Chapter 275: Deep breaths
Electra’s POV
I wanted to scream.
No, I wanted to set something on fire. Preferably that smug-faced grandfather of mine and that insufferable, winged bastard Azaryon, but instead, I kept walking.
I muttered words under my breath, a mix of prayer and profanity disguised as a mantra. "Calm down, Electra, and take deep breaths. Seraphina needs you to remain calm, and patient."
It had already been ten minutes, at least it felt like it, and there was still no sign of her. The forest I was in didn’t look like any forest I’d seen on Earth, and it was starting to really get to me. Everything here screamed ’magic,’ but all I felt was trapped and helpless.
I wasn’t sure if I was walking in circles or if the forest was shifting around me, or maybe it was even both. My chest felt tight, and for the first time since I found myself in this deity realm, I seriously considered giving in to the rising panic in my gut, but I couldn’t.
Because Seraphina was out there, and because if I failed this test, she could be forever lost in the stupid place, or forever lost, and it’d be my fault. Her life would probably be so much simpler if she hadn’t bumped into me on her first day, and gotten involved with a messed up creature like me.
The mere thought of anything happening to her was more than enough to almost send me spiraling, but I remembered what Irina once said back in the real world, that I desperately wanted to get back to: "When you’re about to break, count. Count like the only way to survive is to remember what number comes next."
So I did.
"One. Two. Three..."
I counted until I hit fifty, and then I took another breath, more shaky than strong, and kept walking.
"Seraphina?" I called out gently, trying not to let the desperation bleed into my voice. "Sera, can you hear me?"
My voice sounded so small in the vastness of this strange forest, and I hated it so much.
"Please," I whispered under my breath, "say something."
But there was no response. Just the wind moving through those branches and a strange hum I was feeling under my feet, like the forest was alive and watching me.
I started to wonder if this was even about finding her physically, and maybe this was just a test of my faith, and my restraint. Maybe Seraphina wasn’t even in this forest, and this was all just put in my head on purpose as just another trick to teach me a lesson.
But then again, I could be wrong, and Seraphina could really be in trouble, so stopping wasn’t exactly an option for me.
I really wanted to punch something at the thought of it, but instead, I gritted my teeth, shut my eyes, and forced myself to keep going.
"Seraphina!" I tried again, louder this time, and the name cracked in my throat.
A thought suddenly crossed my mind, a happy thought on how happy I could be with Sera once we both got out of here, and didn’t have to worry about me dying anymore, and I held onto that feeling instead because if I gave in to panic now, she’d be gone, and I couldn’t live with that.
"I’m not angry," I whispered to the trees. "I’m not scared, and I’m not desperate. I’m perfectly in control of my emotions, and I’ll find my girlfriend without spiraling."
I was lying, of course, but I had to lie. Even to myself.
I pressed on, letting the light of the forest guide me, and the path under my feet flickered every few steps, like it was leading me somewhere, or testing to see if I’d give up.
That’s when I heard it.
A faint sound. It wasn’t a footstep or a voice, but it was definitely a sound. Something awfully close to the sound of a heartbeat.
I didn’t know whose it was, but I knew it wasn’t mine, and I could only hope that one of the many wonders of this place included the ability to hear a person’s heartbeat like it was yours.
I closed my eyes, letting the sound guide me, and my instincts, my Phoenix instincts, maybe, pulled me to the left, and I didn’t question it. I simply ran.
I hadn’t even caught my breath from chasing the sound when something brushed my shoulder, and I spun around, ready to scream at whoever dared sneak up on me during what was clearly the most high-stakes game of hide and seek I’d ever played, but it wasn’t a person.
It was a tree.
A thick and strangely old looking tree with bark so dark it looked almost black. At first, I thought it had just shed a branch, but then, in the most unexpected turn of events, it spoke.
"Glad to see you made it this far."
I blinked once, and then twice, wanting to confirm that I wasn’t going mad.
"What the actual fuck?"
The bark rippled, like waves in a pond, and a face, an actual face, started to form, and it wasn’t just a carved face, or something still or dead-looking. No, this thing moved, and it had eyes, and a mouth. It also blinked, and smirked.
I took a step back, absolutely sure this was some kind of hallucination because it just had to be. Maybe I’d finally snapped, and maybe running through this glowing forest, and trying not to explode from emotion, had fried the last working cell in my brain, but the voice came again, low and awfully calm, like it wasn’t the second most shocking thing I’ve ever experienced, only second to having my life switched.
"Watch your language, dear. You’re standing in the domain of the Eternal Flame, and not some tavern in the human world."
I stared at it. "You’re a... tree. You’re literally a talking tree."
"Well done." Its leafy eyebrows, or what I assumed were supposed to be eyebrows, lifted. "And you’re the half-blood girl whose rage burns louder than her heartbeat. We’re both quite a spectacle, aren’t we?"
My fists clenched before I could stop myself, and I had to remind myself like a mantra, no anger, no fear, and no desperation. Any of those, and Seraphina would...
I took a deep breath. "Sorry. It’s been a weird day, so how about we start from the beginning? For starters, what exactly are you?"
"I am a guardian," the tree said. "Of sorts. I watch, I wait, and sometimes, I speak."
"Okay," I said slowly, forcing a smile that probably looked more like a grimace. "Then maybe you can help me out, dear guardian. I’m looking for someone, a girl to be specific. Her name’s Seraphina. She had red hair, blue eyes, and is kind of small, and might look confused as hell? She’s also quite timid-looking, if that helps."
The tree made a low humming sound, like it was thinking, and it dragged on too long for my liking.
"Do you know where she is or not?" I snapped, and then winced immediately, mentally screaming at myself.
No anger. Calm the hell down, Electra.
The tree sighed like I’d disappointed it. "That depends. Why are you looking for her?"
"Because she’s the most important person in the world to me," I said without hesitation. "And because my grandfather is apparently the king of emotional torture and decided the only way to see if I’m worthy of my power is to throw me into a glowing forest and tell me that if I feel too much, she dies."
The tree seemed quiet for a moment, and then it chuckled.
Laughed.
Like actually laughed.
I glared. "Glad to know my life is comedy now."
"It’s not comedy," it said, "but it is truth. You’ve always used emotion like a weapon, child. Your rage, and your fear. You swing them around like blades, but if you are to survive, if you are to live as both Phoenix and human, you must learn to master them. Not drown in them."
"And is this the part where you hand me a magical sword and some deep quote about destiny, right?" I asked dryly.
"No. This is the part where I do my duty as a guardian, and tell you the path continues east, and you have six minutes left to find your friend."
Six?
I swore under my breath, stepping away from the tree. "Fine. Thanks, I guess."
The forest ahead shimmered, and for a second, I thought I saw a flicker of red, not the red of fire, but of hair. Her hair.
Without another word, I started running.
I didn’t care about the glowing roots or the trees that seemed to be whispering as I passed. All I focused on was the rhythm of my feet, the pounding of my heart, and the scream of restraint echoing inside my chest. I couldn’t let it out. I couldn’t feel too much.
I had to find her.
I would find her.
Even if this entire realm burned to ash, I’d tear through every damn glowing tree if it meant I got to her in time.
Because Seraphina wasn’t just the key to my survival.
She was my anchor.
My reminder of who I was, and gods help anyone, or anything, that thought they could take her away from me.