As Glacius and Peggy trudged deeper through the lush but scarred forest, Peggy suddenly felt itâa tingling buzz in the air, a static crackle that danced across her skin.
"Someone's coming," Peggy muttered, wings instinctively glowing with alert light. "And fast."
Glacius, still walking with his usual icy calm, offered a slight grin. "So, the thunderstorm arrives. I've been waiting to see her."
Peggy turned toward him, skeptical. "You're acting like you missed her."
"Think what you want," Glacius replied coolly, ice spreading gently under his feet. "It keeps things... interesting."
And thenâBOOM!
A flash of wild lightning struck the forest clearing ahead of them, trees snapping in half as a whirlwind of sparks announced her arrival.
Out of the chaos stepped General Electrica, breathing heavily, cheeks flushed, electric aura pulsing wildly. Her eyes immediately locked onto Glacius.
He tilted his head with dry amusement. "What's the matter? You look like you ran through a thundercloud."
Peggy narrowed her eyes. "You must be Electrica."
Electrica stood tall, lightning dancing between her fingers. "Not just Electrica. I am General Electrica, queen of this island and soonâ"
She gazed at Glacius, heart skipping, "âqueen of your frozen world."
Glacius blinked. Then smirked. "Ah. So we meet the infamous general rather quickly."
Electrica stepped forward dreamily. "You've come for me, haven't you? To recruit me. To ask me to rule at your side."
Peggy's eyes twitched. "Excuse meâwho does she think she's talking to?"
But Electrica was locked in her fantasy. "Say it, Glacius. Say you want me."
Glacius let out a low chuckle, eyes glinting like ice. "Well... not happening like that."
Electrica froze mid-stride.
Peggy crossed her arms with a smug grin. "Reality strikes harder than your lightning, huh?"
But Electrica's expression shifted in a flash. "Don't tell me... you actuallyâ"
"No," Glacius cut her off, tone sharp, cold wind rising around him. "She's just ruining my fun. Underestimates my ideals. Interrupts my conquest. Butâ" he turned to Electrica with a sly, calculating smirkâ"if you help me deal with her, I might make you my queen. We could rule together."
Peggy's jaw dropped. "WHAT?!"
Electrica's entire body pulsed with electricity. "YES!" she squealed, powering up with excitement. "I knew it! I knew it! I'll show you I'm worthy!"
But as she launched her first thunderbolt in an ecstatic frenzyâaimed right at PeggyâPeggy snapped open her wings and deflected it with a radiant shield of light, eyes narrowed.
Peggy's eyes narrowed. "Reckless."
Yet before she could catch her breathâ
SWOOSH!
A massive ice spear, razor-sharp and gleaming with frost, came flying at her from the side. She barely dodged, the edge slicing the air next to her face. She turned, shocked. "Glacius?! You're seriously trying to kill me?"
Glacius stood still, cold mist swirling around him, a calm grin on his face. "You are technically my enemy," he said smoothly. "Don't tell me you forgot."
Electrica leaned into him with pride, electricity sparking joyfully from her hair. "As expected from my dear Glacius. Ruthless and focused." She wrapped her arm around his, practically clinging.
Glacius didn't resist. In fact, he casually rested his hand on her shoulder and stared straight at Peggy. "This is what I want," he said, voice sharp as ice. "Someone who understands me. Someone strong, who supports my ideals."
His smirk deepened. "You have no place here, Peggy. This is what you get for resisting."
Peggy's hand trembled slightlyâbut her expression hardened.
She summoned a blade of pure radiant light, its golden edges humming with power. "You think that'll be enough to kill me?" she whispered. "I'm not leaving life to freeze without a fight."
With a fierce cry, Peggy charged, slicing through Glacius's rising wall of ice. Her sword tore through layers of frost, creating a path straight to him. But Glacius's eyes were calmâcalculating. He moved like a seasoned duelist, waiting for the right angle.
And thenâcrack!
A sharp ice block struck her neck, knocking her sideways and drawing a gasp of pain.
