Bands of red light shone on Jace’s face. Warning lights blinked on and off, both on the dashboard and the overhead display. He didn’t know what any of them meant, so he chose to ignore it.

The starfighters drew closer, and a plasma blast struck the viewscreen. A network of cracks spread from the impact point, but it didn’t break.

“How do I get the shields back on?” Jace yelled, craning his neck back to face Kinfild. The Wielder still tossed starcoals into the furnace, and the engines still chugged.

Another blast struck the ship. Something fell off the wall; Jace heard a metallic clatter and sparking wires. Evasion, Jace, he thought to himself. Evasion! He tugged the control yoke to the right, and the ship followed his instructions with an abrupt lurch.

“Kinfild!” Jace yelled again. “Shields! How? The blue lever?”

“Correct!”

Jace reached over to the power shunting levers and flicked the blue switch. Again, the dropship lurched, and the force pushing him back in his seat lightened. Even if it meant a sacrifice in speed, they would have defenses again. Another plasma blast dissipated across the shields, right ahead of the viewscreen.

“The shields are almost depleted!” Kinfild warned. “Without refilling our shield-Aes, you will not have much longer!”

Like windshield wiper fluid, it could run out? Perfect.

Jace’s fingers tightened around the control yoke, as if somehow, that might help them escape. His hands were sweating, and he feared that he might lose his grip. “So...what happens if we enter hyperspace too close to a planet?”

“We risk overheating all of the ship’s systems with the extra effort it takes to break the grasp of gravity!” Kinfild called. “Hyperspace is very finicky, and one misstep could lead to—"

“Risk? How likely is it?”

“In our state, we will melt a major internal system!”

“We won’t last too much longer if we don’t!” Jace shouted, but before he could try to begin the process, a starfighter soared over again, startling him. His hand slipped to the side, taking the control yoke with it. The dropship rolled.

A loud clang shot through the dropship’s hull, and a jolt jostled Jace’s bones. He leaned forwards in the seat, glancing side-to-side.

During the roll, he must have clipped one of the fighters’ wings. All he saw was a trail of smoke spiraling down towards the surface. Debris formed a snaking tail behind it.

“And that was the last of our shields!” Kinfild snapped.

Jace wrenched the yoke the other way, righting the dropship, more warning lights began to flash. He raised a hand to block out the blinking lights.

If their shields were depleted, he didn’t need to divert power into them. He deactivated the blue lever, then yelled, “I don't care what happens, as long as we survive! If we don’t jump to hyperspace, we die for sure!”

“You’ll need to charge the jumpstart accumulator while I prepare the hyperdrive!” Kinfild shouted. “Don’t worry about plotting a course; we can fix that later!”

“How?”

“Do you see the large silver lever?” Kinfild yelled. “In the center of the dashboard!”

“Yes!”

“Turn the dial below it! All the way to the right!”

Jace traded the hand that was holding the control yoke, then reached for the dial. Before he could grab it, a starfighter raced overhead. This time, he swerved towards it, attempting to ram it as it spattered the top of their hull with plasmafire. He missed, and the dropship shook.

“Just turn the dial!” Kinfild yelled.

Jace gripped the knob of the dial and twisted. It was harder than he thought it should have been, and he had to put more of his weight into it. Once it shifted all the way to the right, it clicked into place. A faint whirring pulsed through the hull.

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“Good!” Kinfild yelled. “Now be ready to push the large silver lever forward! On my mark!”

The dropship passed through a black cloud. Coal-black droplets clung to the viewscreen. The only illumination was the searing magenta light of the starfighters’ plasmafire. Jace’s seat began to shake, and so did the deck beneath his feet. Something was going to fall off, he knew it.

“Evade them, Mr. Baldwin!” Kinfild yelled. “Unless you want to fall out of the sky! You have two minutes until we can jump!”

The dropship erupted from the black cloud. They had fallen behind the remaining two starfighters, but the two little ships quickly located it. They swerved back towards him, but Jace pushed forward on the control yoke, and the vessel dipped. The plasma blasts coursed overhead harmlessly.

The starfighters began to turn around. As soon as he passed the starfighters, he began swerving back and forth, smearing dropship’s smoky trail across the sky and catching them in the exhaust.

The flashes of plasma stopped. Jace tried leaning closer to the viewscreen, hoping to catch even a glimpse of them. He saw nothing, but faintly, he could hear the faint roar of their thrusters. It was higher-pitched than the dropship’s.

