“This way,” Relyn said as they stepped beneath a stone archway. The remains of the terminal’s concourse lay beyond. Rubble and shattered glass covered the floors, and hundreds of civilians had taken shelter there. Some waited on their feet, ready for battle. Others huddled in groups among the benches, or behind the counters of the food court. A few healers made their rounds, and Relia joined them without a word.

Akari followed Relyn into an empty corner, and the rest of her teammates followed. They’d all survived the previous battle, but how long would that last? One mistake on Thane’s Solidor’s part and this whole station would turn to dust.

A pair of televisions hung on a nearby wall, showing camera footage from the air. One focused on Thane as he exchanged blows with Storm’s Eye. Another showed the bay where another Mystic had joined the fight. This man moved in a blur, attacking the spirit with a storm of massive blades. His techniques flew around the field like a swarm of insects. That is, if insects were as big as cars. Other blades shot out from his hands, arching over the water’s surface, or cutting through the clouds.

“Who is that?” Akari whispered to Kalden.

“I don’t know.” Kalden squinted at the screen. “He looks like a blade artist, but I’ve never heard of a blade Mystic before.”

Kalden sat on the edge of a broken fountain, and Akari sank into the spot beside him. Rest was hard to come by on battlefields, and you had to take what you could get.

“You okay?” she asked. He obviously wasn’t, but the words still slipped out of her mouth.

“I will be,” Kalden said with a shrug. “Sozen and I were never close—even when we were kids. Still . . .”

“I get it.” Akari squeezed his arm and leaned her head against his shoulder. She still remembered the night she’d lost her mother in the Archipelago. She’d lost a piece of herself that day, too, and no words could mend the wound.

In a strange way, that actually made this easier. She’d always worried about unspoken social rules, and whether she’d said the right thing at the right time. This time, there was no ‘right’ thing to say.

“Yeah,” Kalden replied in a low voice. “I guess you do.”

Akari glanced up at the broken ceiling to where Thane fought on the roof. His body floated a dozen feet in the air as if he were pushing invisible mana toward his feet. Light faded around him, and the raindrops turned to ice against his jacket.

“How many aspects do they have?” Akari wondered aloud.

“None,” Kalden said as he watched the scene unfold. “They control the energy directly.”

More mana shot out from Thane’s hand, flying for miles toward the eastern horizon. The world flashed between the darkness of the storm and the blinding light of his techniques. He was like a hero from a movie, battling the worst of all monsters.

The others spread out on the nearby benches, and Kalden and Arturo retrieved some food and combat drinks from their bags. Relia joined after a while too, which was good. Akari had worried that she’d burn herself out trying to heal everyone.

Relyn stepped back through the front door a second later. At the same time, Thane jumped through the broken section of the glass roof. Wind shot out from his hands, and his jacket caught the wind as he floated into the concourse. He looked a bit older than his wife up close—perhaps late twenties or early thirties. His jacket hung open at the front, revealing a black dragon tattoo on his chest. It was the same symbol the cultists wore.

“Um”—Arturo glanced back at the undefended roof —“I’m not gonna tell you how to do your job, but isn’t that—”

“It’s fine.” Relyn shouldered her bow as she joined them. “We’re in a time bubble. That should buy us a few minutes.”

Akari perked up at that, and she turned to face the nearest window. Ten seconds ago, the world had been a blur of motion and chaos. Now, it looked more like a photograph as the raindrops and debris hung motionless in the air. Lightning struck in slow motion beyond the skyline, like pale ink dripping down a dark canvas.

She glanced around the concourse and realized the other people had frozen as well. Then she relaxed into her Silver Sight and found the borders of the Construct—just wide enough to fit her team, the Solidors, and the Masters who’d opened the portal.

Thane’s boots echoed against the stone floor as he paced. “The spirit’s even stronger than I thought.”

“Stronger than a Mystic?” Relyn asked.

“In terms of raw power, yes. I’d say it’s worth several of them.”

She considered that. “So the trap in Vaslana would have worked, true?”

“It might have, if someone hadn’t betrayed them.”

“What can we do?” she asked. “Can we save the city?”

