Nic was pushing his body to its limits as he raced after Ruby. She was managing to stay just out of his reach, always turning another quarter as Nic turned his own. He didn’t understand how she was staying so far ahead.

  Nic’s lungs were burning. His heart was beating far faster than normal.

  Running shouldn’t have affected him so.

  Was it because he had just been unfrozen? Was his body fighting back against Nic for pushing his body so hard when it had just been frozen still for minutes?

  Surely Ruby was feeling the same way. She had been frozen longer than him. If he was feeling like this, then surely she was as well.

  As was the person behind him.

  Nic could hear Aria’s steps faltering. She was assuredly facing the same burning that he was. He had to push himself. Even if she faltered. They couldn’t let Ruby escape, no matter what.

  Even if that meant leaving Aria behind while he ran forward.

  Nic finally saw Ruby’s back through the front entrance doors to the palace. She was standing out in the courtyard. Nic reached out his hand and a blast of wind threw the doors wide open. He quietly thanked the lesser spirit that was still by his side as Nic ran through the doors.

  This is wrong.

  Those were his first thoughts as his foot landed on the cobblestone of the courtyard.

  It was quiet.

  There was no wind.

  It was still.

  All around him were raindrops floating in the sky. Each one he touched would pop like a bubble, only to stop moving a millisecond later.

  How could there be no wind, yet there was rain?

  Nic looked up.

  He saw the dark grey clouds that he expected.

  They looked like they had been moving, and yet they weren’t.

  It was like they…

  “... are frozen?”

  Ruby’s voice was unnaturally normal as she broke through his thoughts. It was like she had read his mind, asking the very question that he had been thinking.

  Nic forced himself to look away from the clouds, back down to his target.

  Without him realizing it, Ruby had already gotten close to him. Her face barely beyond the edge of his outstretched sword. All he had to do was lunge at her and he could kill her.

  It would be all he had to do to end everything here and now. If he killed her here, there would be no threat of a second Irradiated Winter.

  And yet, he couldn’t.

  There was something about Ruby that made Nic stay his blade.

  “What do you mean ‘frozen’?” Nic made sure to keep his voice level as he questioned the woman in front of him.

  “Hm? Did Crystal not explain this to you? Or…” Ruby began to laugh as if she had realized something from what Nic had said. “You don’t know, do you? I wonder if she even knew the truth.”

  “What truth?”

  Ruby clicked her tongue. “If you don’t know, then you’ll just have to figure it out the hard way.”

  “Huh?” Nic blinked, only to find Ruby in his face.

  How had she gotten so close in just a second? He tried to move his sword only to find his sword clanging on the ground.

  “ARRGGHHH!” Nic yelled out in pain. The arm that was holding his sword had been hit in that millisecond.

  Ruby was hitting him in the time it took Nic to blink.

  Every time he blinked, she was in a new position, as if she had super speed, or…

  “Am I freezing?”

  Nic’s voice was full of the pain he was feeling in his arm.

  “Not quite. Take a look around.” Ruby had retreated again. She was standing not too far from Nic, his sword in her hands.

  Nic did as he was told and looked around.

  There were soldiers around them. Civilians as well. But they weren’t moving.

  Nothing was moving.

  It wasn’t that Nic was being freezed.

  Time was freezing.

  Nic was just being spared from the stoppage of time.

  “The only reason we are talking right now, Nic Verilo, is because I wanted to speak with you.”

  Nic struggled to get to his feet. Pain radiated from his right arm, as well as his gut. He could feel some of his bones were broken. The woman in front of him, who he had taken for less of a warrior, was strong enough to deal these wounds to him. Nic had to reexamine his possibilities of walking away from here intact.

  “What do you want?” Nic spat the words out. He didn’t want to listen to anything she had to say. No matter what Ruby would say to him, there was nothing that could shake his decision.

  “I want you.” Ruby’s voice snaked its way into his ears. Nic twitched, taking a step back, away from Ruby. “Ah, don’t do that.” Ruby took a step towards Nic, matching his step back. She reached out her free hand and tried to caress his face. “I want you, fully and truly. That woman cursed me with her own love. You aren’t the man that she loved, but your eyes,” Ruby let out a low moan. “Those eyes are his eyes. I want them.”

  Nic found himself wanting to vomit.

  He could feel the bile in the back of his mouth as the woman in front of him spoke.

  Ruby wasn’t looking at him. She never was.

  All she saw in Nic was another man from another time.

  Somehow, Ruby held the same feelings for his ancestor that Crystal held.

  But he was gone. All who was left was Nic.

  He would never be the person that Ruby wanted, and her gaze sickened him.

  “I’ll never join you!” Nic’s words came out forcefully. He had inadvertently shouted his response to the woman’s request.

  “Don’t say never. You may find yourself agreeing with me soon in the future. After all, I can offer you something you desire as well.”

  Nic’s eyes widened in surprise. How did she know what he wanted? What did she even mean by that statement?

