The morning air outside the cavern was crisp, light, and annoyingly peaceful. It irritated Isabella on a spiritual level. Nothing should be peaceful when she was pissed. The universe needed to match her mood. It needed to thunder. It needed to rain. It needed to collapse in flas.
Instead, everything was calm.
Birds chirped faintly sowhere deeper in the mountain maze. The wind slipped through cracks in the stone, brushing cold air across her skin. Even the glow from the bioluminescent moss along the walls flickered softly against her hair, giving it a gentle shimr she did not ask for.
Disgusting.
She stomped through the uneven mountain path like soone who had personally declared war on the soil.
Osiris trailed behind her with increasing anxiety.
"Isabella," he called.
She did not respond.
"Isabella. Can you hear ."
Silent.
He picked up a stone and tossed it toward her feet. Not to hurt her. Just to annoy her. The stone bounced, rolled, and politely ignored his intentions.
She still did not look back.
Osiris frowned. "Are you angry."
Nothing.
"Are you sick."
Not even a twitch.
"Are you ignoring again. Why do you always ignore ."
She continued walking as if the air behind her was empty. As if Osiris was an illusion. As if she wished he was an illusion.
Glimora peeked over Isabella’s shoulder and stuck her tongue out at Osiris with a proud little squeak.
He gasped. "You too."
Glimora wiggled triumphantly.
Osiris placed his hand dramatically on his heart. "I am surrounded by disrespect."
Isabella still did not look at him.
That was when panic started to creep into his chest. Real panic. Quiet panic. Confused panic. The kind he never admitted to feeling because he preferred pretending everything was beneath him.
Why was she so silent. Why was she so far away in her mind. Why did her face look like she was rembering sothing heavy.
Osiris tried again.
"Where are we going," he asked, matching her pace.
Silence.
"Are you going to talk to ."
Silence.
"Say sothing. You are making uncomfortable."
She kept walking.
Glimora hugged her neck like a little fur stole, eyes half closed, enjoying the breeze.
Osiris ran two steps forward and walked beside Isabella, trying to catch her eye.
Nothing.
She was not even looking at the ground. She was not looking at the sky. She was not looking at anything. Her eyes stared straight ahead, unfocused, deep in thought.
Osiris hated it.
She was supposed to yell. She was supposed to glare. She was supposed to insult him so he could insult her back. Silence was wrong. Silence was terrifying.
He waved a hand in front of her face. "Hello. Small woman. Are you alive."
Still nothing.
"Isabella."
Nothing.
Sothing in his stomach dropped. "Did I break her. Did I break sothing important."
She kept walking. Eyes glazed. Mind sowhere else entirely.
Which was true.
Isabella had forgotten Osiris existed.
She was deep in conversation with her system.
In her head.
Her system’s voice popped up with its usual smug attitude.
Bubu said, "You are walking like a confused goat."
Isabella ntally snapped, "Shut up. I am thinking."
"You always claim to be thinking. But then you still make stupid decisions."
"Bubu, I swear to the Goddess I will uninstall you."
"You cannot uninstall . I am literally lodged into your soul."
Isabella gritted her teeth physically. "I hate you."
"You love ."
"I do not."
"Yet here you are. Talking to . While ignoring the tall bird behind you."
"He is not a bird today."
"He is always a bird in spirit."
Isabella rolled her eyes.
Her heart sank again as she rembered her actual question. "Bubu. How many tasks are left to save Shelia."
Bubu appeared in her mind instantly with glowing text.
Three tasks remaining.
Isabella’s shoulders tensed. "Three. Still three. I thought we collected enough already."
"No. You collected stupidity and anger. Not ingredients."
"Bubu please. Not today."
"Only reporting the truth."
The list unfolded in her mind with detailed descriptions.
Silent Nectar
Found: Collected from a rare hummingbird that drinks from skyflowers near the summit.
Use: Repairs nerves and heals internal organs.
Note: Bird must willingly drop nectar into an ice carved bowl. Cannot be forced.
Ghostshade Bark
Found: On the translucent Ghostshade tree near the cliff edge.
Use: Stops body rot. Prevents poison spread.
Note: Only a woman who has cried for another’s death can see it.
