Who could have imagined that the ground would move at such a speed? There was no need for Spelltech to create a state-of-the-art, maintenance-free, environmentally clean automobile.
People from the past would have been amazed.
The service would be quite exclusive, unfortunately. You don't find a Shelly or a Giovanni on every corner.
"I can't see…aaanything!" Sofia shouted, her voice tight with excitement and fear. Without a windshield, the force of the wind made it impossible to keep her eyes open for more than a few seconds.
Giovanni noticed the problem and, with effort, began shaping the accelerated wave of Earth, purely from memory, trying to replicate the chassis structure of a PTV.
Where windows should have been, he transformed the Earth into glass so they could see outside.
He didn't need it for navigation, but the rest wouldn't complain about enjoying the view.
The cruel gusts from before were left behind, allowing the passengers to relax inside.
Giovanni's creation would probably make any professional in the field squirm in their grave, but he felt proud of his work!
Considering that in his first nightmare it had been nothing more than a sand shelter, this was a worthy evolution.
In the future, it shouldn't be impossible to recreate a PTV from scratch with only knowledge and transmutation.
'Potential opportunities in civil and automotive engineering… the list just keeps growing.'
"Better for everyone now?" Giovanni asked, scanning the group, fishing for approval.
Eric nodded, but Shelly kept her gaze fixed on nothing, drilling into the delicate boy as if she wanted to tear him apart on the spot.
'Sorry for bothering…' Giovanni mentally apologized, creating as much distance as possible.
He didn't want to experience personally the damage her knife could cause.
"It's great! But wow, look at all this salt, Gigi… if we collected it and sold it on Earth, we'd be rich!" Sofia exclaimed, eyes sparkling at the thought.
Giovanni laughed. "Is this your dream? You always say that."
Sofia blushed, as if caught in the act.
"I-I just want to move out of my parents' house, okay? Working like crazy seems like a drag… having plenty of money would let me enjoy life," Sofia replied defensively.
"I wasn't judging, relax. Being rich would be great for me, too. The person who raised me could use a five-star retirement…" Giovanni grinned. In his opinion, Sofia would easily become a celebrity upon their return.
All the clans would drool just imagining having someone with her powers under their protection.
"In that case, we should hit one of those luxurious SPAs when we get out of here," she said, extending the invitation as she stared at the floating castle in the distance.
"Deal." Giovanni didn't even know what people did in those places, but if it was expensive, it must be good! "And you, Eric, what are your plans when we get back?" he prompted.
The giant slightly lifted his head and replied, "I will return to my clan's citadel… and fulfill my duty as heir."
"We know that. We're talking personal projects, hobbies… anything," Giovanni pressed.
His attempt was met with silence.
Sofia and Giovanni exchanged embarrassed glances.
It seemed too soon to pry into the heir's personal life.
With no other option, the journey continued at full speed.
***
BOOM!
A distant geyser exploded, releasing a bloody jet threatening to pierce the skies.
Even from afar, the tremors were violent enough to shake everyone in the vehicle.
It was easy to forget how insignificant humanity was compared to the Dream Realm's latent destructive power, and visions like these reminded him.
'A master? No… but a saint should be able to survive.' Giovanni tried to estimate how strong someone would need to be to withstand a direct impact.
You only needed to be one of the most powerful people in history. Easy work.
At that moment, they were finishing circling the first cluster of three geysers. Even at high speed, the route would take at least a few hours.
Although the high speed helped, facing the constant threat of an explosion every second kept everyone tense.
Invoking [Maiden's Handkerchief], a charmingly enchanted damp cloth, Giovanni and Sofia cleaned off the excessive dirt and became extremely fragrant.
After the small scandal of Giovanni smelling like a lady, it wasn't hard to spot the culprit.
The pink cloth seemed to have two simple functions: to clean whatever it touched and to leave a pleasant scent.
It was an excellent substitute for the hot springs while on the road.
"Gigi… I think we're being followed, look there," Sofia called, pointing as Giovanni and Shelly focused on keeping the vehicle steady.
What caught her attention was one of the monstrous whales drifting through the sky.
These beings resembled the mammals that once roamed Earth's seas before the age of the Spell, but the similarities ended at size and shape.
Instead of muscle and skin, it looked like a gargoyle made of salt and minerals. Its hide was composed of irregular plates of the same material as the plains, forming a shell.
Between the plate fissures, the same dark crimson liquid pulsed. Around it, the air crystallized into salty stones, drawing moisture from the atmosphere like a black hole.