  “Join me, Verilo, and help me achieve a second Irradiated Winter. Help me remove humanities weakness, and I will let you bring that girl that you are infatuated with. You can both join us, and take a place in the upper echelons of our new world!”

  Aria. She was offering him a nice life with Aria. If he simply gave in and followed her, Ruby was offering him an easy life with the woman he loved. But he would have to give up on his ideals.

  If he joined her, he would never be truly free.

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  Ruby would watch him like a hawk. There was no way that she would let him go free.

  And the fact that she feels as she does about Nic, he was sure that there was no way that she wouldn’t be able to settle with him loving another person. Eventually, Aria would be murdered, and Nic would be forced into some perverted form of a relationship with Ruby.

  “You want me to join you, and yet you offer me a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Nic fired back at the elf in front of him. “You would never let me live peacefully with Aria, not with that look in your eyes.”

  Ruby grimaced.

  Nic had hit the nail on the head.

  “Thats-”

  “Don’t deny it,” Nic cut Ruby off. He had more he wanted to say. “What you offered is a lie, and you ask me to deny my beliefs on top of it. Rid this world of Humanities weakness? That’s a lie, and you know it. We humans are not a weakness. Just as how Demi-Humans are not a weakness. All you want to do is wipe the world of anyone who isn’t like you!”

  Nic knew time had stopped again.

  The moment that Ruby moved faster than the blink of an eye, Nic knew she had stopped time. His muscles worked on instinct, yet it wasn’t enough.

  Nic’s side erupted in pain and blood as he began flying through the courtyard. His body flopped on the cobblestone, making the stones come loose after him. As he blinked, before coming to a stop, his back erupted again.

  Nic had been kicked into the air.

  He was starting to lose consciousness from the pain.

  As he fell to the ground, he couldn’t even begin to think of a way to stop himself from hitting the ground.

  He landed with a pathetic plop.

  His body ached.

  There was blood seeping out of his mouth and nose.

  His mind was fading.

  Who was he?

  The question passed through his mind.

  It was the last thing he saw before a green orb appeared in his hand.

  That verdant green orb was a reminder. He had to remember. Remember her. As long as he remembered her, he would be fine.

  Who… who was he thinking about?

  Remember her! A voice rang out in his ears.

  Who’s there?

  Remember Aerial’s… The voice was quiet, almost a whisper. He wasn’t able to hear the end of the sentence. But even so, hearing that name. Aerial. Stirred something within him.

  Aerial…

  Aer…

  Ar… ia!

  Nic’s eyes snapped open. Ruby was above him, his own sword in her hands pointed at his neck. The strain in her eyes betrayed how hard she was trying to push the sword into him. But in the sword’s way, at the tip of it, just inches above his skin,

  The spirit, his buddy, that had been with him since the beginning. It felt like years since he had first made a contract with the spirit, even though it had only been a couple of months. That same spirit was managing to block the blade, all on its own.

  Against everything, despite his body screaming against him, Nic moved his hand.

  Ruby’s eyes went wide as she noticed Nic moving.

  “AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

  A scream broke the silence. It wasn’t Ruby, nor Nic who was screaming. It was someone else, someone that Ruby hadn’t expected.

  A gust of wind carried Ruby off of Nic and flung her to the ground many mer away. As his sword clattered to the ground next to him, he rolled his head to the side and found her in his sights.

  “...” Nic opened his mouth to call her name, yet nothing came of it. He couldn’t call her name.

  But he knew it was Aria.

  She was running straight to him. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, unlike how it had been the last time he had seen her. Over the green dress she had been wearing, a light green armor made of compressed wind was covering her. Aerial had covered her.

  “How?!” Ruby screamed from where she was lying on the ground. “How can you move?!”

  To the woman controlling time, seeing someone brazenly walk around without her permission was the highest form of mockery.

  Aria was walking around as if time itself wasn’t frozen. Not only that, she ignored Ruby’s outburst as she knelt down next to Nic and gently cradled his head with her hands. Nic felt something warm hit his face. Looking into her eyes, he saw water forming at their edges.

  She was crying for him. Why? Was he so injured that she felt the need to cry? Nic tried to reach his arm up to her face, only to find a bloody mess instead of his arm. He was wounded far more than he had realized.

  “Shh…” Aria whispered to Nic, telling him to be quiet as she lowered his arm back to the side.

  The roar of thunder and a flash of light interrupted them.

  A fourth person had arrived. One that Nic himself knew, but Aria didn’t.

  One of the elusive, rare to see, light elves had appeared next to Ruby, picking her up off the floor. Nic barely heard his voice as they conversed, but he knew that the one that had arrived was an elf created from a spirit progenitor. Solus had appeared in Kyoku, just as he had promised he would.

  “Fine,” Ruby agreed with what her follower had said before turning back to the two on the ground. “Nic Verilo, you have two weeks to give me the answer that I want. If I don’t receive the answer I want, We will burn this city to the ground.”

  With a final thunderous clap, Ruby and Solus disappeared.

