Tham ran until he felt he couldn’t run anymore, until his legs felt like jelly, until his breathing hurt and his head swam. But he reached the opening in the rocky wall. It was clear of soldiers.

The now-open hallway, burrowing deep into the mountain, was barely lit by a few torches here and there, their fire firmly waving up and down in unison.

Metal doors lined up on both sides of the hallway, each containing a number. How on Athoren was he meant to find out which cell held Kayden? Catching his breath, standing on the threshold to the prison, the realization hit Tham that he was in deep. Sneaking into a high-security imperial site… A few months ago, Tham would’ve laughed at the thought.

He paused for a moment. He had to make sure that whatev–

“Oh?” a deep female voice from behind him said. “An intruder?”

Tham spun, eyes wide, to see a three-meter-tall armored woman crouching just outside the opening in the mountain, staring at him as if she was catching butterflies in a field.

Tham froze.

The vial. He remembered what the girl from earlier had told him. “Use it when you need it most.”

The giant woman watched him intently, as if studying him. Or… recognizing him.

“You,” she finally said. “You let my brother die.”

“...What?” Tham whispered.

He then remembered.

The giant man’s expression turned from annoyed laughter to fear as the weight and hardness of the stone pulled him down into the ground. He hit the floor hard, and was unable to stand back up.

“He died?” Tham asked, disturbed. And Kayden and him were recognized in the chaos?

“He couldn’t take the sudden release of power,” the woman said monotonously. “He didn’t make it. And neither will you.”

Tham broke into a sprint towards the depths of the mountain as the woman smashed through the remaining rocks covering the opening in the wall. He barely noticed the place getting darker as he ran for his life, not daring to look behind. But not even half a minute passed before the hallway in the rock opened up into a massive, deep chasm, split only by a stone bridge.

He skittered to a stop as the woman, wreaking through the hallway ceiling, came to a halt a few meters in front of him, oversized mace grabbed hard in her hands and bloodthirsty smile on her face.

Now what?!

“I can’t die here,” Tham whispered, terrified.

Just like with the beowolves, so long ago, back near his village. A tiny part wanted to believe that Kayden would come dashing out of some metal door and save him once more, but… he knew he couldn’t rely solely on others anymore.

He clutched the vial the girl had given him hard in his hand.

“Your father will be proud.”

Tham knew Kayden’s faraway words to be true.

“You shouldn’t be forced to grow up yet. But, truth is, your world has changed. And there are some truths grown-ups just need to face.”

There were some journeys grown-ups just needed to face.

“Your father was a Spacebender. A man who can bend space to his will. One of the two most powerful types of Lawbender. That means… you’re a Spacebender too.”

His time had finally come.

“I won’t die here,” Tham said, raising his voice in confidence. “I won’t die here! I’m really sorry about your brother, but you won’t take my life for his. You want to kill me so badly?”

He extended his arms to his sides, taunting her, forcing out a grin. “Come and get me.”

And then he stepped back, dropping himself onto the chasm.

He had no idea what he was doing. But he did it anyways.

The giant woman flew to the edge, furiously trying to catch him herself before he slammed against the bottom.

How deep was this anyway?

Tham grabbed the vial of power with both hands, gravity slapping him and pulling him down into the depths of Athoren.

This is for everyone who ever believed.

The giant woman, frustrated but determined, jumped down towards his falling body. Good.

What if–? No. Just do it.

Tham uncorked the vial, bringing it up to his mouth.

I choose to believe.

A current of compressed air shot straight into Tham’s lungs, filling his every vein.

And then, his eyes flashed white.

Now Spacebend.

– – –

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Kayden was desperate.

Had that distant voice been Tham? What was the earthquake smashing through outside? He couldn’t hold it any longer.

“Tham!” he shouted. “You okay?! Tham… over here! Here I am! Tham! Anyone!”

Small tears filled his eyes as he shouted his lungs out.

“Tham! Mimicker! Someone!”

I can’t take this anymore!

“Help!”

And then, footsteps. Inside the dark cell. Heavy, hard breathing.

“...Man, it’s dark in here,” Tham’s voice said.

“Tham?!” Kayden said, surprised. “What are you–? …I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Kayden, can you hear me?” Tham asked.

“We’re here, Kayden!” the Mimicker called out. “We’re here to save you.”

Kayden couldn’t see anything, except for… two eyes shining white, blinking and looking around in the darkness.

“...Tham?” he asked. “Is that you?”

The eyes turned toward him. “Yeah, yeah! There you are.”

“You can see me?” Kayden said. “What’s with your eyes? What’s going on?”

The eyes –Tham, probably wielding the Mimicker– approached him, and a few precise slashes later, his shackles split, and he dropped to the ground. He couldn’t see a thing in this darkness. Curiously enough, that meant the door hadn’t opened at all.

“Okay, hold on,” Tham said. “Grab the Mimicker. This is gonna be a little weird.”

Tham grabbed Kayden’s arm, and an instant later, they were standing on a torch-lit hallway, a faraway hole in a wall leading out into the dark night.

“I did it,” Tham, now in Kayden’s sight, said, his eyes still shining white. “I’m a Spacebender now. I beat a really tall woman, and now here we are.” He grinned. “Saving you.”

