Relia braced herself as the dragon closed in. Icy flames shot out from its mouth, leaving a deep trench in the barren earth. Even from half a mile away, Relia felt the weight of its power.

Her group had their backs to a steep cliff that overlooked the Inner Sea. Waves crashed on the shore below, and the winds blew as fierce as ever, threatening to pull them off their feet.

“Give me some mana,” Akari said. “I’ll make a portal.”

“I’m out,” Kalden shouted back

“I left my pack in the canyon,” Arturo said.

“We need to jump,” Kalden said as he approached the cliff.

“We’ll die, shoko!”

“We’ll die if we stay here.”

Elise said something about a distraction, but Relia wasn’t listening. She felt inside her parka and clasped her fingers around the Etherite pendant that hung around her neck. She hadn’t removed this once—not since her first meeting with Lena.

Progress had been slow since that day. She felt the pendant in her mind’s eye, but that was only the first step. Somehow, she had to move it with her thoughts and create a second soul. Such a thing seemed far beyond her, even farther than the Artisan realm. But there was only one technique that might stop a Master’s fire. Such a technique might be within her reach, but only if she became an Aeon.

Elise shot dream mana to their right as the dragon swooped down. The technique showed a perfect copy of their group, running with inhuman speed down the coast.

The dragon altered its course at the last second, turning toward the illusion. The pale fire missed them by several paces, driving a deep trench through the earth. Chunks of stone flew off the cliff, while other fragments shot up into the sky.

Kalden and Zukan raised protective shields around the group, knocking the debris aside.

For the second time that day, Relia dared to hope that would be enough.

Arturo pointed a finger toward the north. “He’s coming back.”

Relia followed his gaze and saw another flame forming in the dragon’s mouth.

Elise prepared another technique, but Kalden and Akari looked ready to jump off the cliff.

“Stay with me,” Relia told them. “I can do this.”

She didn’t know if she believed her own words. She didn’t know whether any of this was real, or if Elend was watching them from afar. Regardless, her life was in danger, and there was only one path forward. She had to advance, right here and right now.

Relia reached out with her mental senses, feeling her pendant with strands of invisible mana. By now, she’d done this exercise thousands of times—practically every waking hour between now and that first lesson with Lena. Before, the power had always felt beyond her reach, like the warmth of the sun above the clouds. But warmth had eluded them all in this frozen wasteland, and they’d survived their sheer force of will.

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She pulled harder on the pendant, grasping it like a raft at sea. The dragon drew closer, and Elise formed another illusion. Relia didn’t wait to see the results, or the aftermath. The others had their job, and she had hers. She closed her eyes, and the crystal pendant became the world. She stopped cycling her mana, and let go of her own body, giving the pendant every ounce of her focus. Threads of mana closed around it, and she pulled the crystal into her chest. It happened naturally, like opening her eyes or taking a breath. As if some part of her had always known this technique.

Indescribable pain surged through her, even worse than the pain of her condition. Relia screamed at the sense of wrongness inside her, like a bouquet of burning knives, twisting and expanding in a raging machine.

Her instincts told her to release the crystal—to end the pain. But Lena’s lessons had prepared her for this. Before that, her condition had hardened her body, mind, and resolve. She might have an Aeon bloodline, but she’d been born a Mana Artist. To combine these powers was to fight nature itself.

The crystal broke muscle and bone. Her heart stopped beating, and she couldn’t breathe. Her legs gave out beneath her, but her teammates’ hands stopped her from collapsing.

All the while, Relia cycled her life mana. She cycled harder than ever before, healing the damage done by her crystal soul. And as she cycled, a second wave of pain shot through her channels. A familiar pain, but one she hadn’t felt in several years.

Advancement.

Clearly, she’d been far closer to Artisan than she’d thought.

Her mana flowed even faster, filling every cell in her body, rebuilding them anew. Her own legs supported her body once again, and the pain in her chest receded to a dull ache.

Relia opened her eyes and stepped forward without the support of her teammates. The dragon approached on the horizon once again. She didn’t know how long the others had held him off. It could have been five seconds or five minutes.

It didn’t matter now. The rest was up to her.

Her surroundings felt clearer than before, as if her Aeon soul had heightened all her senses. She felt all the world’s natural energy around her. Not just mana, but the roar of the wind, the breath of her teammates, and the crashing of the waves below.

Finally, she felt her new soul, like a churning storm inside her chest. This power was clearer, too. It felt like mana, but without the channels. Still, it responded to her mental commands as she stretched out her arms and formed a Construct technique.

The dome of Moonshard formed around her group like a wall of crystal light. Apparently, this technique could stop almost anything. Sozen Trengsen had used it to fight Dansin Roth after the qualifying rounds. Not just defending himself, but taking the Master’s hand.

Relia hadn’t witnessed that fight, but she’d seen Lyraina use this power against Grandmasters. Such a thing should have been beyond her, but her grandmother had prepared her for this moment, long before she’d ever learned the truth of her bloodline.

Her ancestors had discovered Moonshard thousands of years ago, and they’d left pieces of that knowledge in Lyraina’s pendant. The same pendant Relia had used during her aspecting ritual. Now, that knowledge flowed out from her soul—a map to guide her actions.

The dragon reached them with its torrent of pale white flame. Elise must have run out of mana because it struck them head-on.

The fire broke against Relia’s shield like a river against a stone wall. The flames engulfed them, bathing the world in blinding white light. Relia’s hands shook as she felt the impact against her shield. Her other hand clutched one of Kalden’s blades, holding her body in place.

Even then, the impact threatened to knock them into the sea below. As an Apprentice, she never could have taken a hit like this. But Relia Cloaked every muscle in her body with Artisan mana, holding her ground.

The dragon roared as it passed over her group. Relia spun to face it, ready to form a second shield of Moonshard.

This time, the dragon retreated back toward the mountains. Had it used up all its mana? No. More likely, it saw the power of her technique, and it feared what it didn’t understand.

Several more heartbeats passed as the creature vanished on the southern horizon. Finally, Relia sank to her knees, and tears of joy clouded her vision.