They headed out at dawn – a long column of people in robes and simple travelling clothes and some armoured men for protection. Their destination was not too far from the camp. Myr said they should reach it after four hours of energetic march. Iris was walking at the end of the column, observing excited Mages chatting lively ahead of her. She was nervous because she still didn't feel ready, even despite Marcus affirmation that she didn't need a mastery of magic to help with the Ritual. Iris has a sinking feeling deep in her stomach that something would go wrong, that somehow, she wouldn't be able to aid the rebels in this most crucial moment.

'Hey, why the long face?' Kara asked, slowing her step to walk next to her.

'I'm nervous, I guess. It all seems so surreal. If the Ritual works, the world will go back to its former glory.' She looked up, where between the tree crowns, she could see a pale Lord Sun wandering through the grey sky. 'Is it possible? I still can't believe it.'

'No point in dwelling on the future.' Kara shrugged. But her face was solemn, and she didn't share the excitement and giddiness of other travellers.

'Are you all right?' asked Iris.

'Yeah. I...' she sighed and lowered her voice so that other people wouldn't overhear her. 'I don't know what to do. I'm glad we are going through with this Ritual. I really am. But that means strengthening the Veil between realms. So, if it does succeed...'

'You won't be able to get him back,' finished Iris quietly.

'Yes. I know I should be grateful. That there's probably no way to get him out of there. Hells, I'm still not sure if it's not just my mind playing tricks on me!' She sighed and clenched her fists. 'But I can't give up hope. Not as long as I live.'

Iris put her hand on Kara's shoulder. 'I don't know how to help you. But I promise if there is anything I can do, now or later, I'll do it. You don't have to carry this burden alone. We'll find a way. I'm sure we will.'

Kara smiled at her gently and patted her hand. 'Thank you, Iris. I didn't share my secret with you willingly, but now I'm glad you know.'

The remaining trek through the forest was luckily uneventful. They've seen no signs of Shadow nor Inquisitors. When they reached the massive clearing, Iris' eyes went wide. At the very centre of the opening stood four colossal stone pillars. They were covered in vines, moss and wild plants, although she could still see the intricate patterns sculpted all over their surface.

Marcus raised his hand, signalling them to stop and nodded to Myrica, walking beside him. The huntress stepped forward until she was a few steps away from the pillars. She fell on one knee and put her hands flat on the grass. She said something in her melodic voice, although Iris could not distinguish the words. When her voice resonated through the clearing, the pillars started glowing with a faint green light, and the ground under their feet trembled. The strange phenomenon disappeared as unexpectedly as it appeared.

Myr got up and nodded to Marcus. 'You can enter now.'

'What did she do?' Iris whispered to Kara.

'This is the holy place for the forest people,' the other woman explained. 'I believe she gave her regards to the Spirits or something of the sort.'

They entered the opening, and everyone busied themselves with preparations. Iris didn't have anything to do, so she was observing what others were doing. Marcus and Myrica were installing the Crystal of Illumination in the middle of stone pillars. They had a wooden tripod, created especially to hold the Crystal in place. They will all need their hands free to wield magic, so the artefact must be placed somewhere. It seemed disrespectful to leave it on the ground.

The remaining Mages were setting up fires and installing mirrors all around the opening. Iris helped collect the firewood, her body going through the motions while her mind was racing, trying to predict everything that could go wrong. Her hands were shaking a bit.

'What are you so frantic about?' someone asked.

She turned to Jayden, who had just finished installing one of the mirrors and looked at her with his brows raised.

'I don't know. It's a lot of pressure. What if I screw up somehow?' She sighed.

'You don't have to worry about that. You are not that special. It's simple enough that even you can't wreck it,' he said with a smirk.

'Hey! Thanks a lot!'

'Seriously, though,' he added, his tone suddenly gentle. 'You don't have to do anything special. You'll be standing next to me during the Ritual, so follow my lead, and all will be well.'

'Fine, I can do that,' Iris said, confused by a sudden change in his tone. He was probably feeling the tension in the air, too, even though he didn't want to admit it.

It took them over an hour to prepare everything. The fires were roaring high, and the bright flames seemed to be licking the grey sky. The mirrors were reflecting the pale sunlight and directing the beams toward the azure Crystal sitting in the middle of everything. It was shining now with all the light collected, but nowhere near the magical illumination Iris saw back in the cave. She suspected the Light Magic was necessary to awaken its amplifying abilities.

Marcus clapped his hands, and Mages started to take their positions around the Crystal, inside the circle made of stone pillars. The rest of their entourage mainly guards, and some carpenters who were helping with installing the mirrors, backed away to the clearing's border not to disturb the Ritual. Kara gave Iris an encouraging smile and withdrew with the others. Although her face was cheerful, Iris noted how tense her whole body was. She felt for her friend. It seemed that none of the results of this Ritual would help her in saving her husband.

Iris stood in her spot between Jayden and a woman whose name she never learned. She smiled at her encouragingly. I must look just as nervous as I feel, she thought.

