The committee room would be quite grand if not for the suffocating atmosphere that tasted of curdled milk and depressed Seiren's shoulders with the weight of sleepless nights. Soft autumn sunlight streamed through the stained glass at the top of the walls, throwing dazzling rays of crimson and indigo like the multi-coloured sweets sold on the streets of Bicknor. A polished, dark oak table sat in the middle, empty except for a pile of paper at Kommora's section. Seiren twisted her fingers, making the joints pop, staring at the nails bitten down to the quick. Madeleine would scold her for the state they were in – if only she were able.

On either side of her sat Rowan and Marya Bonneville. Kommora sat directly opposite, beside Bolliver Woodbead. A few people paced up and down beside the unlit fireplace. The others stood at the far back, bathed in shadows, their arms crossed over their chests and taking in the information Seiren's group had brought back from Hanna. Quiet murmurs stayed in the background as a dull hum. The stifling atmosphere sat heavy, suffocating.

"Sallows predicted all of this," said Kommora at last, with a sigh. She stood up, pushing her chair back with a groan. Heavy shadows sat beneath her eyes and she appeared to have grown more wrinkles and grey hairs since Seiren had last seen her. Something dark stirred behind those intelligent eyes – some might even call it wariness, or fear. "I managed to decipher most of his documentations. He'd written about Teirrin's discovery of the twins' burial sites. No, not quite burial sites – there were no bodies, just two artefacts for the bound souls of the original twins."

A low, disconcerted murmur rippled through the group.

"It appeared Teirrin's attempt – successful attempt – at mass-sacrifice to revive celestial magic awoke the two sealed souls, but Karma was more awake than Hanna and she spoke to Sallows." Kommora swallowed, staring fixated down at the dog-eared notes with barely-legible scribbles in her hands. "She warned him Hanna must never be roused because of the circumstances under which both of them were sealed. After she gave him instructions on how to put them both back to sleep, he split up the souls, giving Hanna to the Hannan king, Mephis Tophalis, and hiding Karma's soul so Kristen and her group wouldn't get access to her. It seems Mephis Tophalis was unable to keep Hanna away from that tyrant son of his."

"Hanna instructed them – rescuing Kristen, sacrificing the Daemonium to bring Hanna back to life–" Rowan's hands curled into fists, his knuckles turning ivory white. "It was her plan all along."

"And we sent our two celestial mages straight into her trap, allowing her a full body to revive with." Kommora's features darkened. "It was the single key ingredient Hanna lacked, especially with how weak Harred's magic was, and we handed it straight to her. I screwed up. I should never have permitted you two to go into Hanna."

"You couldn't have known, Kommora. Don't blame yourself," Marya Bonneville said in a low voice. "The likelihood is that Hanna would have realised Harred for what she was – not a celestial mage – and the next target would have been one of the two girls anyway."

"Marya is right," said Bellamy Southwark. "The original twins being alive and sealed all this time – none of us could have fathomed this."

"Sallows did what he could, knowing the infiltration of Harred into the king's mages and steadily disposing of the older members. He was the last one left that remained." Kommora tapped a finger on the sheets. "And, sure enough, after the souls were safely sorted, he was disposed of."

"The most important person in all this who could help us – vanished." Colm Hatman threw up his hand. "Just our luck."

"We'll have to mobilise our troops," said Bolliver, who up until this point had listened in stony silence. His steely gaze skimmed over the faces of everyone present in the room. "The magic Eleia Tophalis gave us will only hinder, but not prevent, Hanna's progress. Have we dispatched couriers to spread the magic over the border?"

"We have perhaps a couple of weeks," said Kommora, breathing heavily through her nostrils. "The Hannans are monitoring Hanna's movements from afar and keeping us updated. She's heading west, to Traquair."

"We sent off the Hannan magic as soon as we landed in Acrise. We'll receive messages once they're in place and we'll give orders to deploy." Rowan said. "But why is Hanna heading to Acrise?"

"If I know, I wouldn't be sitting here sipping tea right now," Kommora said caustically.

"Humans don't stand a chance against Hanna," Seiren said at last, her voice hoarse. The images flickered before her mind's eye, but they were clear as if she were again back in the tomb of the first Hannan king, Feures Tophalis. Rune magic. Burst magic. Flash magic. Bullets. Nothing made contact. Everything bounced off as if Hanna were made of the same impenetrable material Kristen created with her runes. "She will destroy us all."

"But why Karma?" Hatman said. "It was not we who sealed her – assuming that was the reason for her vengeance."

"But Karma was – the original Karma." Kommora surveyed them with dark eyes. The surroundings almost faded in colour from the gravity of the situation. "Centuries of warring – and ultimately, they did not come to peace as our history books depicted."

Shocked faces stared back at her.

