Makaela felt as if she'd been put through a meat grinder. She tried blinking the dust out of her eyes, but she might as well have kept them closed. Darkness swam around her like an ocean under the night sky.

By Lumi's light, she hadn't been crushed by the collapsing tower. She wasn't sure if it was because of the goddess within her or pure, dumb luck. Large blocks of white stone formed a point above her, shifting ever so slightly as more debris fell. Just enough space remained above her face, allowing her to take in the little bit of oxygen infiltrating the burrow trapping her in.

She pushed on the stone and immediately winced. Pain shot up and down her arm. Wincing, she dropped the aching limb and shut her eyes. She laid her head on whatever was beneath her and focused on breathing.

If she couldn't push it off, perhaps a blasting spell would do the trick. As she pressed her hands together to begin the sequence, she stopped herself. What laid above her? For all she knew, the slabs of stone were protecting her from even more remnants of the tower. Not only that, but she could barely move her arms. The spell in question required significant motion to perform correctly. She didn't want to risk accidentally blowing herself up.

An annoyed yell erupted from her mouth and echoed around the short, enclosed space.

Thorian's wicked grin penetrated the darkness around her, haunting her like a bad dream.

She should've known he wouldn't fight fair. He never did. The man did whatever it took to win. Destroying the tower with them standing inside was the perfect ploy. He likely shadowjumped out the wreckage. She would've done the same had she known what trick he had hidden up his sleeve. Lumi might've been sharing space inside her head, but even she didn't see that coming.

Her breath hitched as she thought about Karin and the others. Had they made it out of the tower or were they killed in the collapse? If they did manage to escape, had the Shades gotten to them?

She grit her teeth, her hands grabbing fistfuls of the air at her side.

There had to be a way out of this.

Shadowjumping wasn't an option since she couldn't even see where she'd be jumping to. Casting was out too. With her limited movement, she wouldn't be able to cast any meaningful spell—

Her eyes widened.

Maybe she didn't have to move.

For centuries, magic had been performed using specific finger, hand, and arm movements; they were used to unlock and manipulate the vitalae in one's body, channeling it into the mark in their palms. But what did they do before that? Magic wasn't always bound by the brand given to them on their ninth birthdays. It lived within them. It was a part of their very essence.

She slowed her breath to a steady pace. Closing her eyes, she focused on the magic hidden in her veins. The bright light from before returned to her, spreading throughout the dark abyss that was her mind. She let it fill her to the brim. Through her eyelids, she could see light.

When she opened her eyes, her entire body was glowing. Golden rays pulsed from her ebony skin. Her internal temperature rose significantly. Steam rolled off the stone she laid on. Before she knew it, she found herself sinking through the solid material and deeper into the ground.

What the...

Her body fell through the new hole she'd created. More steam poured off her body as she fell face-first into the snow below. She never thought she'd be happy to see snow again. The light coming from her skin retreated into her body. Breathing heavily, she propped herself up on her hands and knees. Looking over her shoulder, she finally got a good look at the carnage around her.

Ash rained down from the sky as if a volcano erupted. The sooty specks intermingled with the snowflakes drifting through the icy air, dancing in tandem as they journeyed to the frostbitten ground. Lumi's tower was no more. What once stood tall and proud like a god itself now laid across the snow, the debris stretching for miles in either direction. Jagged quartz teeth jutted up from the ground, giving the area the appearance of a shark's mouth. Shattered glass, bent pieces of gold and bronze, and chipped bits of eldricite made up the rest of the wreck.

Makaela couldn't find her friends among it.

She grabbed two fistfuls of snow, the cold stinging her palms.

"There she is!" someone shouted from behind a stray pillar.

She tensed. Ignoring her body's cries of agony, she jumped to her feet and raised her wavering hands. Through the haze, three figures approached her. She kept her hands up, her fingers itching to cast.

Karin's face broke through the fog first. Worry transformed to relief as she sprinted toward the golden-eyed magician with her guard up. Before Makaela knew it, the Vayan monk had her wrapped in a bone-crushing hug. She let out the heaviest sigh possible and hugged her back. Ismael and Han jogged toward them. Ash and blood dotted their faces, but they were otherwise fine.