The creature had been hovering near the group for some time, showing no loss of interest nor immediate intention to attack.
Giovanni came to a simple conclusion.
"It must be cautious with the geysers, too. It's waiting to see if we leave the cluster or die trying."
That was bad news.
The last thing they needed was a patient predator, lurking for the perfect moment to strike.
"How strong is it?" Giovanni asked, turning to Sofia, wanting to gauge the threat.
"A awakened devil, with powers related to… sound." The young woman squinted, trying to make out the potential opponent more clearly.
Devils were feared for abilities that lesser creatures didn't possess.
Even Gaius, a merely dormant being, proved deadly by manipulating the terrain.
'It can't get worse, right?…' He wanted to vent his frustration aloud, but restrained himself. A glance at Sofia in her new armor reassured him: not all hope was lost.
"Shelly and I will keep this thing busy when it decides to show up. You focus on opening its head as fast as possible, understood?" Giovanni instructed.
"Loud and clear!" Sofia confirmed.
After the conversation ended, they successfully left the first geyser behind and began circling the second, staying safe so far.
Giovanni monitored the underground with his seismic sense, looking for early signs of an eruption.
At most, this action would buy them a few seconds, but he wouldn't complain about alms.
Ten minutes, twenty… thirty minutes.
As the minutes passed without incident, Giovanni slowly relaxed, his tension visibly easing.
The group had finished circling the second geyser and reached the threshold of the third. Only a little farther, and whatever salvation the golden light promised would be within reach.
Then deep vibrations surged from the ground without warning.
'Shit!' His instincts screamed, sensing the threat before his mind could rationalize it.
First, a brief tremor made the earthen structure creak. Then another, stronger, shaking the vehicle side to side.
The improvised glass vibrated, its surface covered in fine salt crystals that fell like white dust.
The ground beneath them moved.
Not in a single point, but in several places at once, as if massive chunks of Earth were being forced outward from below.
The sound was deep and continuous, like rock splitting under pressure.
Giovanni expanded his seismic sense and detected two columns of energy rising rapidly. Pressure rose in sync, accelerating.
He tried to identify which geyser would erupt first.
The answer?
Both.
***
The earthen PTV still accelerated to its limit, trying to put as much distance as possible between itself and the eruption.
Shelly gritted her teeth, enduring the stress accumulating in her head like a pressure cooker.
Eric lay still, practically unconscious in the back, clinging to the last of his strength.
Finally, Sofia stared at the apocalyptic vision unfolding beside the boy, pale.
The delicate boy inhaled deeply, bracing for inevitable suffering.
"Sofia… would you lend me your strength a second time?" Giovanni asked.
He had pondered since the first time he saw the geysers. How could they survive an eruption?
Creating barriers or hiding underground wouldn't be enough.
Closing his eyes, darkness swallowed his surroundings, leaving only a visible golden, warm light. Its glow no longer pointed toward the waterfall, but to the ground below.
As expected.
It was still difficult to define a precise pattern, but Giovanni was almost certain that the light always pointed to two things:
The path home… and the solution to an insurmountable challenge.
Something only a miracle could solve.
With her mind fully exposed, Sofia immediately understood her friend's intentions. Her body still trembled just recalling the pain she had felt that day, branded like red-hot iron in her brain.
She didn't want to feel that again.
But her decision ignored primal, selfish desires.
"Just make sure you make it up to me later…" Sofia said, offering her hand. The boy promptly grasped her delicate palm, intertwining his fingers with hers.
Giovanni smiled and allowed his consciousness to blend with the world around him, becoming an inescapable presence. He saw the blood emerge from underground channels, watched as the salty soil broke apart and dissolved under the fluid's acidity.
How could he stop it? The violence of nature in its purest form? He couldn't even control the terrain there, so repeating the trick he used at the crater's entrance was impossible.
'Gigi… have you ever seen a movie called Freezing?'
'…No, why?' Giovanni wondered, the random comment leaving him dumbfounded, considering the gravity of the situation.
'It has a beautiful princess with ice powers. In the story, she freezes an entire sea, can you believe it?' The implied suggestion made Giovanni open his eyes in surprise.
How could something be so brilliant and silly at the same time?
'Let fiction become reality then!' The boy declared just before a deafening roar consumed the world.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Pillars of boiling blood shot toward the sky, ready to rain death on the helpless.
But Giovanni would not let it come to that.
The boy raised his free hand to the air, feeling the violent crimson flow.