"The sisters were evenly-matched – Hanna actually more powerful than Karma, although Karma was more strategic. Ultimately, only one sister wanted peace, and she obtained it only when she sought the help of the first Hannan King Feures Tophalis. Together, Karma feigned a surrender to lure in Hanna."

"They trapped Hanna," Seiren whispered; her voice didn't sound like her own. The entire discussion so far, she'd observed as if from a great distance, their voices muffled like hushed whispers in the dead of the night, their faces and gestures meaningless. It was after a great struggle she managed to pull herself into the now, forcing her eyes to take in the grim faces, her back to feel the stiffness of the wooden chair, her nose to take in the stuffy, overly-warm air of a too-full committee room. Swallowing, she observed the scene unfolding in her mind's eye: Hanna, triumphant, approaching a smiling and non-confrontational Karma, whose arms were wide open. A dark shadow behind Hanna, preying on her lowered guards, and just when the two sisters embraced, he stabbed through both of them.

"Karma had already dispersed most of her powers to the people of Karma, our ancestors, but she could sacrifice what remained within her to seal Hanna away if she were weakened. Feures Tophalis injured Hanna heavily and removed – stole, some might say – her summoning powers, becoming the first summoner. He then sealed the original twins away. I imagine Hanna's wrath for Karma was because she believes we should pay for the actions of her sister."

"From centuries ago!" Hatman said, appalled.

"Indeed. From centuries ago. But to her, it was only yesterday her own sister betrayed her and stole her powers."

"There is no way anyone in Karma or Hanna could have enough power to even hurt Hanna. You weren't there, Kommora, but—" Marya Bonneville shuddered and shook her head. "—I've never seen anything like it."

"She's the progenitor of celestial magic. She's naturally immune to anything that isn't celestial, including all of its offsprings. Rune, burst, flash, and any beasts from after she was sealed."

"Daemons," Seiren whispered.

"What?" Kommora barely skipped a beat. "No, you're correct, Bonneville. There is nobody alive who can deal with Hanna. But Sallows had prepared for that too." She tapped the notes again.

"Karma." Seiren's brain, although emotionally numbed from the loss of Madeleine, continued to tick logically. She sat up in her chair. "You want to resurrect Karma. You want me to resurrect Karma."

"Preposterous," Southwark barked, stopping his pacing to slam both hands on the table, leaning heavily forward. "We can't send a child into battle again. This has happened twice."

"If you have a better plan, Southwark, I'm all ears." Kommora's voice made the room temperature drop to subarctic. Southwark hesitated.

"You said Madeleine Harred's life was exchanged to revive Hanna—" he began.

"Not exchanged," Seiren cut in, drawing her hands to her front. She rocked gently, staring at a fixed point on the table where something had previously nicked the smooth, polished wood, leaving a blemish on an otherwise pristine, intact surface. "Taken over. Madeleine is still there. I know it."

"We aren't sending Nithercott into battle." Kommora's nostrils flared, but she'd paled significantly. "We're bringing forth Karma's soul to use Nithercott's celestial body, just as Hanna is now using Madeleine Harred's. Karma is the only one who can defeat Hanna now. If we do not do it, there is no point in resisting – we are all doomed."

"But what will happen to Seiren?" Rowan said, aghast. Sweat trickled down his face as he stood up, slowly, staring at Kommora. "Madeleine Harred couldn't even control her body – she could just about prevent Hanna from eradicating all of us in the old Tophalis tomb. What's to say Karma isn't worse? What's to guarantee Seiren will come back after this is all over? What about Seiren?"

"It doesn't matter what happens after this is all over," Seiren said in a quiet voice. "If I succeed, nobody else needs to die by Hanna's hands. If I fail, we all die."

His hand covered hers, cool and trembling.

"I disagree with this. We have a new alliance with Hanna," said Southwark. "They have summoners. We have mages. They might be the offspring of celestial magic, but they are not necessarily weaker than celestial magic, especially if they have had centuries of evolution when Hanna was effectively comatose. We don't need to risk another ancient soul wanting to destroy us all. One is quite enough."

"That is a major risk we're undertaking if we do not use Karma – we've seen first-hand what Hanna is capable of," said Marya. "Believe me, Bellamy, I don't advocate something this unpredictable when the costs are so high, but this is the lesser of two unpredictables."

The mages broke into argument, their voices clashing with increasing volume and gestures flying wildly. The temperature in the room raised, stifling and crushing Seiren. Her peripheries dimmed as the walls closed in, squeezing all the air out of her lungs. Rowan's cool hand closed over her own sweaty ones and squeezed.

"Let's say," he said loudly, quashing the squabble, "hypothetically, we send Seiren to wherever Karma is sealed. Are you sure she can bring Karma back, Kommora?"

