My Fake Engagement With The Villainess Turned Real
Chapter 17: When The World Fights Back
The carriage wheels groaned and screeched in protest as we came to a sudden halt just outside the imposing gates of the academy. The sound seemed to fade into the background, becoming a distant echo in my ears, overshadowed by the tumultuous thoughts swirling in my mind. My gaze was transfixed on the sky above me, an expanse of blue that felt increasingly alien, mottled with ominous, shifting clouds. At first, I perceived only a subtle flicker, like the shimmering distortion of heat rising from a scorching desert. But then it pulsed unpredictably, more violently this time, causing a ripple to cascade across the clouds, distorting them as though the very fabric of the heavens was a fragile screen on the verge of tearing.
Leticia sensed my distraction. I could feel her fingers tighten around my arm, anchoring me momentarily to reality.
"You saw it again, didn't you?" she pressed, her voice low but charged with urgency.
I nodded, knowing that denying it would only deepen the shadows lurking in the corners of my mind.
"It isn't normal," I managed to utter, my voice barely above a murmur. "It's like the world is lagging, as if it's a game that's on the brink of overloading and collapsing under the weight of its own design."
Leticia's brow furrowed in concern, accentuating the determination in her emerald eyes.
"This kingdom was forged from the blessings of the Mistress of Fate herself. Every aspect of our lives adheres to the roles she has meticulously carved out: Hero, Villainess, the noble houses, the prescribed ending for each tale." She looked skyward, her crimson hair whipping about in a strange, otherworldly wind that seemed to echo her convictions. "But you… you were never meant to be part of this narrative."
A lump formed in my throat as the implication of her words sank in.
"That means fate is trying to erase me from existence," I said, the weight of the realization pressing heavily on my chest.
In a fierce, determined movement, Leticia stepped fiercely in front of me, her eyes ablaze with a fire that was equal parts defiance and desperation.
"Then I will erase fate first," she declared, the conviction in her voice resonating through the air like a clarion call.
As if in response to her determination, the wind around us came to an abrupt halt. A suffocating silence blanketed the courtyard, creating an unsettling atmosphere that made my skin prickle. Several students lounged nearby, but their movements were frozen in time-one poised mid-step, another caught in the act of turning his head as if the universe had suddenly pressed the pause button on reality itself.
An eerie, soft hum vibrated through the air, sending chills racing down my spine. Then an unexpected voice whispered directly into my ear, intimate and chilling.
"Valtara. You should not be here."
I spun around, my heart racing, but the space around me remained devoid of any visible presence. Yet the feminine tone was unmistakable.
Protectively, Leticia stepped closer, her body instinctively shielding me as she scanned the surroundings with the keen gaze of a hunter tracking its prey.
"Show yourself!" she commanded, her tone a blend of challenge and authority.
In that moment, the world seemed to twitch, as if anticipating something momentous.
Suddenly, a woman materialized, standing regally atop a fountain that appeared to be frozen in mid-splash, the water suspended in the air like crystals caught in time. She was draped in resplendent attire of white and gold, an ethereal elegance that shimmered even in the stilted light. Her eyes glowed with luminous threads of blue light that swirled and danced in endless patterns, embodying a truly divine presence.
Leticia hissed softly under her breath, her expression shifting to one of recognition and alarm.
"An Oracle. No… something even greater," she uttered, her voice trembling slightly.
The woman's attention was singularly fixed on me, her penetrating gaze seeming to pierce through the very essence of my being.
"Interloper," she declared with an echoing clarity that chilled my bones. "The kingdom was never intended to endure your existence. You are destabilizing the very fabric of the ending."
"I don't care about endings," I snapped back, fueled by a mixture of fear and defiance. "I'm just trying to live my life."
"That is exactly where the problem lies," the Oracle countered, her voice steady and unwavering. "Your choices are creating variables that should not exist within the framework of fate."
With a graceful yet menacing motion, she raised her hand, and an invisible force crashed down around me, heavy and oppressive, forcing my knees to buckle against the overwhelming weight of its presence.
In that instantaneous moment, Leticia surged forward, instinctively drawing a rapier from… seemingly nowhere. A brilliant flash of red light burst forth from her chest, a manifestation of magic igniting in response to her fierce determination.
"Touch him again, and you will cease to exist," she warned, her tone cold and resolute.
The Oracle tilted her head, a hint of intrigue flickering across her features.
"You would defy the divine role that has been assigned to you," she observed, her voice laced with disbelief.
"I threw away that role the very day I met him," Leticia retorted defiantly.
The Oracle's expression turned bewildered, a genuine confusion etching her divine features.
"Why? He is merely ordinary. He is frail and lacks power."
Leticia smiled then, but it was not the smile of a lover; it was fierce, protective, and unwavering.
"He is mine."
Then, with an explosion of energy, the air around us split apart. A shockwave erupted from Leticia, propelling me backward, and suddenly, time lurched forward as if the universe itself had taken an unsteady breath. Students who had been frozen in their tracks gasped, jolting as the reality resumed its chaotic flow, the fountain's water crashing down around us in a torrent.
The Oracle was thrust to the ground, landing with a resounding thud that echoed across the courtyard.
Staring up at us, she was cloaked in shock and disbelief.
"Impossible," she breathed, her voice tinged with incredulity. "Power that defies the script… this cannot be."
Leticia, fierce and unyielding, pointed the blade of her rapier at the Oracle's throat, asserting her dominance in that moment of chaos.
"Run back to your Mistress. Tell her that I will not allow anything to rewrite what we have fought so hard to create."
In a flash of shattering light, the Oracle disappeared, her final warning resonating ominously in the space we occupied.
"The story will purge what does not belong."
Leticia rushed to me, dropping her sword in a hurried motion, her hands cradling my face as if I was the most precious thing in her world.
"Valtara. Look at me. Stay with me. Do not listen to them," she implored, her breaths uneven, quaking with the remnants of fear and adrenaline. She had never appeared so terrified, and that truth unsettled me even more.
I forced a smile onto my face despite the trembling of my legs beneath me, desperate to calm her.
"As long as you are by my side, I'm not going anywhere," I said, infusing my words with resolve.
She embraced me tightly, and in the soft intimacy of that moment, her voice became a whisper against my ear, tender yet fierce.
"Then we will fight our fate together."
The distant chime of the academy bell rang out as if to signify that life would return to normal, as if none of the otherworldly confrontation had taken place. Students walked past us, blissfully unaware of the chaotic power play that had just unfolded in their midst.
Only Leticia and I could see the abstract seams of a fractured story, only we were aware of the subtle twitches of reality around us. And only I bore the heavy burden of a fate that seemed resolute in wanting to erase me entirely.
To be continued...