Royal Rumble

Subject: Terilynn Veranos | Classif.: Barzakh

Lynn sat on the steps by the ramp, refusing to budge. Blood vessels on the verge of bursting as she failed to hide her rage from leaking out. Every ounce of muscle inside her urged her to strike that woman down where she stood. But even she knew that would be futile. The gap between them was too great.

Of all the Council members that could have shown up, it had to be her. Just looking at her made Lynn’s blood freeze and boil at the same time. Feverish sweat stuck in her pores, unsure of how to regulate the chaotic temperature within her. Every emotion within her swelled at once, eager to be unleashed upon their target, her eyes bulging as they held back the torrent of feelings, focused into a deathly glare aimed at the Queen of The Surface herself.

Glacies, Lordess of Frost.

Like every other Immortal, the queen has not aged a day past 18. But more so than anyone else, her appearance was immaculate. Weaponized beauty that had been wielded countless times, charming her way up the throne. But that was precisely why Lynn felt like she was looking at a taxidermy of a human. The scent of her perfume and makeup smelled more like formaldehyde to her. A corpse, freeze-dried and waxed, sculpted to look impossibly life-like. An artist’s interpretation of an ideal human. But still an inhuman being at the end.

If not for their over 300-year age gap, some might even mistake them for twins if Lynn never went out of her way to change her appearance. Her face, her body, she saw the worst in every part of that woman who used to resemble her. Just looking at her made her want to tear out her own arteries and drain the blood they shared.

Better yet, maybe she could kill her right there and then. A herculean task that bordered on impossibility, even with the current conditions that favored her. But still theoretically possible, no matter how slim it was.

The queen was winded, evidenced by her labored breaths and the white vapor rising from her robes. She had to have used her Gift numerous times in quick succession just to make it from the top of the palace on The Surface down to the deepest point of The Depths right here. Lynn suddenly felt grateful for the car, however primitive it was. She might even want to rub it in her face.

But above all else, with the family crest in her possession, Lynn still had her immortality. Glacies did not. This was the one time the queen could actually die. And if she didn’t seize this opportunity now, it may never come again.

“Where is the Doctor?” Despite her exhaustion, the queen’s tone still carried an air of elegance between her breaths.

“Unavailable,” Lynn replied from her seat on the steps, blocking the way into the building.

“I don’t have time for this. Step aside.”

“You? Time? Don’t make me laugh.”

“Things have changed. Oleous is dead.”

“Good,” Lynn smiled. “One dead Reformist. Balance has returned to the Council.”

Glacies scowled. The temperature around them plunged several degrees in fear. “Watch your tongue, sister. Your words—”

“I am NOT your sister.”

The queen sighed, her breath visible as a cloud of gray. “I know I’m the last person you wish to see right now, but if we don’t work together, the kingdom will fall.”

“After what you’ve done, you DARE use mother’s words against me? If anyone is to blame for the fall of the kingdom, it is you, witch.”

“Enough. Go hurl your insults at a mirror. I have work to do.”

As the queen stepped forward, Lynn’s hand moved to the hilt of her sword, hungry for some royal blood. Despite the treacherous act and all the venomous words that came before it, Glacies looked only mildly annoyed. As if an insect was flying near her.

“Don’t bother. You already know how this’ll play out,” she reminded the princess.

“Don’t use your Gift, then.” Lynn drew her sword, the blade barring the entrance.

Glacies’s eyes turned from hazel to blue, glowing ominously as cold air filled the queen’s lungs. But even with the imminent threat of death, Lynn continued her taunting:

“Maybe then I can see it play out for on—”

Before she could finish the rest of her words, Glacies removed the glove on her left hand. Snapping her fingers, she ensured that the sentence would never be finished.

She had frozen time itself.

-----

Subject: Glacies | Classif.: Mashar

Insolent child.

If it were anyone else, she would have them Exiled then executed on the spot. The nerve of this imbecile to act so impudently in front of her. Even as a statue, just looking at that smug face was making her feel like her glowing eyes were about to pop. She thought that sending her sister off to meet the oldest living Immortal would teach her a bit of patience. Forget a grudge or two. But it seemed like she was wrong.

Even in frozen time, a world entirely to herself, Glacies was unable to express her rage. As queen, her decorum had to be perfect. And as a warrior, she had to remain calm. She could only freeze time for as long as she could hold her breath. Needless anger would only weaken the effectiveness of her Gift.

If she hadn’t rushed all the way here, she would have easily stopped time for about five minutes each breath. But now, she estimated her lungs could only store about a minute’s worth of time. Still more than enough time to put her sister in her place, but her priority was the Doctor.

Walking past the statue and its feeble attempt at barring her from the entrance, she stepped around the motionless blade. In the steel’s reflection, her cold gaze eyed itself, making one last check on her makeup. Good. It had been a long time since they last met. Fixing her expression into that of a smile, she pushed the bunker door open.

Within this frozen world, time would only be restored on objects she interacted with. And while the door obeyed her command, something else responded, too. Something that wiped away the smile she constructed on her face. From outside the ramp, a stone spike shot past her head as she barely avoided it.

Tch.

No wonder her sister was chattier than usual. That imbecile was buying time to set up a trap. The entire time they were talking, she sat on the ramp, using her Gift on the premises. If the bizarre material of the building wasn’t constantly breathing with magic of its own, Glacies would have detected it right away.

She had no choice but to kill the trap maker to deactivate any more lying around.

