I’d spent what felt like weeks in this strange, timeless place, this pocket outside Rimelion. Outside, the world was frozen, but here, with Mom, days blurred together comfortably, interrupted only by laughter, whispers, and her… quiet lessons.

  I learned things about Mom, Queen Irwen, that no lore book would ever know, small quirks like the way she hummed softly whenever she thought no one was listening, or how her eyes sparkled with mischief when she teased me. She learned about me too, more than I was comfortable admitting. We bonded in ways I hadn’t thought possible, our connection deepening with each shared secret and giggled confession.

  On the day I was meant to return to Rimelion, we sat together in a cozy tea room filled with the gentle aroma of lavender and honey.

  The room was comfortable and welcoming, with plush cushions arranged around a polished wooden table set with delicate porcelain cups and saucers that clinked musically with every gentle touch. Irwen had insisted a dedicated beverage room was essential for proper royal relaxation.

  Of course, that only made sense, and I made a vow to build a whiskey room in my own castle someday.

  “Charlie, promise me,” she whispered, cradling her teacup delicately in her hands. Her warm eyes watched me intently.

  “Moooom!” I protested, fighting the urge to pout but losing the battle spectacularly.

  She raised an eyebrow, the playful glint in her eyes softened by gentle seriousness. “Every day, at least four hours of meditation,” she repeated for what felt like the hundredth time.

  With exaggerated fury, I downed my tea in one dramatic gulp. But the moment I set the empty cup down, it was full again, steam drifting lazily upward in the still air. “But I don’t need to!” I groaned, frustration bubbling up. “I hate it! You know I can’t handle being alone with my mind!”

  Her gaze softened, compassion filling her expression as she reached out, gently covering my hand with hers. “I know, dear. But that’s exactly why you need it.”

  Is this… what it’s like? Having an actual parent?

  No yelling behind thin walls. No sleeping with the covers over my head because someone was busy getting drunk or rage-quitting life. Or… rage-farming mobs at 3 a.m. with the volume maxed out.

  Okay, that last one I kinda respected. Guy taught me how to kite a raid boss with one hand and eat cereal with the other.

  Irwen set her cup down softly. “Use it. Centering your mind so your emotions aren’t always—”

  “I’ll try, okay?” I relented with an exaggerated sigh, slumping back in my chair. “Meditation is useless.” At least for me, every attempt ended with me fidgeting or arguing with myself. But seeing her expectant gaze, I softened slightly. “But, I’ll try. If you promise me.”

  Now it was her turn to flush, delicate rose coloring her fair cheeks. She averted her eyes, suddenly very interested in the pattern of her teacup. “Can you blame me?”

  I leaned forward, voice dropping to a gentle plea. “Please, Mom, just liberate the elven lands. Don’t go after the empire or kill the emperor.” I closed my eyes briefly, the phantom memory of my past death flickering. “I know he killed me, but I’m back now.”

  Her jaw tightened, teeth gritted with a barely contained fury. “As a slave. My daughter reduced to slavery. Because of him.”

  “No, because of a stupid crow,” I corrected, rising from my seat and pulling her into a tight embrace. Her silk gown felt smooth, her warmth calming my racing heart. “Look, just rule your kingdom peacefully, okay?”

  I buried my face in her shoulder. Yeah, hugs worked wonders, and though part of me fought it, another part, childlike and earnest, embraced it fully.

  “Empire,” she murmured, her voice shifting into a regal cadence. “Unlike their nameless empire, ours will be glorious.” I pulled back, giving her a skeptical stare. She blinked and softened immediately. “Sorry. I promise, if you promise. And please reconsider joining under me.”

  I hugged her again. “No, Mom. I’ll create a barony… No. A kingdom of my own. I know what people from my world want, even if they don’t realize it yet.”

  She let out a resigned sigh, the soft exhale ruffling my hair. “Very well. I’ll inform the families you’re creating a refuge in the woods.”

  “Thank you!” I sprang up, the excitement stirring through me.

  “But Charlie,” her voice shifted again, becoming dangerous, like silk hiding steel, “in your kingdom, who are wolves?”

  I groaned, rolling my eyes dramatically. “I hate mud. Gets everywhere. Worse than sand.”

  “Charlie.” Her voice turned more icy, eyes narrowed slightly. “Who are wolves?”

  I sighed massively. “Friends.” Another eye roll, louder this time. “I get it. Elven heritage, animal friendliness…” I glanced toward the window, where the fake sunset painted the garden in hues of soft pink and gold. “It’s time.”

  “It is.” She hesitated, then spoke with surprising softness. “I genuinely enjoyed our time together. I hope we can do this in the real world, Charlie.”