Redstone Powder
Found: Beneath the cave floor at the mountain entrance.
Use: Activates the ritual. Binds ingredients together.
Note: Protected by hallucination spores. Use wet cloth to breathe.
Isabella frowned. "Ice carved bowl. Where am I supposed to get ice."
"You have ice in your space."
"Oh."
"And the Ghostshade tree."
"I can see it. So I qualify."
"Yes. Because your life is full of tears."
"Bubu please. I am trying to focus."
"And yet thinking is not your strength."
"BUUUBUUU."
Bubu snorted in her mind. "Fine. Three tasks remain. Do not die."
"I was not planning to."
"You do plan things. But they fail."
"BUUUUUU BUUUUUUU."
Bubu clicked its taphorical tongue. "Do one ingredient today if you want. Or not. You are pregnant and dramatic. You decide."
Isabella sighed deeply. Her head hurt. Her heart hurt. Her body hurt. She wanted to hurry, but she also needed strength. She needed rest. Her stomach twisted with anxiety.
Bubu added gently, "Shelia still has ti."
That cald her slightly.
She walked slower, lost in thought again.
Behind her, Osiris stared at her like she was a ghost.
He waved both hands now. "Isabella. Are you cursed. Are you possessed. Are you sleep walking."
No response.
"Are you ignoring forever. Say sothing."
Nothing.
"I said sothing very kind this morning."
Nothing.
"I said you look beautiful."
Nothing.
Osiris pouted. "Why say thank you when you can say nothing. Yes. Perfect."
He huffed and stomped beside her like an offended lion.
He tried again. "Where are we going. Why are we walking. Why are your eyes dead. Isabella."
Still absolutely nothing.
He narrowed his eyes.
She was gone. ntally gone.
So he had an idea.
A horrible idea.
A magnificent, horrible idea.
He smirked slowly. "Fine. Since talking does not work. I will scare her."
He sped up, walking ahead of her and stopped right in front of her pathway. She did not even seem to notice him standing there like a mountain. Her steps continued in a straight line as if she would walk right through him.
He grinned.
He bent slightly.
He inhaled.
Then he roared.
"BOOM."
His voice shook the leaves. Birds flew out of nearby trees. The ground itself flinched.
Isabella scread so loudly she scared herself.
Her whole body jolted violently. Her eyes widened. Her heart nearly exploded out of her chest.
And before her brain could process anything, her hand shot upward and grabbed Osiris by his hair.
She yanked it so hard he made a strangled noise.
Then her foot slipped.
Her ankle twisted.
Her balance vanished completely.
"Oh Goddess no. No. No." Isabella shrieked as she fell forward.
Osiris, still held by the hair, also lost his balance. "Let go of my head."
"I am falling."
"I know."
"You scared ."
"That was the point."
"I hate you."
"I know."
They toppled together like two idiots. Their feet tangled. Their arms flailed. They rolled uncontrollably down a slope hidden under thick leaves. Leaves slapped their faces. Branches brushed their clothes. Glimora scread in tiny distress and sprinted after them.
Isabella scread the whole way down.
Osiris cursed loudly the whole way down.
They tumbled, rolled, bounced, slid, twisted, and spun until finally gravity gave up on torturing them.
They landed in a hidden clearing covered in soft moss and sunlight.
Silence.
The world was too bright. Too green. Too peaceful for the chaos they just endured.
Isabella lay on her back, panting like she had run from sixty wolves. Her chest rose and fell rapidly. Her hair was wild. Leaves stuck to her clothes. Dirt streaked her cheek.
Osiris lay sprawled beside her, staring at the sky in sha.
Glimora arrived seconds later, shaking her head with the exaggerated disappointnt of a tired mother dealing with her two feral children.
Isabella gasped for air. She was panting. Trembling. Still half in shock from the fall.
Her heart hamred violently. The babies in her belly had rolled with her, and panic shot through her chest like lightning.
Then sothing inside her snapped.
She pushed herself up slowly.
Her breathing was heavy. Too heavy. Too controlled. Too calm.
The type of calm that ant violence was coming.
Osiris turned his head slightly.
Their eyes t.
Isabella’s eyes were terrifying.
She raised her hand.
Her face twisted with pure fury.
She was about to hit him.
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