from the right; she ducked, and it passed over her head. She pivoted beneath it and immediately drove her rapier upward. The blade caught its underside, and the spearhead cracked. Gretel twisted her wrist, and the entire construct split apart.

The pieces dissolved before they touched the ground.

A fourth spearhead came from behind; Gretel turned too late to dodge completely. She brought her rapier across her body; the spearhead struck the blade. The force drove her backward several feet.

The construct continued pushing before she turned her wrist sharply and redirected the spearhead. It flew past her and struck a nearby wall; the impact tore a hole through the structure as the wall collapsed outward.

Another spearhead followed; this time Gretel jumped, and it passed beneath her. She landed on the top of a broken stone column, immediately using the elevation to avoid the next attack.

The sixth spearhead struck the column; the entire thing shattered. Gretel jumped away before the stone collapsed. The spearhead embedded itself into the courtyard, then it burst. Red energy spread across the ground; it crystallized.

A strange red substance began forming around the impact point, spreading across the stone in branching patterns.

Gretel’s eyes narrowed as she jumped backward; the crystalline material continued expanding beneath her former position. She landed, but another spearhead came; she cut it apart. Another came, and she deflected it.

The courtyard continued being destroyed around her.

Walls were pierced, and stone was shattered while the red crystal spread over the floor. Though it was not long before the barrage stopped.

Iphigenia descended quickly; her feet touched the courtyard.

The instant they did, ice spread outward, a thin sheet raced across the ground from beneath her feet.

Gretel’s eyes dropped; the ice was moving directly toward her.

She clicked her tongue.

"Of course."

She stepped back as the ice accelerated; it climbed over the courtyard stones, freezing the remaining red crystal in its path and coating the debris. Then it surged upward, and an enormous wave of ice rose between them.

Gretel stared at it for a fraction of a second, then she looked at the cuts on her own body. Blood was already gathering; thin threads slipped from the wounds.

The blood converged in front of her, several strands twisted together. Then more joined them; the shape became denser and sharper.

It formed into a narrow, drill-like mass rotating rapidly in front of her. Gretel lowered her body, the ice came, and she rushed forward. The blood drill met the wall of ice, and the impact drove a shock through the courtyard.

Gretel pushed, and the drill began boring into the ice; shards shattered outward. She continued forward.

The blood construct rotated faster as she drove herself through the enormous frozen mass, carving a narrow passage through it. Ice scraped against her shoulders, and pieces struck her arms.

She ignored them; her eyes remained fixed ahead.

Iphigenia was on the other side.

("She’s still doing it.") Gretel’s thoughts continued. ("She’s using one spell after another, but she hasn’t shown any sign that she intends to use her Null Schema.")

A smile almost reached her lips.

("Honestly, that’s fine by me.")

She drove the blood drill deeper.

("If she wants to keep fighting without showing everything she can really do, then victory becomes easier.")

The ice cracked, a final section shattered, and Gretel burst through the other side. She emerged into open air; blood continued to drip from her cuts.

The drill dissolved as she raised her rapier, then stopped.

Something was wrong.

Not with Iphigenia, but with something beyond the estate and city.

Something flashed, and Gretel’s eyes moved toward the distant horizon.

A violet light appeared; for one impossible moment, it seemed almost small.

Then it expanded; the explosion erupted somewhere beyond Pulchritudo.

It was enormous; violet energy spread outward in a rapidly expanding sphere, illuminating the distant skyline before the sound even reached them.

Gretel stared as the light grew.

Then came the shockwave; the ground moved first. The entire estate lurched as though the earth had been struck. Walls cracked, towers swayed, and broken structures collapsed. The courtyard beneath Gretel’s feet buckled as the pressure reached them.

It hit both simultaneously; Gretel’s eyes widened as she was lifted from the ground.

Iphigenia’s expression finally broke; her composure vanished for a moment as the force caught her gown and threw her backward.

Neither had time to react as the shockwave tore through the estate. Gretel was sent flying across the courtyard; she twisted instinctively, trying to control her trajectory.

("What the hell was that!?")

Across from her, Iphigenia was also thrown through the air; her eyes remained fixed toward the distant violet glow.

("What just happened...?")

Neither had an answer.

And for the first time since their fight began, neither of them was thinking about the other. They were both looking toward the same destruction.

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