Chapter 277: Tired
Third-person POV
Electra’s lungs were burning like she had been set on fire, and even though she didn’t know how long she had been running, her legs were already starting to feel like they might just give up on her and crumble under her at any moment.
Her breath came out in short gasps, and her hands were shaking, not from exhaustion, but from the overwhelming effort of keeping herself calm.
She couldn’t afford to lose control, not now, and not even for a second.
The talking tree had told her to head east, and although she had no idea if trees in this world were reliable sources of direction, she had followed its instructions anyway.
Every step she took had started to feel extremely painful, but her instincts told her she was getting closer. So instead of taking any breaks, she kept going, and after a while, she saw it.
That flash of red hair in the distance.
Her heart had leapt with hope as soon as she did, and she didn’t even think twice before she ran toward it, her eyes stinging with sweat and her chest tight with anticipation.
Seraphina. It had to be Seraphina. That walk, and that hair—she would recognize her anywhere, but just as she got close enough to reach out, Electra stopped dead in her tracks, and in that moment, the realization that it wasn’t Seraphina like she thought it was, dawned on her.
The face was almost right. Almost, but something in the eyes, something cold, lifeless, and wrong, froze her in place. Seraphina’s eyes never looked like that, not even when she was scared, or when she was trying to be brave. These ones... they looked like glass, and nothing like the Seraphina she knew.
"Seraphina?" Electra whispered, her voice shaky.
The thing tilted its head and smiled, but it wasn’t Seraphina’s smile. There was no slight dimple, and no warmth. Just a wide, eerie grin that made Electra’s skin crawl.
She stumbled back a step, and without thinking, turned around and ran.
And that was when the other two appeared.
One from the left, and another from the right, and all of them had Seraphina’s face, her hair, and her voice. Each one called her name in the exact tone Seraphina used, and that was the most terrifying part of it all.
"Electra."
"Come here."
"Stop running, please."
She didn’t stop.
Her shoes slapped against the grass as she tore through the landscape, with her heart thudding so loud she thought it might explode in her chest. The rules her grandfather had set still echoed in her head: no fear, no anger, no desperation.
Easy to say, but very hard to live through.
She didn’t even know if this was part of the test or some twisted hallucination her dying brain was playing on her, but either way, if she let herself feel too much—panic, rage, hopelessness—it would all be over.
Seraphina would die.
"No," she whispered to herself through clenched teeth. "Keep going, don’t feel it. Don’t feel anything."
But those hideous looking versions of Seraphina were getting closer, and one of them nearly grabbed her shoulder, but she twisted away, barely dodging its outstretched hand. It kept running after her, its voice soft and pleading.
"Electra, it’s me. Don’t leave me behind."
"Shut up," Electra growled through gritted teeth. "You’re not her. You’re not her!"
Tears pricked her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. She couldn’t, especially not now. If she gave in, if she let herself break, it would be the end.
These things... they weren’t Seraphina.
They were tricks, illusions, and something that was probably created to break her down, to make her panic, and to make her fail.
Electra narrowed her eyes and forced herself to stop looking back. She didn’t care what those monsters looked like. She knew they weren’t real.
"I’m going to find her," she whispered. "I’m going to find the real her. So, let’s stay focused, Lectra. We can do this."
She didn’t know how much time had passed, but every second felt like a countdown ticking in her chest. Ten minutes, that was all she had, but she was starting to think time worked differently here because in her head, she couldn’t have been here anything less than a day. Either way, she had to find Seraphina before it was too late.
And then, just as she turned a corner, racing past a wall of strange looking crystal trees, she saw her.
Collapsed on the ground with her red hair sprawled over her shoulder, her pale face, soft expression, unconscious, but alive.
Electra froze.
She didn’t move, and unlike earlier, she didn’t run toward her. She stood perfectly still, breathing heavily, watching, and waiting to confirm. Was this another trick? Another fake? She clenched her fists.
Think, Electra. Think.
Slowly, she took a step closer, and then another, while staying focused on the details. The gentle rise and fall of her chest, the slight twitch in her fingers, and the tiny, but barely noticeable scar above her eyebrow.
That wasn’t a copy.
That was her.
The real Seraphina.
Electra exhaled, slow, steady, controlled. She knelt beside her and gently touched her shoulder, and when her fingers made contact, a strange warmth rushed through her arm. The heat spread through her chest and for a second, it felt like her soul had lit up.
Seraphina stirred.
Her eyes fluttered open, and for a second, she looked confused. Then, she blinked, and when her eyes met Electra’s, she smiled faintly. "You found me," she whispered.
Electra nodded. "Of course I did."
She wanted to cry, hell, she even wanted to scream, but she didn’t. Instead, she stayed calm, and decided to keep her emotions in check, because the test wasn’t over yet. Not until she heard that grandfather of hers tell her it was over.
"I’m going to get us out of here," she said quietly, lifting Seraphina into her arms. "Just hold on."
A loud rumble shook the ground under them, and all of a sudden, the world around her started to look different, until it started to fade. The trees, the sky, and even the false versions of Seraphina chasing her—all of it cracked like glass and started to fall apart.
Then came the light. A blinding flame that wrapped around her and Seraphina like a protective cocoon, and through the light, she heard her grandfather’s voice again, no longer mocking or amused, but calm, and maybe even impressed.
"You did well."
And Electra, with Seraphina held close, whispered back, "Just let me go home."