Where Winter Meets Summer (Rusame Countryhumans)

In the Face of Adversity

(GERMANY POV)

A glimmer of light was followed directly with a crushing boom as dust and debris was flung in all directions. I grit my teeth as I barely evaded her grasp, feeling the radiance of her light against my skin. Each time she attacked, she got closer and closer and I was quickly exhausting myself from all the movement. It was like playing tag with the sun and I for one, do not recommend it.

A spear streaked past me, barreling straight through the spirit. She glanced up to see Poland hovering above the clearing with his arm still extended.

"Hey, I'm feeling a bit excluded here!" he jeered. "Why don't you come catch me? Or are you too slow?"

India's head snapped in his direction and a second later she appeared right behind Poland. He ducked at the last moment to evade India's crushing grip and weaved in and out of the trees, leading her away from me.

I took this chance to scramble away into the cover of the shadows but we weren't out of the woods yet. Poland wouldn't be able to fly forever. He was literally racing against light itself. Even so, all we could do was run since there was no viable way to retaliate.

I clasped my hands together as I struggled to summon my hounds. Apparently they still needed time to recover.

Bundesadler? No, it was too early for that. I would be too drained, especially without Canada to help sustain my energy.

I continued to run as many scenarios through my head as possible until a streak of light came crashing into the trees.

I hesitated as my first thought was that India had returned to hunt me down but a muffled whimper sent ice coursing through my veins.

"POLAND!" I screamed as I barreled through the terrain to see him struggle to pull himself back up. Hovering above him, India glared at him with Poland's spear in hand, snapped in half. She tossed it to the side with a satisfied expression before zooming down to take the win.

I lost my mind. My composure was thrown out the window as all my stress and panic caused something to snap in me. Without thinking, I charged forward senseless with a strange ringing in my ears as I tackled Poland out of the way before everything was suddenly swallowed by darkness. I rolled onto my back for an instant to see India's panicked expression as a pitch black veil swung her into the trees, knocking the wind out of her sails.

I was breathing heavily as my heart pounded in my ears. Poland was mostly unharmed and he had cushioned our fall. I, on the other hand, was winded beyond belief and I needed a moment to figure out how to walk again.

"I- I'll be fine just give me a moment," I winced as Poland's wings vanished with his Awakening. Using the trees to steady myself, I regained my bearings and smiled. "Thanks for the help."

"Naw man. I should be thanking you," he replied. "But seriously, when did you learn to do that?"

I cocked my head to the side slightly as I tried to recall what he was talking about. "Do what? Blitzkrieg?"

"No, that definitely was not Blitzkrieg." Poland chuckled warily, "Don't get me wrong– Blitzkrieg is fast but that... you basically just surpassed the speed of light for a second there."

I blinked at him, unsure what to say. That was supposedly impossible but I didn't know how else to explain it. I still couldn't figure out how I did what I just did but a low hum from a pair of distant magenta eyes told me that something new was discovered. If what Poland said was true, then perhaps there was potential that I hadn't even begun to scratch the surface of. For now, however, we had other problems to deal with.