  A warmth filled my chest. I smiled sincerely, nodding. “Me too, Mom. So, uh, I have a queen to kill! Yeah, and I-need-to-get-world-scepter-bye!” I bolted for the door.

  She grabbed me effortlessly by the ridiculous frills of my skirt, halting me mid-escape. “Charlie! You can’t handle that. It’s too dangerous.”

  “You opened the gates to demons, Mom,” I pointed out gently but firmly. “We need it.”

  She looked genuinely embarrassed, eyes darting aside. “Charlie… I patched the world back together.”

  “Nope, you failed. And now an invasion is looming. Like, it’s knocking on the bar door.”

  “That doesn’t mean you personally need the scepter—”

  “Oh, but it does!” I insisted, grinning defiantly. “It’s practically number one on the list for my new bar—I mean kingdom. Can I really pull that off? A kingdom?”

  She gazed toward the fading sun outside. “Trust in yourself, Charlie.”

  “I will. And don’t kill the emperor!”

  Her laughter echoed warmly around the room, lingering as the world dissolved and the chamber vanished, thrusting me back into reality.

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  And right into motion!

  I surged forward mid-charge, my heartbeat pounding in my ears, adrenaline surging through every vein. The massive termite queen loomed ahead, her bloated, pale body pulsing in the dim glow of phosphorescent fungi that clung desperately to the cavern walls.

  The air was thick and acrid, heavy with the scent of damp earth, insect resin, and something sickly sweet… not like whiskey, but like rotting fruit.

  “Sorry, Mom!” I shouted, my voice echoing off the cave walls, determination boiling in my chest. “No running. I need to do this!”

  My feet kicked up clouds of dust as I barreled straight towards the queen, each step propelling me faster. Lighter.

  Mana surged through me like ice water, quick and invigorating. With practiced grace, I thrust my arms forward, and ice coalesced around my fingertips into an almost-a-spear. Well, anyway, razor-sharp and glittering deadly in the murky half-light.

  The queen barely had time to register my presence.

  She hissed sharply, her enormous mandibles snapping forward in a slow, clumsy counterattack, but I was already airborne.

  My leap carried me high above her snapping jaws, her sluggish defenses totally useless. “Yeah!” I plunged my almost-a-spear downward with a savage cry, piercing her hide effortlessly. I felt the spear break through the carapace, driving deep into her body with a squelch. Ugh.

  “Huh?!” I gasped, landing smoothly and spinning around, bewildered at how easy it was. The queen shuddered once, then collapsed in a heap, twitching feebly as her life drained away, thick greenish fluid pooling beneath her. “One-shot?”

  My triumph evaporated quickly.

  A noise of angry hisses filled the chamber, resonating from the hundreds… Uhmmmm, no, thousands of enraged termites, each set of compound eyes glaring hatefully in my direction. The vast chamber buzzed with hostility, the walls almost vibrating with the collective fury.

  “Oh… right. Uh, sorry about your queen?” I managed weakly, taking an uncertain step backward.

  My senses went into overdrive, instincts screaming danger as movement erupted from every corner. I barely had time to move sharply left before a sizzling jet of greenish acid sprayed past my ear, narrowly missing my face.

  The liquid hit the cavern wall behind me, smoking viciously as it ate through the rock with alarming speed.

  “How rude!” I shouted, ducking and weaving frantically as another jet of acid sizzled dangerously close. I traced the attack to its source; a towering royal guard termite, its pale exoskeleton gleaming menacingly in the eerie fungal glow. Unlike its queen, this monstrosity stood alert, mandibles clicking aggressively as it continued its barrage.

  No choice but to engage.

  Right?

  No point in running…

  I charged forward, rolling under another blistering acid attack, the acidic mist burning my nostrils.

  My shield of hardened mana snapped into place just in time, deflecting the corrosive spray with a sizzling hiss. Heart pounding, I closed the gap quickly, prepared for a brutal fight. To my astonishment, my sword sank effortlessly into its supposedly superior armor, meeting only feeble resistance.

  “What the hell?! Wahaha!” I shouted triumphantly, spinning and slicing through the beast. It trembled and collapsed, twitching violently as more green ichor spilled across the chamber floor.

  A triumphant grin flickered briefly across my face, but it vanished instantly as the chamber erupted into pure chaos. Termites surged from every side, a relentless tide of anger and vengeance. Acidic bolts rained down around me, sizzling dangerously close.

  “Now would be a great time to run away…” I murmured, dodging another lethal stream of acid that scorched the ground beside me. But a stubborn voice inside screamed louder. “No. I want to be a queen. And rulers in Rimelion are badass!”

  My resolve solidified like hardened ice.

  “Bring it!” I roared defiantly, thrusting out both hands to summon dual ice barriers.

