Book 3: Chapter 69: A Father’s Final Farewell
From the moment Carina closed her eyes and entered the icy domain that surrounded the frozen cortex of Viktor’s heart—everything felt different. The splash of cold water that rose just above her ankles, pooling around the Duchess’s elemental greaves, caught her by surprise. Thankfully, her leather boots were already enchanted with waterproof abilities, though she felt the coolness of the icy lake all the same. She glanced down at the blackened ice below her feet, which was all but translucent aside from the many cracks that had spread across its surface.
Carina couldn’t decide if the plain of ice was sinking or the water simply rising through the cracks. Her attention quickly shifted to the frozen cortex, which flickered faintly on the small, tiny island of snow where only Viktor’s skeletal head remained above water. The rest of the immortal dragon’s body was visible, even from a distance, as it sank slowly beneath the ice.
‘What’s—happening to this place?’
The Duchess summoned her spear as she waded toward the dying god across the flooded icy field. Her ice-blue eyes scanned the water's rippling surface that melded into the dark sky above them, where the faint twinkling lights of distant stars watched in silence as if holding their breath.
‘Lumi, are you here?’
The scriva materialized beside her and flattened its ears against its flawless sparkling fur as it whined uneasily.
“Yeah, me too,” Carina murmured as she placed her left hand reassuringly against the elemental wolf’s shoulder. “I wasn’t expecting—”
“So, you’re finally here, little Duchess!”