"Too naive," Glacius muttered. "Still rushing in without a plan."
Before she could recover, a flurry of ice blocks rained down on her from above, Glacius summoning a storm of chilling shards with surgical precision.
Peggy gritted her teeth, wings trying to shield her, but the pressure was overwhelming.
"Let me help you finish her!" Electrica shouted gleefully, launching bolts of electric energy into the assault. The forest trembled under the chaotic storm of frost and lightning.
"She's nothing," Electrica said, laughing. "A child playing hero. How can she stand against us?"
Peggy dropped to one knee, coughing, but still holding her sword of light. Her body trembled, battered by the combined onslaught, yet her eyes burnedânot with fear, but with fierce determination.
"I may be alone... but I'm still standing," she whispered.
The light in her wings pulsed, brighter than before.
_ _ _
Peggy's light sword clashed with spear after spear of ice, each throw from Glacius sharper and more precise than the last. Her breath was ragged, her body achingâbut she moved instinctively, dodging, deflecting, melting the ice with bursts of radiant energy.
Yet Glacius... kept smirking.
He watched her with calculating eyes, every angle measured, every movement predicted. And as she stumbled but kept rising, his voice was calm and mocking.
"She's adapting," he said to Electrica, his tone edged with slight irritation. "Even with her naĂŻve, emotional impulses... she's catching on."
Peggy leapt forward, slicing through another spearâher aura glowing brighter.
But Glacius's grin sharpened. "While she's distractedânow."
Electrica didn't hesitate. "With pleasure."
She jumped into the fray, hurling bolts of lightning, laughter echoing through the trees. The battlefield became a storm of ice and thunder, crashing and swirling around Peggy like a cage.
The Fairy Princess struggled to keep up. Her wings deflected what they could, but the precision of Glacius combined with the raw chaos of Electrica was too much. One ice shard clipped her shoulderâthen a lightning bolt grazed her leg.
She cried out.
Another flurryâthis time perfectly timedâstruck her side, then her ribs. Sparks danced across her skin, ice numbed her limbs, and finallyâ
CRACK.
An electric bolt burst on impact with her chest, knocking her backward into a thick, rising ice wall. She coughed, hard, blood dripping from her lips.
She stood again.
Wings flickering. Knees shaking. Vision blurry.
But she stood.
Until Glacius appeared in front of her in a blink.
His voice was empty. "You resist too much."
He grabbed her by the front of her dress, lifting her effortlessly.
Peggy's hand glowed faintly, trying to conjure her blade again, but she was too slow.
Glacius summoned a new spear of jagged frostâand drove it through her midsection.
Peggy gaspedâher eyes wide, her breath stolen. Blood pooled at the base of the spear, her body trembling.
Electrica flinched. "You didn't have to go that farâ"
"She's my enemy," Glacius said without emotion. "You want to rule beside me? This is what it takes."
Peggy tried to speakâmaybe call his name, maybe just breatheâbut Glacius summoned another ice spear.
He hurled it with perfect force.
THUNK.
It struck her again, launching her body through the air. She tore through the frozen forest edge, thenâ
SPLASH.
Peggy hit the ocean, the icy spear still lodged in her side.
Her wings, dim and bloodstained, dragged through the water as she floatedâunconscious, bleeding. The current pulled her slowly away from the island, into the vast expanse of sea.
Back in the forest, Glacius stood silent.
He raised his hand and froze a towering tree in one movement, letting it shatter into frost.
Just to show his dominance.
Electrica gasped in admiration, hand on her chest. "You're amazing... You really meant it, didn't you? You want to know me more?"
Glacius turned to her, his face unreadable. "You're powerful. Interesting. And right now... important."
Her cheeks flushed. "This is really like a dream... Me and Glacius. Just us."
He nodded coolly. "Then show me your palace. I want to see how you rule."
And together, they walked deeper into the forestâwhile far away, Peggy drifted, her fate uncertain, as the waves pulled her toward whatever destiny waited next.