Her jet black hair unravelled in the windless air as she took out her hairpin. An ornate, golden ornament. The Queen’s Regalia. As the weapon rested on her palm, she sacrificed a bit of her oxygen, propelling it like a dart with a quick, concentrated breath. It shot straight from her palm and into Lynn’s forehead like a bullet, the same way their fights had ended many times before.

The queen relaxed, ready to allow time to flow once more, but she stopped herself from inhaling at the last moment. Her hairpin did not penetrate the rebellious princess’s skull as she expected. Instead, it stuck out the side of her head like a horn. No blood. Only cracks in the skin.

It dawned on Glacies that she had not struck her sister. Only a stone substitute.

Unable to curse under her breath, she leapt backwards to the front of the building, having to rethink her approach. It was annoying how her sister was actually using her brain this time. Gone were the days when the girl was a teenager, always charging impatiently at her, making it easy to counter. This wasn’t just an inconvenience anymore.

It was about to turn into a real fight.

The hairpin Regalia flew back to its master’s grasp, both ends extending outward into its true form as the spear, Rhongomyniad. Unlike the dull stone in the replica statue’s hand, this was an actual weapon. The perfect encapsulation of the difference between their strength.

With victory in her hand, Glacies contemplated how best to achieve it. Lynn was hiding beneath the ground somewhere. Soulsight was unable to pinpoint the exact location; the layers of earth under this alien cement too thick to see through. No doubt her sister would immediately attempt an ambush once she takes a breath. But the queen still had plenty. Enough time to revoke the privilege of an ambush.

Thrusting her spear downward into the ground, all it took was for its golden tip to graze the surface. Even though her physical strength was enough to puncture the planet like a pile driver, she did not need to exert herself. A gentle touch was enough. Not to pierce, but detonate. Seafloor sediment freeze-thawed in an instant. What was once packed, solid earth shattered as if it were brittle glass, cryofractures cascading outward like lightning. Time was restored to the earth just for it to be shattered into flying pieces of debris.

The ground beneath her feet was deleted just from a single touch. The entire front area of the building was now air. Rocks and landforms floated, suspended in time. Emerging between them was a tower of ice. Springing forth from the earth’s mantle, it was eager to support the soles of the queen as she looked around for her sister. Yet, even as Soulsight pierced through the gaps between each levitating chunk of stone and cement, there was no sign of that brat.

About thirty seconds have passed since Glacies stopped time. She was both impressed and irritated. This was the longest Lynn had survived in all their encounters. The thought of allowing time to flow for a split second crossed the queen’s mind. She could try catching her sister mid-motion before refreezing time. But the idea perished just as it formed. She was determined to end this fight in a single breath.

But in this brief lull, she felt a chill down her neck. Something moved. Something that was not supposed to in this frozen space. Her battle-hardened instincts urged her to turn around. And had she not listened, she would have been impaled by the rock spike that shot at her from out of nowhere.

Her spear deflected the projectile with ease, but all she had on her mind was unease. Several more earthen bullets flew toward her, flash-frozen mid-flight by a blizzard from her palm. Her eyes darted left and right, looking for Lynn, only to find even more random projectiles shooting at her. Debris. Stone shards. Knives of sand. The handiwork of her sister defied space and time just to fight back.

HOW?!

The queen leapt from her tower of ice, forced to take evasive maneuvers as she moved from one newly-conjured pillar of frost to another. Projectiles were parried, frozen, and avoided in rapid succession. But when one failed to hit its mark, another would take its place. A never-ending volley of stone and sand. All these sudden movements drained the final few seconds of oxygen from her lungs. The tables have turned.

But when she exhaled, a snowstorm unfurled around her. The veil of frost clashed against the hail of bullets. Ice vanquished rock. The sheer cold of her breath shattered any hopes of a long-range assault. Time flowed for only a single second before she snapped her fingers once more.

Even though all the projectiles were dealt with, a grimace formed on the queen’s face. Lynn predicted her behavior to perfection. Right from the very beginning, from the moment she sat on those steps, her sister had orchestrated this scheme.

Nothing could move in frozen time unless Glacies interacted with it. This was the one rule Lynn exploited. And to a terrifying degree.

Lynn never stood up, pouring her magic into the ground, preparing all the shards and pieces underground to fire when activated. And with the floor of this unknown structure constantly breathing with magic, she masked her channeling between each breath. Every single action, from sitting down to buying time with her words—Lynn was already moving all her chess pieces on the board before her opponent even realized the match had started.

The frown Glacies wore turned into a smile. Despite all their differences, she was proud of how much stronger her sister had become. The day her Geokinesis undergoes its awakening, maybe she could even become the next Terra, ascending to the Council as the Lordess of Earth.

But until then, there was no way for her sister to win.

In that one second of breathing in, Lynn had exposed her position. Hovering in the air, hiding in between several boulders, Glacies admired the look of resolve preserved on her sister’s face. Surviving for over a minute and a half, this green, thirty-year-old brat had achieved something most others could not do for hundreds of years.

But once she caressed her sister’s cheek, the fight was over. She was no longer frozen in time, but in a block of ice as well.

Letting out a deep, satisfied breath, time flowed once more. Debris and earth fell to the ground as she gently lowered the ice sculpture of the princess. Storing her spear back as a hairpin into her hair, she turned around to face the bunker doors once more, victory dripping down her forehead as sweat.

But victory changed to utter fear as she saw Lynn emerging behind the door, shotgun in hand. The same voice she heard so many times declared with a pull of the trigger:

“Checkmate.”