"We thought we lost you when the tower went down," Han said breathlessly.

"If it wasn't for Karin and the Andhis, we wouldn't have made it out alive," Ismael added.

Karin smiled boastfully while wielding the milky orb in her hand. The storm within the sphere crackled with life, miniature lightning strikes cascading across the transparent surface.

Makaela didn't know how exactly they survived. She didn't care. All that mattered was their safety—which wasn't guaranteed yet. Thorian and the Shades were still around somewhere. She took one last look at the wreckage around her. They did what they came to do. They saved Lumi. The tower wasn't the source of her power; the goddess' light was everywhere. A building in the middle of nowhere wasn't her legacy.

She was.

"I can shadowjump us back to Tenzin," Makaela told them. With her vitalae reserves boosted by Lumi's presence, jumping from the mountains back to Tibet should've been easy. She dug deep into her mind for the image of House Vaya's hidden city in the mountains. She held her hands out to her companions. Ismael and Karin locked fingers with hers. As Han moved to place his hand on her shoulder, she felt the air around them vibrate. Her body stiffened. Turning, she spotted the crimson arrow of magic darting through the cold.

She couldn't stop it.

Han let out a surprised gasp.

Karin screamed. Ismael raised a shield charm to protect the three of them from any further surprise attacks.

Makaela couldn't take her eyes off Han's still body. His eyes were wide open, the brown irises staring straight into the never-ending sea of grey clouds above. The killing spell froze his face in a perpetual sense of shock.

Anger never came to her. Nor sorrow. She felt nothing. Why couldn't she feel anything?

Perhaps this was what Lumi's warning alluded to.

She shifted her attention to the mongering pieces of stone littered about the snow. Thorian stood atop one with his hair flapping in the wind. His twin braids were undone now, the platinum strands completely wild as they whipped around his gaunt face. His snake-like lips were twisted into a smile that looked closer to a sneer.

Both of his eyes were pitch black.

Thorian Tedorof died.

Mauvorin was pulling the strings now.

Ismael dropped his shield as they turned to face the dark magician. Karin angrily wiped the tears from her cheeks. Ignoring her housemate's warnings, she ran out into the open with her house's artifact raised high. The orb cracked open and the storm within exploded into the sky.

Lightning struck down in multiple places, attempting to maim the black-eyed caster underneath the dark clouds. Thorian shadowjumped, reappearing away from the raging tempest. Sucking in a breath, he swung his arms before pushing out a blast of malevolent energy. Karin shouted before blocking the attack with a well-timed gust of air.

Makaela turned to Ismael. "Get her out of here."

He nodded and sprinted toward the girl.

Closing her eyes, she shadowjumped to where Thorian stood. Her hands were wrapped around his neck in an instant. With a grunt, she yanked them to the right, sending them crashing down before Thorian could launch another spell.

"Karin, go!" she bellowed as the man clawed at her hands. His nails raked through her skin. Blood smeared across the backs of her hands like paint. Searing pain made her blink away tears. She tightened her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his midsection, preventing him from standing.

Karin ignored her. She controlled the Andhis' storm with a series of fluid hand movements. She ended with a sharp motion, her hands forming a point. Another lightning strike, more powerful than the others, struck the ground right where Makaela and Thorian were thrashing about.

The two of them broke apart to avoid being hit.

Breaths ragged, they glared at one another from the snow before throwing identical spells each other's way. The parallel beams of orange light collided and fought for dominance as their owners pushed, willing their magic to overtake the others. Makaela clenched her jaw, her brows furrowed in focus, beads of sweat freezing along her forehead. Thorian released a hoarse yell as he used his other hand to aid his casting one. His magic progressed, pushing Makaela back. She dipped her head and closed her eyes.

If she wanted to beat him, she had to test her new limits. The Illumio on her ring flickered to life. The golden brand in her palm pulsed with energy. Her eyes widened as the yellow light within them glowed brighter. Her magic grew. Her confidence followed suit. Fatigue set in, but she couldn't quit now. She pushed harder. She tapped into her vitalae reserves for the second time that day—a feat that would've killed any other magician.

But she wasn't any other magician.