“One minute left!” Kinfild called.

As soon as Kinfild spoke, the plasmafire redoubled. The blasts seared past the viewscreen. Some struck the dropship’s stern. Smoke wafted through the small starship, and Jace coughed.

Just a little longer…

Jace gripped the control yoke so tight his knuckles turned white. Then, he wrenched it up and to the left. The dropship turned toward the planet’s sun. If he climbed toward a star, it would keep him out of the starfighters’ sights. He shielded his own eyes with his hand and squinted.

“Ten seconds!” Kinfild yelled. Had it been a minute already? The deck pulsed with energy, and a low-pitched hum slithered out from the engine room. “Three…!”

“Two…!”

Jace grabbed onto the large silver lever in the center of the dashboard.

“One…now!” Kinfild shouted. Jace slammed the lever forwards with all of his might. An outward tug pulled on every inch of his body. His vision constricted, and his hands felt suddenly lethargic.

The feeling passed. Light washed across the viewscreen, and a golden glare seared his eyes. They had escaped.

Once the dropship’s shuddering calmed down, Jace unbuckled his crash harness. He had planned to stand up, but his legs didn’t obey him. His hands still shook, and he didn’t know what to do, or what had happened. His mind spun. Adrenaline still ran through his limbs.

Silently, he forced himself to stand. He dragged himself back through the dropship and met Kinfild halfway down the central corridor. The Wielder said something, but Jace didn’t catch it.

After a moment, Kinfild pushed him aside and ran to the cockpit. Jace heard a couple chimes. A soft tone blared, then the starship’s shudders stopped completely. Kinfild gripped the control yoke and twisted it, then flipped a set of three switches on the dashboard. He seemed satisfied after that, and ran back to Jace. “I set our target. We will drop out of hyperspace right in front of the Wall. Then, once we get past the checkpoint, it’s straight back to Lyvarion.”

Jace let his shoulders drop. He staggered back across the deck towards the stern, where a set of bunks were inlaid into the wall—presumably for the crew. He sat down on one, and stared blankly at the opposite wall. He just needed…to take a rest. It was the best way to ignore everything.

Kinfild had followed him, but he said nothing—or, if he did speak, Jace didn’t register his voice.

Jace exhaled, then laid down on the bed and stared up at the roof. But, no matter how much he wanted sleep to come instantly, it didn’t. He began to cycle properly. It calmed him somewhat, but also made his nerves tingle in a new sort of way.

They left Lessa. They had no choice, but they’d still left her behind.

He pressed his eyes shut for a long while. He didn’t register falling asleep, but when had he ever? His mind slowly cleared. He couldn’t say he was at ease, because he wasn’t feeling anything—and that was alright with him.

When he opened his eyes, Kinfild hadn’t moved. “How are you holding together?” the Wielder asked.

Jace sat upright. “I’m fine,” he said. “I’m doing better.”

“Physically?”

“I don’t feel like I’m falling apart,” Jace said. Kinfild shut his eyes, and a chill washed down Jace’s spine. Jace asked, “Did you just…uh, what do you call it…scan my spirit?”

“I did.” Kinfild stood up and stepped back. “Your channels are not declining in effectiveness, that’s for certain. But your core cloud is starting to dissipate, which shouldn’t be happening. If you don’t get yourself to Foundation 2—the Pillar-Forming stage—soon, your core will fall apart. Without any spiritual grounding to hold you together, you’ll fade out of existence altogether.”

“This doesn’t happen to other worldjumpers, right?” Jace asked.

“I can’t say for certain,” said Kinfild. “But it has not happened in the past.”

“I was supposed to be a soldier, correct? But I’m not. I was a farmhand. Do you think the Split got it wrong?”

“Yes, you were supposed to be a soldier from your world,” Kinfild said. “All the other worldjumpers were. You’re not. I don’t know if the Split got it wrong, but your condition has nothing to do with that, and more to do with the hypercore.”

He let out a slow breath. “Kinfild, do you think one man can change an entire galaxy? That’s what worldjumpers are supposed to do, right? Be big, fancy heroes?”

“I don’t see why not.”

After a few seconds, the dropship began to shake and shudder more violently than he’d ever felt a starship shudder before. The deck was throbbing.

“We’re about to drop out of hyperspace,” Kinfild said. “Ready yourself.”