  Glowing blue shields snapped into place, catching acid blasts and shattering under relentless assault, forcing me into a desperate dance of evasion and counterattack.

  The cavern exploded into a symphony of chaos.

  Acid splattered and sizzled; chitin clattered; termites hissed and termites shrieked. My breath came ragged and tough, muscles aching and mana reserves...

  Ah cooldown. Cool. Cool. Mana reserves infinite.

  Every movement was precise yet frantic, instinctual yet desperate.

  I leapt over the charging warriors, plunging icy spears downward with efficiency, each strike interrupted by sprays of ichor and screeches of agony. My heart rumbled in my chest, every sense dialed to the highest intensity.

  This is the Rimelion!

  I rolled beneath crushing blows, sliced through smaller termites, evaded acidic sprays that tore through the air like liquid fire.

  Each second was a test of reflexes and willpower. Termites attacked from every angle. Above, below, behind, but my determination was stronger. Shields and barriers bloomed around me, breaking under the sheer volume of attacks but buying precious moments of survival.

  “Die!” I screamed fiercely, mana flaring brightly around me in bursts of frost, freezing entire groups of termites solid mid-charge. “If this isn’t enough for a skill level up, then the system sucks!”

  I danced and spun, each movement swift, deadly, and… desperate. Yet for every enemy felled, ten more surged forward, undeterred by my skill.

  Fatigue began clawing at the edges of my senses, but adrenaline and sheer determination kept me moving, striking, defending. Ice spears shattered armor and pierced vulnerable bodies, but still the tide refused to slow. A rogue bolt of acid finally caught me, burning strongly across my shoulder.

  I cried out, pain igniting my focus anew and one quick healing rune fixing the damage.

  “Enough!” I shouted, pulling as much mana as I could into a massive spike of ice, glowing brightly with an inner frostfire. I hurled it with everything I had left, piercing the largest warrior still standing, freezing and shattering it in an instant.

  The termites faltered momentarily, their rhythm broken.

  Chest heaving, arms trembling, I summoned my last reserves of strength. “I am Princess Charlie!” My voice boomed through the cavern. “You. Will. Yield!”

  Silence.

  Then the remaining termites surged forward in one last wave. Chittering, screeching, their bodies glistening with a sickly sheen in the frost-tinted glow of my magic.

  Uh, my magic can glow now, I guess?

  The earth trembled under the sheer volume of skittering legs, and the air thickened with the stench of acid and blood.

  I bared my teeth in a grin, more defiant than sane, and charged forward again. My boots slapped against the damp, uneven floor, kicking up splashes of slush and grime.

  The ice shimmered in my hands like liquid crystal, humming with barely restrained mana. It wasn’t a spell I copied. It wasn’t a textbook technique. The rhythm in my feet, the wild weave of blade and frost, it was mine.

  My style. My fight. “I know you’re barely level three,” I shouted, sweat dripping down my back and stinging my eyes. “But I. Will. Win!”

  The chamber echoed with their furious screeches as the last royal guard stepped forward, its mandibles clacking and thorax expanding unnaturally.

  I saw the mana twist in the air, gathering in its glands.

  Acid.

  “Rude!” I snarled, sidestepping just in time as a stream of hissing green liquid scorched the air where my forehead had just been. The splash sizzled into the stone beside me, burning a hole through it like melted whiskey glass.

  My fingers curled around the mana, and I pulled.

  Not gently, no asking. I took it. The frost in my veins surged, dancing down my arms as I spun and summoned a full-fledged lance of ice, rugged and deadly. It sang through the air and impaled the guard mid-form, its body convulsing before it crumpled.

  I turned just in time to see the smaller ones rushing me; dozens of them, fangs snapping, limbs twitching. “Let’s dance,” I muttered and hurled the spear like a javelin into the swarm. “Damn, I miss Ice Dance…”

  I didn’t even brace, it didn’t matter.

  The spear cut through them like a sharp blade, slicing bodies in a clean, frosty arc before exploding into shards of enchanted ice that impaled anything nearby.

  Wait, I’ve got a godly skill, so it was a divine frost spear, right? Cool name! C’mon system!

  Silence fell like snow; I was alone in the chamber.

  The corpses twitched, steam rising from burst thoraxes and melting frost. My arms were trembling. Not with fear. Not even fatigue, strangely. With adrenaline.

  “Sorry, mom,” I whispered to the empty air, “but I’m not wasting skills on dummies. Real fighters use them in actual fights.”

  I stared at the flickering messages, pulse still thundering in my ears. My heart sank as I closed my eyes and let out a ragged breath. “For Saevrin’s sake,” I muttered. “I’m trying to avoid exploiting, damn it.”