There was no way…
It was Zolrya standing over him with a disgusted sneer. He had a floral silk robe on and nothing beneath it, his bright wings fluttering in clear annoyance. He clapped his hands, and time stopped.
Everything froze.
The writhing wyrm, Sariel with Day in her sword form raised high, and the blood gushing from Seymour’s chest.
And then…
Time moved, but…
Backward.
Seymour flew into the air, the spike went back into his chest, and Day was in his hand again. The spike vanished away as time continued to shift, the battle completely rewound to the moment before Seymour first struck the wyrm.
Zolrya moved normally as he approached, and he wiggled his fingers at the wyrm.
It exploded in a fantastic burst of—what else?—flowers. Petals rained down like confetti, completely covering everything in a colorful layer of fluff.
The lantern men scattered, seemingly confused as their target was now gone. They looked around, shrugged, and one by one vanished out of sight. Choco gave a departing wave before he disappeared.
Seymour waved back weakly.
Day reverted to her kitty girl form, climbing up Seymour’s chest and hugging his neck. “Seymour! You’re okay!”
“Yeah!” Seymour hugged her tight, his mind still reeling. “I, I don’t understand?—”
Sariel tackled them both and swung them up into his arms. He was human once more, though still bloodied. He didn’t seem to feel his injuries, though, as exuberantly as he embraced them.“Stella! My beautifulstella. You are all right.”
“I’m sorry! Oh, Sariel.” Seymour gasped, fighting back a sudden sob. “I’m so fuckin’ sorry?—”
“It is all right. I forgive you.” Sariel squeezed tighter. “I am not angry.”
“Okay,” Seymour wheezed. “That’s great! But… Ugh! Need to… breathe!”
“Oh! My apologies.” Sariel grinned sheepishly and eased his grip.
“What happened?” Day demanded. “I saw you die! I…! I don’t understand!”
Seymour looked down at the sunflower pinned to his vest. “The flower.”
“When the wyrm stabbed you, it damaged the flower,” Sariel realized out loud. “It summoned the king.”
“And he came! He actually came. He saved me. He…” Seymour blinked. “He is tearing Jerry into pieces and making flowers out of him.”
Jerry could not scream because he no longer had a mouth. It was sealed up and gone, though he kicked and flailed as Zolrya plucked parts of him off. As he dropped each body part, a new sprig of flowers bloomed. There was no blood, even as Zolrya ripped off his fingers, his hand, his arm…
Christ, it was hard to watch.
“Now, you have been very, very naughty,” Zolrya was saying. “Taking my beloved’s brain? That was quite foolish of you.”
“Uh, Your Majesty?” Seymour cleared his throat. “We, uh, we may need to talk to him? Pretty please? With sugar on top? He might have technically killed my dad and?—”
“Oh, don’t worry!” Zolrya scoffed, leering as a chunk of Jerry’s arm turned into a patch of pink daisies. “I can turn him back later. Right now, he needs to learn a lesson.”
“What in thefuck?”
Seymour turned to see Lou standing there, fully wolfed out and looking quite confused. Seymour laughed and waved. “Oh, hey. Welcome to the party.”
