For three exchanges, four, five, everything worked perfectly.The metallic song of blade against blade rang out across the plateau, clear and strong in the morning air.Thalia felt a surge of hope.Perhaps they had done it.Perhaps they had found a way to counter the Wardens' advantage.
Then it began.
At first, it was just a flicker in her peripheral vision—a shadow where none should be, a movement that didn't belong.Thalia blinked, trying to clear her sight, but the distortion persisted.Her breathing shortened as an icy dread coiled in her gut, familiar and unwelcome.
Brynn's next strike nearly caught her off guard.Thalia blocked it at the last moment, her grip tightening without conscious thought.
"Something's wrong," Brynn said, her voice distant beneath the rushing in Thalia's ears.
"I'm fine," Thalia gritted out, but the lie tasted bitter on her tongue.
They exchanged another flurry of blows, but Thalia's focus was fracturing.The edges of her vision blurred, and behind Brynn's determined face, she glimpsed flashes of the storm-wall from her earlier hallucination—black clouds churning against a fractured sky, lightning splitting the darkness.
A muffled scream pierced through the vision—Mari's voice, high and terrified.Thalia's heart clenched, but she forced herself to remember that it wasn't real.Mari wasn't here.This was the glacenite's effect, less potent than before but still present.
"Greenspire," Brynn's voice cut through the haze."Your guard is slipping."
Thalia blinked hard, struggling to stay present.She blocked Brynn's next strike and countered with a thrust of her own, but her movements lacked their usual precision.The hallucinations were milder than before, manageable if she concentrated, but still distracting.
A sharp gasp drew her attention to her left.Felah had stopped mid-strike, her sword arm trembling so violently that the blade wavered in the air.Her face had drained of color, and her eyes were wide with terror at something only she could see.
Daniel had lowered his weapon, his brow furrowed with concern."Felah?What's wrong?"
But Felah didn't seem to hear him.Her breath came in short, panicked bursts, and her knuckles had whitened around the hilt of her sword.
On the other side of the plateau, Rasmus had dropped his weapon entirely.He had backed away from Ashe, his hands raised as if to ward off a blow, his face contorted in silent anguish.Whatever he was seeing had driven him beyond words.
"Stop!"Thalia called, lowering her own weapon."Everyone, stop!"
She drove the tip of her glacenite blade into the frozen earth and strode toward Felah, who had sunk to her knees, still gripping her sword.Daniel knelt beside her, hands hovering uncertainly, afraid to touch her in this state.
"It's not real," Thalia said, gently prying Felah's fingers from the weapon."Whatever you're seeing, it's not real.It's the glacenite."
Felah's gaze snapped to Thalia's face, recognition slowly dawning in her eyes."I saw...I saw my brother," she whispered."The day they came for him.The Selection..."She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself.
Brynn had gone to help Ashe with Rasmus, who was still backing away from invisible assailants.His breath came in harsh gasps, and sweat beaded on his forehead despite the cold.
"Rasmus," Ashe said firmly, standing in front of him."Look at me.Focus on me."
Slowly, Rasmus's eyes cleared, his panicked gaze fixing on Ashe's face."I was back there," he said, his voice hoarse."The night the Wardens came to my village.I could smell the burning…."
Thalia felt a stab of guilt.She had known the risk, had experienced it herself, yet she had asked them to wield these weapons anyway.The improvements to the alloy hadn't been enough to rid the weapons of their horrible effect.
It took several minutes before both Felah and Rasmus were calm enough to join the others.They gathered in a loose circle, their breaths forming white clouds in the cold air.
"The hallucinations are still an issue, then," Thalia said, voicing what they all knew."Less intense, perhaps, but still present."
“It looked that way,” Ashe said grimly.“Do you think it’s possible to fight through it?”
A movement at the edge of the plateau caught Thalia's attention before she could respond.Zanaya stood there, watching them, a group of refugee teenagers from Verdant Port clustered behind her.Their faces were thin, their eyes haunted, but they watched the weapons training with undisguised interest.
Zanaya stepped forward, her gaze fixed on the glacenite sword Thalia had embedded in the ground."Can I try?"she asked, her voice quiet but steady.
Thalia hesitated."These weapons are dangerous, Zanaya.Not just because they're sharp, but because of what they do to your mind.It would be better to learn with normal steel first."
But Zanaya's expression remained determined."I want to help defend Frostforge.If these are the weapons that work against the Wardens, I need to learn to use them."
There was something in her eyes—a hardness that shouldn't be there in someone so young.It reminded Thalia of herself, of the determination that had driven her to volunteer for the Selection to save her family.
