Chapter 130: Ruins and Rage
I’m barely functioning. The exhaustion weighs down on me, pressing into every muscle, every bone. Rage and anxiety have been my fuel, the only things keeping me upright, moving, pushing forward. The moment I see the capital’s distant lights on the horizon, I can’t even muster relief. There’s nothing but a hollow ache, a gnawing dread that worsens with every step. My horse gives up not far from the gates, collapsing beneath me. Its sides heave, its eyes rolling, as if it too is consumed by the frantic pace I’ve set. But I can’t care for it. I can’t even bring myself to look back at the poor beast as I abandon it, stumbling forward on foot, every step a test of my willpower.
Each step I take toward Seraphina’s Heart brings a fresh wave of dread, clawing at me like a curse. My bones feel hollow, scraped clean by exhaustion and fear, yet something deeper drives me forward. My beloved star is out there, and I am bound to him with every fiber of my being. Two weeks without rest, my body fueled only by the constant hum of panic that has infected my every thought. I’ve changed horses more times than I can count, ridden them to exhaustion, left them behind like hollow shells, and kept moving. I’ve forsaken sleep, food, any semblance of rest, in this relentless journey back to him. I barely even know how I’m still standing, but I force myself to walk, faster, and faster still, until I finally him.
Night has fallen, and the streets are eerily quiet. The capital sleeps, unaware of the storm raging inside me. The buildings rise like silent specters, their shadows long and menacing under the moonlight. I walk—no, I force myself to move, to put one foot in front of the other. It’s all I can do to not collapse here and now. Every breath is labored, every heartbeat like a drum in my ears, loud and unforgiving.
I fall at some point, my body betraying me in a dark alley. My knees hit the cold ground with a thud, and I feel my legs buckle. The cold cobblestone presses against my hands, and I can’t even summon the strength to curse myself for being weak. Not now. Not when Noelle might be—
No. I can’t let my mind go there.
A stranger approaches, a good Samaritan in the dead of night. They see a man broken, on the edge of collapse, and they offer me water and course bread. I don’t even taste it. I gulp the water like I’ve been stranded in the desert for weeks. The bread turns to dust in my mouth, but I force it down. I need the energy to keep going, to get home. I mumble a thank you I don’t really feel, and then I’m moving again.
When I finally reach the outskirts of what was once Seraphina’s Heart, I stop.
And my world falls apart.
The walls that once loomed so proudly are nothing but charred remains, the strong stone blackened and crumbling. The windows have shattered, sharp shards gleaming in the moonlight . The gardens, where Noelle and I once walked among lush greenery, are now nothing more than twisted, blackened skeletons. The greenhouse, that precious sanctuary, has collapsed inward, reduced to nothing but ashes.