Derpy didn’t run like a hero.
He ran like a guy who had no idea what was happening and didn’t want to die in a forest he didn’t recognize.
Mia sprinted beside him, nails tearing up dirt.
Sphinx bounded through the fog like a shadow with teeth.
Behind them, Lenora followed.
Fast.
Silent.
Derpy could hear her boots only when she wanted him to.
“Derpy—stop!” she called.
Derpy wheezed. “I CAN’T!”
The bracelets burned.
His arms jerked forward like he was being dragged by invisible chains.
The fog thinned as the sound of rushing water grew louder.
Derpy burst through the brush and skidded to the edge of a river.
It wasn’t huge.
But it was fast.
Cold.
Alive.
Derpy’s bracelets flared white-hot.
He screamed.
And the river answered.
Ice spiderwebbed across the surface.
Not slowly.
Not naturally.
It snapped outward in a violent bloom, freezing the water mid-motion.
The river’s roar died into a brittle crackle.
Derpy stared.
His breath came out in panicked bursts.
Mia barked once—sharp, alarmed.
Sphinx’s ears pinned back.
Lenora skidded to a stop behind him.
For the first time, her control cracked.
“What—” she breathed.
Then her eyes flicked to Derpy’s face.
To the way he was shaking.
To the way he looked like he wanted to crawl out of his own skin.
Lenora’s ears dipped.
Not fear.
Concern.
Derpy’s wrists screamed.
The bracelets weren’t just hot now.
They were searing.
He grabbed them, trying to yank them off.
They didn’t budge.
His skin felt like it was melting under plastic.
Derpy’s vision blurred.
“I can’t— I can’t—”
He staggered.
His foot hit the ice.
And the ice grabbed him.
It climbed his ankle like it was alive.
Up his calf.
Up his knee.
Derpy panicked and tried to jump back.
The ice surged faster.
It swallowed his legs.
His hips.
His waist.
Derpy screamed.
Mia lunged, snapping at the ice, but her teeth hit it and skidded off like stone.
Sphinx slammed a paw down, claws scraping, but the ice only thickened.
Lenora moved.
She didn’t hesitate.
She dropped to her knees beside Derpy and slammed her palm onto the ice.
Wind magic flared—tight, controlled.
Not to break it.
To separate it.
To wedge air into the seams.
The ice shuddered.
Cracked.
Derpy gasped as the pressure around his ribs loosened.
Lenora’s ears flattened with effort.
“Breathe,” she snapped—then immediately softened her tone, like she was mad at herself for sounding sharp. “Hey. Hey—look at me. Breathe. Don’t fight it. You’ll make it worse.”
Derpy’s eyes flicked to hers.
He looked terrified.
Lenora’s face went full pink.
Like someone had dumped heat straight into her cheeks.
She froze for half a heartbeat—too aware of how close they were, too aware of his eyes on her—then jerked her gaze away hard enough it looked like it hurt.
“…Just—breathe,” she repeated, voice stern on purpose, like stern could cover the fact she was blushing like an idiot.
Derpy choked out a laugh that sounded like a sob.
“I’m not— I’m not trying to—”
The bracelets flared again.
Then—
They changed.
The yellow plastic rippled like wax.
Black crawled over it.
Hardening.
Shaping.
Metal grew where plastic had been.
Segments locked into place.
Fingers formed.
Gauntlets.
Derpy stared at his hands as the ice around him answered the new shape.
The cold wasn’t just cold.
It was controlled.
A weapon.
A promise.
Lenora’s eyes widened.
“Frostburn,” she whispered, like she’d just named a nightmare.
She realizes that power could kill on a battlefield.
Derpy’s breath hitched.
The gauntlets hummed.
Then, as quickly as they’d formed, the black receded.
The metal softened.
The segments melted back into cheap yellow bracelets.
Derpy blinked.
His hands shook.
The ice around him cracked again.
Lenora pressed harder, forcing wind into the fractures.
Mia barked, frantic.
Sphinx growled low, pacing.
Derpy clenched his jaw.
“Okay,” he rasped. “Okay. Tell me what to do.”
Lenora’s eyes snapped to his.
Her face was still pink.
It got worse when she realized she’d looked.
She looked away again, jaw tight, like she could bully her own blush into behaving.
For a second, something like respect flickered there anyway.
“Stop panicking,” she said.
Derpy stared.
Lenora’s mouth twitched—almost a smile.
“Not because I’m being mean,” she added. “Because it’s listening.”
Derpy swallowed.
“Who’s listening?”
Lenora’s gaze flicked to the journal on the riverbank.
“The Book,” she said.
Derpy’s stomach dropped.
Lenora inhaled.
“Focus on one thing,” she said. “One rule. One anchor.”
Derpy’s mind flashed to last night.
To embers.
To Celica’s smile.
To the word partner.
To his own voice, shaking but stubborn.
No one hurts my pets.
Derpy clenched his fists.
“Celica,” he whispered.
The bracelets warmed.
Not burning.
Listening.
Derpy swallowed.
“Stop,” he said, louder. “Stop freezing me. I’m not your toy.”
The air went still.
The ice loosened.
Just enough.
Lenora shoved wind into the gap and yanked Derpy forward.
The ice broke.
Derpy collapsed onto the riverbank, coughing, shaking, soaked up to his waist.
Mia shoved her head into his chest, whining.
Sphinx pressed against his shoulder, purring—low and vibrating, like a warning disguised as comfort.
Derpy stared at his wrists.
The bracelets sat there.
Yellow.
Innocent.
Like they hadn’t just tried to turn him into a statue.
Lenora stood slowly.
Her sword stayed in her hand.
But it wasn’t pointed at him.
Not yet.