Rise of Winter, Week 5, Day 4

  “We have a score to settle,” the woman continued, stepping forward, sending ripples across the thin sheen of water.

  Freddie was frozen, overwhelmed by the aura that dominated the clearing. She was gasping for breath, the air thick in her lungs. The power. It was Divine. Freddie was sure of it. It pressed down on her, keeping her still in shock and fear. Keeping her paralyzed.

  Whirlpool eyes. White hair. Blue skin.

  There was only one Goddess who matched the description so perfectly.

  Scylla.

  The Goddess of Gambling and Prophecy. She was the Lady of Low Tydes and the Keeper of Fate.

  Minare’s words filled Freddie’s mind.

  There are those that yearn for your demise. Beware.

  Freddie was excruciatingly aware of Scylla in a way so visceral that Freddie couldn’t help but compare the experience to that of Minare. Minare had, after all, been so in control that Freddie hadn’t even considered buckling to the Ancient Goddess. But everything about Scylla screamed Goddess. Every word was lined with power, every movement emphasized by her strength. Even her Domain had manifested in a way that went against the natural order of the world. A testament to her ability.

  Between one moment and the next, the Goddess waved her hand and Tiltham went from standing before Freddie to dropping to one knee —the other knights forcibly dropping as well.

  “Now, now, I can hear your plans, Dame. No need to get yourself killed. Just sit tight.”

  With her words, the swords of the Void Knights lifted themselves out of their scabbards and flew towards Scylla, dropping in a pile at her feet.

  Still, Freddie couldn’t move. It took everything in her to breathe, to remain standing. The pressure was overwhelming. Even her thoughts were sluggish. But, then, a single word reverberated in her head.

  Powerless, she hissed in her mind. Then she bit her tongue so viciously that Freddie could taste copper. Blood was welling within her mouth, and Freddie grounded herself with the reality.

  Yes, a Goddess was before her.

  Yes, Freddie was just Level 12.

  Yes, she was outgunned, outplanned, and outright weaker than her opponent.

  But not without a choice. Never without a choice, Freddie thought.

  And so Freddie chose to do what Kalina always had.

  She chose to fight.

  [Fire Conjuration+Fire Manipulation]

  Freddie focused her thoughts, directing the magma in her veins. The lava shifted, pouring out of palms. Crimson flames began spewing from her fists. Before the burning started, Freddie spat more Skills out in her mind.

  [Imbue Flame][Imbue Flame]

  Like a glove, Freddie’s power wrapped around her fingers, her knuckles, her palm. It sank into her muscles and bones, imbuing them with the power to protect herself from flame.

  She clenched her fists and powered through the intimidation of the Goddess. Her aura was strong, but not so strong that Freddie’s will couldn’t break through. So, the girl lifted her fists and formed a guard.

  Still, Freddie couldn’t find the words to speak. Instead, she began shifting her feet into her fighting stance. It was slow going, and the Goddess simply quirked an eyebrow.

  “Yes, yes, your plan rippled through the Tydes. It will not work, Godtouched.”

  Scylla snapped her fingers, and Freddie felt the air in her lungs disappear. The flames on her fists shrank, becoming embers before being extinguished entirely. The pain of her Skill breaking caused Freddie to flinch.

  “You know who I am. I can feel it. It is a tidal wave. It’s causing a whirlpool in your plans, so many options, but there is only one ending.” Scylla stepped forward again, holding out a hand toward Freddie despite still being a dozen paces away.

  Freddie brought a hand to her throat as she felt the suffocation begin. It took her several moments before she realized the Goddess would not be returning air to her lungs.

  Freddie wondered if she would relight her own flames. If she would be able to. There was only one way to know, for certain, if this was the end.

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  [Fire Conjuration+Fire Manipulation]

  Freddie screamed the Skills in her head, trying to return her flames. Her power and protection both. But magma never filled her veins, and her Skills remained dormant within her.

  “Do you wish to see? To know what could have been —but will now never be?”

  Freddie could barely process the words, but she knew what they meant. The Goddess wanted to show her Freddie of the Before. Fredericka Nemo, without Kalina Kastrinova.

  A grin formed on Freddie’s lips despite the pain of being without air. A single thought was circling her mind. The same thought she’d had a thousand times as Kalina. The same thought she’d forgotten earlier on.

  Victor, victor, victor, victor, victor.

  Rather than shake her head or use her hands. Freddie mouthed her answer. It was a slow thing, making sure each word was properly able to be read. And whether it was mocking or not was between her and the Goddess that prodded her so.

  ‘No need.’

  Freddie watched as the Goddess blinked, then fury reigned her features. And Freddie struggled to widen her grin.

  “Fredericka Nemo, you will regret scorning me. You and your Patron, I will take what is due to me —and I will right the Tydes of Fate.” Scylla’s voice shook as she spoke, and the Goddess propelled forward with a speed too fast for Freddie to follow.

