Thales's hand trembled as he reached for the thing pulsing in the snow. It was a perfectly round disc, glowing blue with geometric etching. Thales's eyes lit up as he picked it up.
The glowing disc was the key to opening a hidden door in the Leaning Tower of Pisa. That was the story in MoDS. Thales turned to me grinning.
"We did it, Phaser."
"Yeah. We did."
For a moment, it almost felt like victory. The Slime Octopus was nothing but burning sludge, Lucaren was a memory rotting in the snow and the Azure Sword's path was beginning to open.
The temperature plummeted.
Mist rolled across the ground, crystallizing against the valley rocks. My breath fogged before my eyes and even Thales stiffened, clutching the disc tighter as if he already knew.
A man appeared. He was three meters tall, draped in white robes. His antlers stretched high and wide, carved from living ice. His features were flawless, carved like marble, yet strangely kind.
It was the Frostclave Stag, one of the Ten Fluve Guardians. Seeing him in flesh or whatever form this was, was like staring at a legend torn from the page.
"I apologize. Someone interfered with the test. The first clue should not have come to you this way. That fault lies beyond your control."
My fingers twitched at my side. His presence was suffocating, not in hostility but in sheer magnitude. Even a passive Guardian like him was overwhelming.
"I will grant you an extra reward for the trouble you endured."
Thales looked down at the disc, then back up at him.
"I got what I wanted already. Phaser didn't."
I blinked. For a moment, my expression betrayed me. I was caught off guard. Thales, the noble idiot, had pointed at me without hesitation. The Stag's piercing gaze turned toward me. His eyes narrowed slightly.
Thales pressed on.
"The Fluveheart of the octopus corroded in its own acid. He fought, he bled, and in the end, he got nothing. If anyone deserves a reward, it's him."
I almost scoffed. Thales didn't owe me a damn thing but he said it without malice. After a few seconds, the Stag's massive hand extended slightly, his palm open, as if offering the world.
"Then, Phasnovterich. What is it you desire? Speak, but keep within my boundaries."
My answer was already in my mouth.
"I want a Fluveheart. A powerful one."
The Stag tilted his head, surprised.
"That is all? Not riches? Not might? Why a Fluveheart?"
"Riches? I'm an Argemenes. Power? A Fluveheart is power in its purest form for me. There's nothing else I need right now."
The Stag sighed softly. "Your desire is simple. Honest, even. Few stand before me without greed."
He raised his hand. White light burst from his palm. It swirled and condensed, forming three crystalline shapes that floated in the air between us. I couldn't help but gasp.
They were three white Fluvehearts. These glowed with a brilliance that screamed of purity. My body knew before my mind did.
They were Class Eleven Fluvehearts.
"They are pieces of my own heart. They will regenerate within me in time. To give you these costs me nothing."
I stared. For once, I was truly stunned. My smirk faltered raw astonishment. He had just handed me power that Outers would kill thousands for. Slowly, I reached out and took them. They were warm, vibrating faintly against my palm. My strings ached to absorb them. My crown of thorns whispered to devour them. I clenched my hand shut around them, holding them close.
"Thank you."
The words tasted strange in my mouth.
The Stag's gaze lingered on me. It was almost… pitying.
"Your curse is broken."
"What?"
But before I could ask, his form began to shimmer, unraveling into motes of frost and light.
"Our time is at an end. Farewell, young ones. Walk wisely."
And with that, the world itself collapsed.
The snow, the ruins, the corpse, the field of acid, all of it shattered like glass. A force pressed against my chest, hurling me backward. We were pushed out of the Fluve Field back into the real world.
°°°°°
Snow crunched under my palms as I groaned and rolled onto my side. My ribs ached like someone had been playing drums on them from the inside but I was alive. My breath spilled into the cold air in broken clouds and when I lifted my eyes, I caught the last flicker of the closing portal. Its edges glowed faintly violet, like torn silk being stitched back together by unseen hands, before it snapped shut with a soundless sigh.
I dragged myself upright, brushing snow off my arms. Thales's voice cut through the noise around us.
"You good?"
I blinked at him, swaying once before catching my balance.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
It was a lie, but a practiced one. My chest still stung from being pushed out. What did the stag mean by curse?
I reached into my System Inventory and slid the three glowing Fluvehearts into the pocket dimension. Their warmth brushed against my consciousness.
"Phaser!"
Verdamona. staggered out of the chaos like a ghost, smeared in blood that wasn't all hers. Her legs nearly gave out before she caught herself and forced her spine straight. Her eyes found me instantly as though her pain was invisible when she had someone else to worry about.
"Phaser, are you okay?"
I sighed, rubbing a hand over my face. She was bleeding out of at least three places. Her shoulder caved in like it had been slammed by a hammer and she was asking me if I was alright. Of course she was. She'd bleed herself dry before letting anyone else say they were hurting.
"I'm fine."
Damn it. Destroying that chronic self-sacrifice of hers isn't going to be easy. Maybe it wasn't even possible.
One of the university's medics rushed past us, stopped, then backtracked to grab her wrist.
"You. With me. You'll bleed out if you keep standing."
She didn't argue. She simply just shot me a fleeting look that begged me not to worry, even though her body was collapsing on itself. She let herself be dragged away.
All around us, injured students littered the snow like broken chess pieces. Medics scrambled through the mess, hoisting bodies onto stretchers and patching wounds. The sound of groans, screams, and snapping bones filled the air and for a moment it felt less like victory and more like aftermath. Thales's sigh pulled me back. He was holding the glowing blue disc in his hand, the light from it scattering across his face. Without a word, he extended it toward me.
"Why are you giving it to me?"
His voice was rougher than usual.
"Because I can't keep it. That thing resonates with anyone from the Erdict bloodline. House Erdict will sniff it out and I'm not sticking around long enough to let that happen."
The Erdicts. Yeah, he was right. If they caught wind of this disc, it wouldn't just be him they'd drag into their crossfire.
"So you're dumping it on me?"
"I'm trusting you with it. You'll keep it safe. Better you than me. I trust you enough to give you this."
I looked down at the disc. It felt heavier than it should in my hand, as though the story itself had just dropped another burden onto my shoulders. I slipped it into my Inventory without a word.
Lifting my head, I scanned the snow. Students were being carried off one after another, blood trailing in red lines across the snow. The stench of iron and frost clogged my lungs. My gaze drifted toward the pale clouds crawling across the horizon.
It was March 21st.
A day in that Fluve Field was two days in Altera Earth. Which meant that out here, in the real timeline, ten days remained before the Season Change. Who knew that I would actually see a season changing. This wasn't over. Shit, this wasn't even the beginning.
Across the field, past the medics and the stretchers, I saw my sister, speaking to a woman in a military uniform I knew all too well. My blood ran cold. Every nerve we screaming at once as my mind caught up with what my eyes already knew.
The woman turned. She didn't walk to me. She appeared. With a blur, she suddenly stood right in front of me, the snow crunching under her boots.
She was shorter than me but those eyes still made me feel like a child trying to hide a broken toy. The weight of her presence pressed against my chest harder than Lucaren's blade ever did. This wasn't in the main story...
"Hello, Mother."