She was Makaela Moreau—daughter of Pierre and Nyana Moreau, the last heir to House Lumai, a halfling of the most powerful kind, Lumi's conduit, and the Light itself. Defeating the darkness that was Thorian's Mauvorin-controlled vessel was her destiny. Saving this world and serving all magicians was her destiny.

Through the splashes of color jumping from the connection point of the battling streams of magic, she watched Thorian's face widen with terror. His nostrils flared and his lips peeled back to reveal his teeth. Creases appeared across his dripping forehead. Cursing, he dropped his hands and flattened himself against the snow.

Makaela's magic zipped mere centimeters over his head before decimating a fountain from the tower. Stone flew into the air like confetti, the sound resembling a shot from a cannon.

While Thorian collected himself, she snuck a look at her friends. They were sprinting away, using the storm as cover. She exhaled while watching them go. With Thorian's full focus on her, they would be safe.

He was on his feet now. He pointed a long, skeletal-like finger at her. "You cannot save them." His voice was unrecognizable. A deep, monstrous bass boomed beneath his words, warping the sound. He spoke with the voice of the chaos god.

The dark lord's eyes went beyond Makaela. They were trained on Karin—more specifically the orb in her hand. Makaela reached out to him from the ground, but her body was tapped. She screamed desperately as he stomped past her. Blinking away tears, she called upon the Illumio for more power. She called upon the god in her soul for strength.

Neither obliged.

She let her head fall onto the snow.

After all her training, after all her sacrifices, she still wasn't strong enough. Just when she thought she had the upper hand, Thorian pulled another card from his deck. She was as powerful as she'd ever get. But he still was a level above her.

Ice dug into her cheeks, nearly numbing her burning face.

Ahead of her, Thorian stalked after Karin and Ismael. He held up his casting hand and squeezed. Tendrils of gooey, black magic erupted from the ground in a geyser-like fashion. They flailed, mirroring a Kraken's arms as they grabbed at the Vayan monks trying to flee. Ismael had summoned his vayrir, but his weapon did nothing to the shadow constructs. They simply rematerialized wherever cut. Karin sliced at them with focused bursts of air, but her attacks were futile.

Thorian wasn't stopping.

Nothing would stop him.

Makaela reached out to them, but even that act made her body jerk with pain. She screamed until her throat went hoarse. Blood leaked from the scratches on her hand. The cuts weren't healing. The red droplets stained the canvas of sparkling white beneath her.

The air around her vibrated again.

Overhead, peculiar bursts of blue and white ripped through the clouds. Sonic booms rumbled around her as they grew closer and bigger. As the last one formed, a massive creature—easily fifty feet long—zoomed out of the whole faster than Makaela's eyes could track. White wings with speckles of blue stretched on either side of its reptilian body. As it hurtled toward the earth, she spotted two figures sitting along its neck near its crescent-shaped head, their faces lowered to brace against the rushing wind.

Makaela craned her neck as it soared over her. It careened around Thorian before dropping its front paws into the snow, creating a deep trench in between itself and the dark lord. The dragon roared, revealing rows and rows of sharpened teeth. A low hum sounded as blue light flickered at the base of its throat.

Thorian stopped in his tracks.

The dragon's front rider—fully dressed in armor darker than the night itself—propped their head over the creature's own. Removing their helmet, they pointed an obsidian dagger at Thorian with their off-hand.

"Enough!" he shouted.

Sitting atop a dragon was Sebastian Tedorof. And behind him was Dorian Redfang.

Makaela cried tears of joy at the sight of them.

Thorian threw his head back in exasperation. Sighing, he summoned his vayrir.

Dorian slid off the dragon and shifted into his wolf form before hitting the snow. Sebastian dismounted their winged beast as well and stood beside the werewolf. The pair standing alongside each other was an interesting, and extremely confusing, sight—but a welcomed one, nonetheless.

If they made it out of the mountains alive, Makaela would have a lot of questions for them both.

But they all needed to survive first.

With her muscles burning and her chest moments away from caving in on itself, she climbed back to her feet. Thorian peered at her over his shoulder. He took another glance at the two boys in front of him. Rotating in a small circle, he nodded slowly.

The dark magician ran a hand through his wild hair. "This world will be swallowed by darkness," he said. "Starting with you three."