"That's right," said Southwark, sitting down and collecting himself. "Sallows was the only person who knew about this Teirrinese revival, was he not? And he hasn't been seen in years. Are the records so intact you know Karma's location?"

"No." For the first time, Kommora appeared uneasy. The fire in her eyes dimmed and she sucked in a breath, nostrils flaring again as she crushed some of the paperwork before her. "A lot of the details about Sallows splitting the twins' souls were damaged because of the runes previously used to access the notes. The only fully intact documentation left from Sallows was the one he spent the most time hiding away from Harred's eyes – how the Teirrinese recreated celestial magic with human sacrifice. But everything else, including the discovery and awakening of the souls, the re-sealing, and their relocation – all the details are now permanently inaccessible."

"You don't know where Karma is," said Southwark tightly.

"No, but..." She hesitated again. "I know someone who does."

She was quiet for several seconds as the other mages' eyes bore holes into her.

"No," Rowan said suddenly. He stood up so quickly his chair nearly fell over. "Not Kristen Harred. Anyone but her."

"Kristen Harred?!" Bolliver repeated. Seiren's heart skipped a beat at the name. "I don't understand. Explain yourself."

"Harred was the only one who could access Sallows's records. You told us that before we set off on the rescue mission," Rowan said to Kommora, hands curled at his side. His face hardened and he clenched his jaws. "But we can't ask her for help, even if she's the only one who has seen the papers before Sallows disappeared. For one: she can't be trusted. For another: her execution still awaits."

"Well, that latter point isn't necessarily true," said Willem Dankworth, speaking for the first time since the meeting began. He'd stood so far at the back, in the shadows, that Seiren hadn't noticed him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Marya said, frowning. "After that last joint council meeting, I hardly think the people will accept any type of appeal for her sentence."

"It's not an appeal for her sentence," Bolliver said in his gravelly voice. "The civilian council had no faith in your retrieval efforts and the protests and the threat of violence to our students at King's Academy of Magic was deemed too high risk. In your absence, Zor Jarsdel has been executed in place of Kristen Harred for treason and attempted genocide at the civilian council's behest."

The shock from those who had been in Hanna was palpable.

"You executed Jarsdel in Harred's place," murmured Rowan, stunned, sliding back in his chair.

"There was a lot of external pressure. Harred won't be getting off easy, but the way this will pan out means it will work in our favour – in all of our favours – in the long run. Kristen Harred is the only person alive who has seen Sallows's documentation about the location of Karma's soul. She will take us there. Nithercott will revive her and allow Karma to advise us – or do whatever she must – to sort out Hanna. If this fails, we are all doomed. If this succeeds, then perhaps some of our lives will be spared."

"I can't allow this." Rowan's voice shook.

"Too damn bad this decision doesn't require your permission, Woodbead. It's up to Nithercott."

"But—"

"I'll do it. I've already said." Seiren's voice was steady and calm. She should perhaps feel panicked or pressured, but the ambivalence dominating her mind was oddly reassuring.

"What's to guarantee Kristen Harred would even cooperate? She has never done anything in our favour. What's to say she won't take the chance to kill us all, now her magic is back?" Rowan shook his head. "This is preposterous – madness. We can't trust the lives of the entire country on the very same person who tried to sacrifice us all!"

"Kristen Harred values her children above all else. She's proven that time and time again, if your report is anything to go by," Kommora said, a hint of her dry personality returning. "She will ensure Nithercott won't come to harm. We share the same ideals – she wishes to rescue Madeleine Harred, we wish to eradicate Hanna. If both of these criteria can be met, it's a win-win situation."

"And if they can't...?"

"Then it will be the same steaming pile of shit we're faced with if we don't revive Karma. I'm glad you're getting your short ass back into shape, Woodbead, so don't let me down now." Kommora's expression darkened. For a moment, Seiren saw a flicker of apprehension. "I don't like this any more than you do. There are too many variables, too many things that can and probably will go wrong, but you can't turn shit into ice cream."

Her laser gaze swept over the remaining mages in the room.

"We do work relatively democratically within and outside of the king's mages circle, unlike our predecessors. So can I have a show of hands of those who are against the idea of sending Nithercott with Harred to revive Karma?"

Rowan's hand shot up, as did the hands of Southwark and Hatman.

"I will abstain from voting," said Bolliver, folding his arms across his broad chest. His medals glinted in the light. His face remained impassive, surveying each of the mages before him.

"And who are for the aforementioned idea?"

Kommora raised her hand, as did Marya and, to Seiren's surprise, Willem Dankworth, who had stayed out of most of the conversation thus far.

Swallowing and glancing briefly at Rowan, Seiren also raised her hand. Her heart tightened at the sight of the torment in his blue-green eyes. She tore her gaze away and met Kommora's steady look.

"Then I think we have come to a decision," Kommora said softly.

The end. Remember to vote! Author's note to come.