  As the air returned to Freddie’s lungs, her hand was ripped from her neck and replaced with a blue palm pressing down, strangling her.

  “You joke, and you laugh, and you look at me with that grin. What gives you the confidence to defy a God?”

  Scylla was holding Freddie up by the throat, forcing the girl to be at eye level with the Goddess. When Freddie dropped her grin and began gasping in pain, Scylla threw her down to the ground with a heavy thump.

  “Answer me, Godtouched. And do not delay.”

  Freddie took a deep breath and brought her hand up to her collarbone, pressing lightly against her flesh, sitting up.

  [Regenerate]

  The Skill pulled her mana to her neck, and warmth filled her. Freddie could feel the bruise rapidly shifting through the stages of healing, but it still wasn’t enough. Under her fingers, deep purple bruises sprung up and settled in, and when she spoke her voice shook with the tender pain of being forcibly silenced.

  “Confidence is all I’ve got,” Freddie choked out, her orange eyes meeting Scylla’s whirlpools defiantly. “May as well use it.”

  Scylla waved another hand, and Freddie watched as the knights began to shift in and out of her field of vision. It was a surreal thing to see them fade in and out of existence itself.

  “Who are you? You, who would talk back to a God.”

  Freddie broke out a tired grin and climbed back up to her feet, casting another [Regenerate] as she did so.

  That question was easy.

  “I am who I have always been. I am Kalina Kastrinova. The Unburned. The Devourer of Flame. The Conqueror of the Cage. Yet, still, I am Fredericka Asterian Nemo. Daughter to Aster and Bridian Nemo. Granddaughter to Frederick Nemo. Heir to the Nemo Dukedom. A [Young Lady of Flame]. Who are you?”

  Freddie, with fire in her eyes, used her own Divinity to compel the Goddess before her. Demanded that Scylla explain herself. To define her very being.

  The Goddess didn’t flinch, didn’t shift, didn’t appear to be under Freddie’s influence, except that Freddie knew she was. She could feel it in a way she hadn’t felt anything before. It was more than a sense. It was pure understanding of herself. Of her limits.

  Freddie was compelling a Goddess, and she’d only get to do it once.

  Scylla held a single hand up, flexing her muscles and musing to herself, “Who am I, you ask? When you know the truth of such things? Very well, Godtouched. You have used your Divinity to force my answer, and I shall only stall for so long.”

  As Scylla continued shifting her fingers and staring at her nails, the water lining the ground of the clearing began to bubble. When the first one burst, an orb of water wafted up through the gap in the lining. Within seconds, there were globules of water levitating in the air around the Goddess.

  “I am Scylla, Goddess of Prophecy and Gambling, Lady of Low Tydes and Chance Encounters. Sister to Mera, Greta, and Mace. Ruler of the Domain of the Tydes of Fate. A near Ancient, I have survived through every Divine Revolution.”

  Scylla paused, and Freddie could feel the disconnect. Something was off. Something was wrong. And then the globules burst into a flurry of snow that filled the clearing so fully that Freddie could not see anything but Scylla’s blue form.

  “And I will survive two Otherworlders. I will survive your flooding of the Tydes. I will survive. No. I will thrive. And you and your kind will wither. You will have no choice.”

  Freddie watched as a harsh grin spread across Scylla’s face.

  “You understand not what you’ve done, yet still, you must pay the price for your existence. Goodbye, Godtouched.”

  Scylla seemed to dim in vibrancy, and Freddie began to release a sigh.

  Of relief. Of expectance. Of knowledge that Scylla was leaving her be —if only for the moment.

  It was proof that Freddie survived a God descending, her breath.

  And then she was lifted from the ground and flung through the air with enough force that the wind deafened Freddie, and a pop filled her ears as her eardrums burst.

  Freddie’s world went silent, and pain filled her once again.

  She was already casting [Regenerate] when her body stilled, and a blue light surrounded her. She caught a glimpse of the clearing, covered in freshly fallen snow, no water to be found. Freddie could make out the Void Knights jumping up, running toward her. One knight in particular caught her eye. Tiltham. The woman’s arm was outstretched, and she was pushing off the ground with an expression so fierce it sent chills down Freddie’s spine. Finally, Freddie saw the stone archway that surrounded her. As [Regenerate] healed her eardrums, Freddie heard Tiltham's scream. It was a desperate, guttural thing, and Freddie could hardly process what that meant.

  Then, her world went black, and a single crimson notification filled the darkness.

  [Hello, Challenger! Welcome to Dungeon M283! May you thrive.]

  Outside, the blue light of the dungeon entrance turned red, and the stone archway surrounding the portal collapsed and sank into the ground.

  Knights sank to their knees and a single howl of rage reached the darkness Freddie found herself absorbed by. Yet, still.

  Freddie was alone in the dark once again.

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