Raymond walked through the forest and returned to the camp.
Although that place wasn't as hot and dense as the forest around the Scorched Mountain, there was still considerable vegetation and several noisy flying insects that irritated him insistently.
At that point, he didn't believe Sariel would do anything bad to Luna, so he decided to stay away a bit, even though he still didn't fully trust him.
As he walked, he remembered what he had seen in the church and Sariel's strange behavior. He didn't know what the text Luna had recited meant, but it was clear that it had caught the traveler's attention.
After a while, he reached the camp and found Aegreon preparing the horses to leave.
"Where's Shiina?"
"Behind you, silly." Raymond turned his face when he heard her voice behind him, and a finger touched his cheek. "You should be ashamed of leaving all the work in our hands and making a woman carry weight..."
"Are we leaving?" He turned to Aegreon, ignoring Shiina.
"Hm." The Pillar affirmed with a grunt.
"You should help us," the assassin suggested.
"Alright..."
Raymond then decided to help the two to prepare their things to speed up the departure.
Since Luna showed no signs of improvement, taking a few minutes from her training wouldn't make much difference.
While doing so, he felt an immense power of Ice coming from where Luna and Sariel were, and suddenly, all this power exploded in the form of a powerful blizzard and hit him, Aegreon, and Shiina.
The explosion was so powerful that Raymond was thrown a few meters and fell to the ground.
Dazed and confused, he found himself staring at a completely white and cold floor, and his whole body was trembling due to the low temperature.
When he got up, he was faced with a completely different scenario. The forest, which until recently was green and humid, was completely white and frozen.
Shiina had also been thrown by this explosion, while Aegreon had acted quickly by using his magic to protect the horses by spreading a purple flame, which created a thermal shield for the poor animals.
The horses were soon frightened by that sudden explosion of power and would have run away if the Pillar had not detained them.
No sound could be heard except for the ice forming due to the freezing of the water in the air, plants, and trees. The annoying insects had fallen silent, probably frozen and dead, a fate the horses would have suffered too if it weren't for Aegreon.
The Pillar, with an expression of intense rage on his face, ran like a horse towards the source of that explosion.
Raymond also didn't take long and soon ran back to where Sariel and Luna were with his sword in hand and ready for battle.
'Damn it... He was pretending to teach her magic just so I would lower my guard...'
Upon arriving there, he saw Luna on her knees and staring at her own hands with a frightened expression, while Sariel, right next to her, was being grabbed by Aegreon.
"YOU BASTARD! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?"
"Haha! Who would have thought that a simple princess from a small kingdom would have the power of a Pillar!" His voice showed a euphoric joy, as if he had just opened a present, only to find what he most wanted to receive. "Imagine this girl with her true power and her wings!"
Aegreon, after hearing this, released Sariel and looked at Luna surprised, who was still looking around in shock.
"How... is...?" The Pillar's eyes were wide. It was the first time in a long time that he had been surprised by something.
Raymond was also speechless. Everything within one kilometer was completely frozen, dead, and the one responsible for that was the fragile princess he had always had to protect.
Shiina arrived later and, after seeing that frozen forest, remembered something she wished she would never remember. That white, monochromatic place, and that unwanted cold...
She clenched her fists tightly and stared at the source of it.
Luna looked around and at the face of each person present there.
Those frightened and surprised faces, staring at her, made her remember the looks of disgust, fear, and anger that the maids directed at her when they discovered her identity.
"No... don't look at me..."
"Luna, you..." Aegreon approached.
"DON'T COME NEAR ME!" She put both hands on her head and crouched in fear, afraid she would hurt those people.
In response to her agitation, an intense blizzard arose around her and pushed everyone away. Shiina and Raymond were thrown farther away, while Sariel and Aegreon resisted and remained in the same place.
The force of the blizzard easily uprooted the trees around, as well as a deadly cold that froze the vegetation even more.
"What? Wait, Stop!" Luna was startled by her own power and tried to stop it, but that only made her more anxious and intensified the blizzard even more.
"Luna, calm down!" Raymond's voice sounded weak compared to the intense sound of the wind.
"NO! STOP! I DON'T WANT TO HURT ANYONE! STOP!" She tried as hard as she could to stop that magic, but the more she begged, the more her own power refused to obey her.
At that point, the blizzard was so intense that she could no longer see her companions or hear their voices.
Realizing her own destructive power, Luna despaired, began to cry, and remembered all the times she was told she should die.
"I'd be better off dead anyway..." she whimpered between sobs.
Not even crying was capable, as the cold froze her tears the moment they escaped her eyes.
The world had become a complete white and cold chaos, and it was all her fault for being unable to control her power.
And now, as a result, all her companions were, probably, dead and frozen.
"PLEASE! SOMEONE STOP ME! SOMEONE KILL ME!" she begged and shouted with all the strength of her lungs. "Everything would be better if I didn't exist..."
Her despair had already taken over. It seemed that her magic would continue to increase, killing everything in that forest, all the animals that had always been the only beings that approached her without fear.
It was then, in the midst of this chaos, that a calm voice sounded in her mind.
"Shh... It's okay now, calm down..."
Suddenly, she found herself in the lap of a woman with blond hair, which was already turning white, and lovingly caressing her.
'What?' She tried to ask, but her voice didn't come out.
"You will be hated, desired your death... They will make you believe that you are a monster, a murderer, and your own power may even make you think so... But remember, Kura gave you this gift to protect the defenseless and needy. Her teachings always said that the strong should protect the weak, and if you follow this virtue, Kura will reward you with happiness."
'What do you mean? Who are you?'
However, the woman seemed not to hear her voice.
"You will have a difficult life, but never succumb to despair. Trust your friends, because I know you will have them! And have faith in Kura, because she will guide you."
'You are... Elise?'
The woman hugged her warmly, making her forget completely her own despair and calming her down.
Luna closed her eyes and enjoyed the hug. Time seemed to stand still, until she decided to open her eyes again and realized she was being hugged by someone else.
"Raymond...?"
"It's okay, Luna. Calm down..."
"Hm..."
She relaxed in his arms. Then, after calming down, she noticed all her companions observing her. The clearing they were in had now increased and become white and frozen.
"What did I do?"
"You didn't do anything, Luna." Sariel approached. "Actually, I'm responsible for this, since I didn't explain what I was going to do, which ended up causing all this."
"What did you do?" Raymond asked. "Why was she able to use such a powerful spell?"
"Her magical power was sealed."
"Sealed? How?" Aegreon approached the traveler.
"I don't know, maybe you can tell us, Raymond." Sariel looked at him inquisitively.
"I have no idea! Maybe Geoffrey hired someone secretly so the Council wouldn't detect it, but he never told me anything!"
"Sealed? What does that mean?" Luna asked."
"I'll explain later, we should leave now that everything is okay, this place will definitely be investigated by the Vigil." Sariel looked around, seeing nothing but a white forest.
"You're right." Raymond loosened his hug a bit. "If you're feeling better, we can go now."
"I'm fine, I'm sorry about this..."
"Don't apologize, I already told you it was my fault. Now let's go."
Then, the group returned to the camp, which was now frozen.
Along the way, they came across various frozen and dead animals, such as birds that seemed to be singing, deer that were eating grass, and predators lurking. Now, all these animals would be forever trapped performing these tasks, as if frozen in time.
Raymond, to prevent Luna from seeing that and getting nervous again, hugged her, taking advantage of his large body, and blocked the view of that terrible scene.
They left quickly as soon as they reached the camp.
Raymond decided to ride the same horse as Luna to make sure she was calm and that nothing would happen again.
Then, the group left that frozen forest.