  The rain, stopped in time just seconds ago, began to fall again. It splashed across Nic’s body with a soothing, repetitious, pattern. Nic closed his eyes as he felt the rhythmic plat plat plat on his skin.

  “Somebody! I need help! I need a healer!” Aria’s cries were growing distant. They were the last thing that Nic heard before he lost consciousness.

  The sound of a gentle patter on a window woke Nic up. As he opened his eyes, his dry mouth assaulted him. It was as dry as a desert, like he hadn’t drunk anything in days. His body barely wanted to move. The soreness was heavy on his entire body. Every time he took a breath, he could hear the raspiness as it passed through his throat.

  Nic took a quick look around the room he was in. It was a small room. Within it was the bed that Nic was laying in. The bed was pushed up against one of the walls, leaving a bit of walking room on either side. At the foot of the bed, just a few feet away was the entrance to the room. One side of the bed had a thin counter space with a bowl and some water next to it. Above the counter was the window that Nic had been hearing the rain hitting. The other side of the bed held a chair sitting next to the bed. The chair was currently occupied by a sleeping Aria.

  Nic saw his own left arm as he reached out to wake up Aria. His arm was covered in bandages. So was his right arm. Nic quickly looked under the blankets to realize that most of his body was covered in the same bandages.

  Ruby had done a number on his body.

  Nic gently nudged Aria a few times until her eyes fluttered open. When she saw Nic awake, she seemed on the verge of crying. Before she said anything though, she ran out of the room.

  A second later, she appeared with a man. Nic had never seen the man before, and found his breath caught when he saw the vibrant blue hair and clear blue eyes. The man was an elf. A water elf to be specific. They were the third rarest of the elves that Nic knew of, only being less rare than light and dark elves.

  “See, doctor, I told you he was awake.”

  “I see that, Ms. Aria. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to make sure he is fine.” As he spoke the doctor walked over to the counter and grabbed a small cup that had been in the bowl. He turned towards Nic and put his hand on Nic’s chest as Nic was trying to talk.

  “Be quiet for now, Mr. Nic. You’re recovering from some pretty nasty wounds, and have been asleep for eight days. Please, sip on this water for now while I check your wounds.” Nic did as he was told and began to sip on the water as the doctor pulled down the blanket covering him and began to check around his body.

  As the water slid down Nic’s throat, he could feel his throat becoming less dry by the second. His body was eagerly accepting the water. Once he was done with his first cup, it was immediately refilled with water. Nic didn’t know what magic caused it, but he wanted to learn it badly. To have a cup with infinite water would always come in handy.

  “Alright, Nic,” As the doctor finished up the checkup, he began to talk to Nic directly. “You’re doing a lot better than the first time I saw you. Your wounds have all closed and it looks like your bones have become whole again. You’ll be sore for a few days, but that’s nothing that rest and some ice won’t help you with.”

  The doctor gave Nic a warm smile. “Thank… you.” Nic’s own voice sounded foreign to him. He hadn’t talked in so long, and yet now he was able to again.

  After seeing that Nic was seemingly fine for now, the doctor left the room, only to be replaced by a familiar face. Nobu Ito, Yuuki’s father.

  “Mr. Ito.” Nic bowed his head to the newcomer as he entered the room.

  Nobu Ito waved his hand dismissively. “Just Nobu is fine, Young Verilo.”

  “In that case, just Nic is fine for me.”

  “Aria here told us what Ruby said to the two of you at the end. That she would destroy this place if you gave her an unfavorable answer.”

  Nic looked over at Aria as she spoke up, picking up where Nobu left off. “But, we don’t know what that question is. We were hoping you would tell us.”

  Aria’s hand found its way into Nic’s. It was a small, soft, comfort that Nic would always cherish. Which was why he had no qualms explaining what Ruby wanted with him. The thought of the question itself disgusted Nic in his very core.

  “She wanted me.”

  “Huh?”

  “I see.”

  The difference between the two of them couldn’t have been any more palpable. Aria had been confused while Nobu seemed to understand everything already. And it was something that Aria had caught as well.

  “What do you mean ‘I see”?”

  “Nic here is the only one who can truly oppose her plans. If he becomes an ally of hers, this world would be facing down the mouth of a second Irradiated Winter.”

  Nobu wasn’t wrong. He already had a solid grasp on the situation that Nic was in, so Nic simply nodded.

  “I already told her I wasn’t going to join her, and look where that got me.” Nic motioned down to his own body. “If I’ve been asleep for 8 days, then…”

  “There are only six days left before they attack.” Aria finished his sentence. “We’ve already sent a message to Sanum, and Ordwell is bringing forces from Sanum, Aric, and Crystallia here, but they won’t arrive for another week and a half. We’ll need to hold out on our own till then.”

  They were in a perilous situation. As Nic learned more and more, he wondered if they really could hold out until Ordwell arrived. Kyoku had been cut off from the sea, with its ports being blockaded. A force had appeared just outside of the city, cutting off the capital from the rest of the Island that it was situated on as well.

  Once Nic was able to get up again, he knew he would have to join the rest in defending the city.