'We'll be drawing light from the fire over there and the mirror next to it,' Jayden instructed her patiently. 'Remember, slow and steady. We don't want to extinguish our light sources right away.' She nodded.

Iris felt her heart pounding fast in her chest. That was it. The moment they were all waiting for all those years. The moment when they would fix the world. She looked up at the Lord Sun in the sky and made a quick prayer in her mind.

Let us succeed. Let us restore your full glory.

'Is everyone ready?' asked Marcus. He was standing in the middle of the circle of Mages, next to the Crystal of Illumination. He was not wearing his usual simple travelling attire. Today he put on an elaborately decorated green robe, embroidered with a gold thread creating a whole constellation of runes. He looked regal, and his head was held high with his face cleanly shaven. There was no trace of uncertainty in his movements, his blue eyes showing only determination and conviction. He looked nothing like a beggar she met a couple of weeks ago.

'When I give you a signal, draw the light from your assigned sources and then infuse it into the Crystal. Make sure you do it steadily, no rush movements, as the light accumulation will be unsafe, and we can lose some of the collected energy.' He paused and looked at them all with an encouraging smile. 'May the Lord Sun bless us with success today. Let us begin!'

The Mages moved as one. They all turned, so they had a crystal on their right side and the light sources on the other. The fires flickered as hands started glowing. Iris followed their lead and reached out her hand outwards to the flame. She focused all her attention on a slow-motion of absorbing the light. She felt the warmth filling her body, making her feel safe and secure. When she accumulated enough energy that made her hands glow brightly, she stretched the other arm toward the Crystal and let the light flow through her body and direct it toward the artefact. 

The artefact was awake now. It started pulsing with an otherworldly blue radiance, its countless facets projecting dancing beams all over the clearing. All the hair on Iris' body raised. The air itself was crackling with power. Accumulated light was hovering in a glowing cloud over their heads, getting brighter with every passing second, making it impossible to look directly at it.

'Hold it steady!' Marcus shouted. His hands were raised while he was trying to keep all the gathered light together.

Suddenly Iris' whole body locked up. The energy rushing through it got more intense, more rapid as if the accumulated light became a vacuum consuming all radiance around it. She gasped.

'Hold it!' Jayden growled over his shoulder. 'Don't you dare falter now! It will be over soon!'

Iris nodded, although she was not sure he could see it. She could not utter a word. Her throat was tight, her breath heavy and ragged, as if she were running for a long time with all her might. Her body started to tremble. But she couldn't drop her arms even if she wanted to, locked in place by this strange mystic energy.

The wind started blowing through the clearing, although it was far from natural. It was rapid and was yanking hair and cloaks, but it only affected their circle. Iris noted with a corner of her eye that the leaves on nearby trees did not move while her hair was lashing furiously at her face.

'Hold it!' Marcus cried over the increasingly roaring wind. He was swaying, and his arms were shaking, but his feet were firmly planted in place. 'Just a little more!'

Iris groaned when another pull, even stronger now, started drawing light from her body. All their fires were almost extinguished. The assisting people didn't dare to get close to the circle, too scared of the raging wind. The accumulated light was now blinding. All the shapes around them were becoming a blur. Iris closed her eyes, her body still paralysed, unable to even wipe the tears flowing from her stinging eyes.

And then something bizarre happened to the surrounding landscape. Iris vision doubled. When she narrowed her eyes to slits, she could see the clearing and the forest, but at the same time, she saw someplace else. A scenery full of swirling darkness and shadows. The impossibly dark skies, heavy with storm clouds. The shriek pierced the air. The howl of the wind transformed into shrilling screams of something Iris could not even imagine.

She blinked, and she was suddenly alone in the middle of a wasteland. No green in sight, no forest, no plants, no one else but her and deep darkness all around. Something was lurking in this blackness. Something cold, evil and unrelenting. Full of hatred and lust for light. Her inner Light. The darkness crept closer. Iris screamed and blinked. Once more, she was standing in the clearing, the lanky figure of Jayden right in front of her eyes. Her body was shaking so violently she was not sure how she was still standing.

'Jayden!' she shouted, trying to get through the howling wind. 'I can't hold much longer!'

'We're almost there!' he shouted back. His body was trembling as much as hers.

She took a deep, shaky breath and closed her eyes. She heard a terrible shriek, so she opened them again, once more all alone in the darkness. But the coiling shadows were much closer now, encircling her like predators their prey. The shapes were not stable there, just a constantly moving mass of blackness. Her body was still immobilised The light was still running through her. Iris whimpered; her breath left her mouth in a puff. A sudden chill slowly found its way to her body. Cold sweat ran down her back. Long tendrils of blackness reached toward her like clawed fingers, barely a few inches away from her face. Iris screamed and closed her eyes shut.

She expected the darkness to touch her any moment, but something exploded, and her body was lifted off the ground and thrown back like a rag doll.

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