His transmutation shouldn't have been able to affect matter at long distances beyond Earth… but if the right price was paid, there were no limits that couldn't be overcome.
The golden light emanating from the Earth responded to his call, and as if by magic…
The air cooled to the point of freezing. Vapor escaped the pair's lips like clouds, as temperatures dropped uncontrollably.
For the first time in history, the bloody hell would know winter.
***
Shelly had long forgotten what it was like to feel anything beyond uncontrolled rage. She couldn't take it anymore; her eyes wept in anguish, and her chest ached from the irrational use of her aspect.
Her body clamored for rest, not even a minute of sleep.
Days and days awake, fighting, killing, surviving.
Now, near the finish line, her limit seemed reached.
She couldn't go on.
Around her, violent tremors made the makeshift PTV shake, slamming her from side to side against the walls, and even standing or trying to hold on felt costly, exhausting.
Every last drop of energy was dedicated to keeping the aspect active until the final second.
But for what? They wouldn't escape even at the current speed. Her painful effort would be thrown away, along with everything else.
Collapsed on the floor, her sweaty body burned as her mind sank into a feverish delirium.
Everything should have been burning… so why did she feel so cold?
'How…?'
Reflected in her eyes, something she believed could only be a figment of her imagination unfolded.
The blood geysers were… freezing.
From top to bottom, the blood solidified instantly, so fast it was hard to track with the eyes.
The boiling blood blocked, carved tunnels in the ground, only to solidify into crimson ice.
The PTV continued moving without pause, gradually escaping the eruption's reach.
Two desperate screams echoed nearby.
Giovanni and Sofia collapsed to their knees, completely incapacitated by blinding pain. Tears fell endlessly, blood trickled from their lips, and they pressed hard enough to tear the flesh.
How…?
How?
HOW?!
A flood of emotions exploded in her heart like a storm.
Envy and hatred drowned her, while guilt and remorse tore at her brain.
Why could they save others, and she could not? And why now, when she had nothing left?!
Fate wanted her to live this miserable reality.
If people like them had saved her before… had saved him…
Everything would have been different.
The vehicle's acceleration suddenly stopped.
Completely motionless. The only thing still under control was her heavy eyelids.
Darkness gently approached, surrounding her head, blinding her to the real world.
Even in the final second of consciousness, the feelings never disappeared.
The dark merely consumed them.
Echoing like a song.
***
He wanted to die, to stop feeling.
Two souls burned, cracked under the burden of a miracle. No matter how much he froze, there was always more blood flowing, wanting to burst to the surface.
Essential parts of his existence were consumed by golden flames, which seemed never satisfied in their voracity.
The image of a sleepy girl, sitting in front of the orphanage attic window, came to mind. A cherished memory that shaped who he was and who he had loved so dearly.
It was burning.
Words mingled, slowly turning into noise. Clear faces blurred and vanished.
He could not forget, he could not forget!
His hand gripped Sofia's so hard he feared breaking her bones.
Just a little more… a little more.
The anguish and terror echoed through his and his friend's bodies, becoming inseparable.
Unable to block their senses in such an extreme situation, the peculiarity of her innate ability made it all the more traumatizing.
He never wanted to use that power again.
Because if he were strong enough to save himself, to save those he loved with his own strength,
Giovanni would need no miracle at all.
Behind them, two monumental towers of pure crimson ice were left as a permanent mark of the young people who had stepped there.
The salted plains slowly gave way to vegetation once more… flowers, shrubs, graceful trees.
They had reached the land of waterfalls.
Giovanni wanted to laugh in joy and triumph, but one glance was enough to understand the gravity of the situation.
Eric and Shelly had fallen asleep, consumed by the song.
He and Sofia could barely rise, still suffering the consequences of having burned their Soul Cores.
And from the sky, a monstrous whale descended at high speed, ready to strike the prey, dragging pathetically in its last gasp of life.
'Get up… get up…' His body refused to obey his commands.
If he didn't act, they would all die.
'Please, move!' Giovanni gritted his teeth, muscles tensed to the limit.
The gigantic creature was nearly upon them, about to swallow the earthen formation whole.
When a coral-made spear, stunningly beautiful, flew through the air like a missile, striking its head.
The impact was so intense that it forced the whale off course, sending it into a crater a few meters away, where it lay completely still.
From atop a precipice above, a seductive silhouette floated gracefully through the air.
His long, silky hair swayed in the breeze like a divine gift.
And in his face?
A glorious smile.