“...Whoa,” was all Kayden could say before Tham rushed towards him and hugged him tight.

“I missed you, man,” Tham said.

“Me too!” the Mimicker added.

“Yeah,” Kayden said, returning the embrace. “I missed you guys too. …I’ll need a lot of explanations, though.”

“Yep,” Tham nodded. “We’ve got some new friends, it seems. But, first… let’s get out of here. We probably haven’t got long.”

“You’re the boss,” Kayden said. “Where to?”

Tham rushed down the hallway as Kayden followed close behind.

Kayden could see Tham starting to wear down, the glow in his eyes fading. Whatever effect he had ingested, it was fading away. But Kayden knew the powers would stay. He smiled to himself. They always grew up so fast. He was so proud of Tham.

Kayden himself was exhausted too, lacking air, starving, and weakened. But he couldn’t stop now.

From the opening in the wall they emerged right on time to see what had to be a full legion of imperial soldiers waiting for them just outside, weapons at the ready, dark against the night. Lauren –the Everbender– was nowhere to be seen, but this was way too much nonetheless.

“...You said we had some new friends?” Kayden asked as they both stood on the threshold, petrified.

“..Yeah,” Tham said. “Merdilen should be somewhere around–”

A half-conscious blond man dressed in a black coat landed stumbling in front of them from somewhere above in the mountain. He made a thumbs-up gesture back towards them even as he struggled not to fall to his knees, looking over at the legion of soldiers.

“I’m…”

The rest was incomprehensible.

“Kayden, Merdilen. Merdilen, Kayden,” Tham introduced, trying to ease the fear.

“In the name of the Skyfall Empire of Athoren!” a soldier called out from among the ranks. “Timeless and company! Surrender and you will receive an honorable execution and burial!”

Kayden sighed, his mind racing. “Why can’t it ever be easy?”

They had to do something. But what?

The legion of soldiers all readied their weapons with thunder of a sound. “You have five seconds to–”

A female scream pierced the battlefield.

A loud, shrill scream, as high as the human voice could get. So loud, the ground started vibrating.

Most of the soldiers, the ones farther away from Kayden, Tham, the Mimicker, and Merdilen, covered their ears, letting go of their weapons.

“What on Gartaena…?” Merdilen whispered, still struggling to catch his footing.

“A marrmaid?” Kayden asked.

“No,” Tham said. “It’s her. Over there.”

Kayden looked over to where Tham was pointing. The tall watchtower seemed to have line of sight over half the camps, and atop it, he could see a dark dot against the night.

“You recognize that dot?” Kayden asked.

“Yeah,” Tham said. “I just know it. It’s the girl who gave me the vial that triggered my powers. It’s a distraction.”

“...Well,” Kayden said, “that’s great, but for what? I can’t think of anything.”

Merdilen was staring over to the left, to the east, to where the sun was starting to rise. “For that.”

A thundering roar crossed the world.

A deep and rough roar, loud and extended. A dragon’s roar.

“Holy moly,” Tham said.

“We know that guy,” Kayden added.

A massively-long red dragon. A wingless red dragon.

He was coming straight for them, smashing through houses and buildings, slamming soldiers into the rock and burning watchtowers to the ground with his fire.

“Dragon!” a sentry sounded the alarm. The soldiers clearly had no idea what to do.

From their high vantage point, the four of them could see the dragon making his way at a high speed through everything in his way. But he wouldn’t be able to get up to them –he was way too big to climb.

“We jump on three,” Kayden said to the others with determination. “It’s believe or die now.”

The dragon approached, the draconic roar intensifying as the female scream died out. It dashed straight towards below their position, faster than expected for a dragon his size.

“Okay, uh, three-two-one!” Kayden shouted in quick succession.

And then they jumped.

Arrows flew as they crossed the sky.

Kayden’s stomach lurched as they dropped on the dragon, but he grabbed onto whatever scales he could and wished for the best. Behind him, Tham and Merdilen had managed to hold on too, and the Mimicker was now sheathed on Kayden’s back.

Kayden had never felt such overwhelming speed as the dragon shot away. He couldn’t say a word, but he heard Tham shout.

“Turn left! We need to save her!”

“Too dangerous!” the dragon’s deep and resounding voice called back.

Kayden hesitated for a moment. But he trusted Tham.

“Do it!” Kayden said.

The dragon lurched to the left, towards a still-standing watchtower, where a dark-skinned girl with green eyes was standing on its highest platform, looking with fear but determination down at the climbing hordes of imperial soldiers.

“She’s too high up!” Merdilen said.

“Just go!” Tham exclaimed.

They approached the watchtower.

You can do it, Tham, Kayden thought, clutching the dragon’s scales hard.

And as the girl jumped from the top of the watchtower with her eyes shut tight in an utter leap of faith, Tham disappeared for a second. Reappearing a moment later with her in front of him in the dragon. The wingless dragon didn’t for a moment stop his run.

“You all good back there?” Kayden shouted.

“I think so!” Tham gasped.

“Let’s get out of here,” the dragon said, seemingly as much to the others as to himself. “...Skyguard.”