Akari raised her eyebrows at that. Everyone spoke of the Aeons as if they were foreign conquerers who sought to overthrow this world’s current power structure. Some people even blamed them for Storm’s Eye’s attacks. Now, here they were, risking everything to defend these people.

“Its shield is too strong,” Thane said. “Some of our weapons might pierce it, but the odds are against us. Even if we survive the fight, we’d risk more civilian casualties.”

“So we hit it swift and hard,” Relyn said. “Force it to retreat.”

He nodded. “We’ll need Dawnfire for that.”

Dawnfire? One by one, Akari and her teammates turned toward Relia.

“He doesn’t mean me!” Relia held up her hands. “I took that name to spite my parents, but it’s an Aeon technique, like Moonfire.”

“It’s nothing like Moonfire,” Thane said with a slow shake of his head. “Do you even know what it does?”

Relia bit her lip. “Not really, no. I just heard my grandmother say it. Lyraina Trelian, I mean.”

“We know her.” Relyn pulled a green crystal arrow from her quiver and passed it to Thane.

Thane accepted the arrow and held it up for everyone to see. “Most Aeon techniques rely on the energy inside Etherite.” He tapped the arrowhead’s smooth surface, and a storm churned in the depths beneath. “Or Angelic mana, as you call it. Moonshard is a Construct, and Moonfire is a Cloak.”

Relyn focused on the arrow for a second, and the jade storm went suddenly dark.

“Each technique drains the crystal’s power,” Thane said. “but that power always recharges within a day. Just like an ordinary soul.”

Relyn released the power back into her arrow, and it glowed bright green once again.

“But Dawnfire is different,” Thane said. “It’s an Angelic Missile, and it uses the entire crystal as a fuel source. This amplifies the power beyond ordinary techniques. In the right hands, it can even break through a Mystic’s defenses.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Relia blinked. “You’re saying you can destroy Etherite? Permanently?”

“It’s all mana,” Thane said. “And all mana is energy. We can only alter its form.”

“But yes,” his wife cut in. “The change is permanent for our purposes.”

Akari let the rush of information wash over her. She still didn’t get why they’d paused the battle for a physics lesson, but she had an inkling. She just hoped to Talek she was wrong.

Thane met her eyes a second later, confirming her worst fear. “How much did you bring?”

Akari shared a look with Kalden, but he didn’t say anything, not even in her thoughts. They’d have to come clean eventually if they wanted the Solidors’ help. Even so . . . they couldn’t take this back.

“We won’t steal from you,” Relyn said in a softer voice. “You have our word.”

Akari believed her, and she wondered if Relyn was using a dream technique. Then again, did it matter? Aeons could sense Etherite. And for people like the Solidors, those senses might even extend to pocket dimensions.

“Three pieces,” Akari said.

Thane nodded. “I can work with that.”

“You’re saying you don’t have any Etherite of your own?” Kalden gestured toward Relyn’s quiver. “What about those arrows?”

“Those arrows are bound to her soul,” Thane said. “And possession matters in this field. Even with her help, I couldn’t break down an arrow in a single day.”

Akari drew in a shaky breath. “So you’re asking for ours.” Her head spun at the thought. It spun so fast, she could barely process the request and what it truly meant.

“It might be the only way to save this city,” Relyn said. “The spirit has already killed thousands today. We risk more lives if we draw out this fight. Every second matters.”

“What if we leave?” Kalden asked. “Storm’s Eye came for us, right? Will it follow us away from the city?”

“This was never about us,” Thane said. “This was about power. We already have three dead Mystics, including your prime minister. That opens a vacuum for the others to fill. Killing us would just be the garnish on the cake.”

He was right, of course. If the Sons of Talek wanted to kill Akari, she could think of a hundred easier ways. The same was probably true for the Solidors. But Storm’s Eye was already here, wrecking havoc in a city with millions of people. Running away meant leaving all those lives to chance.

Akari drew in another deep breath, and a cold shiver ran down her spine. She didn’t want to sound selfish with so much at stake, but this choice involved the Solidors as much as her. Better to put everything on the table. “Elend told me about the Aeon ritual. He said we have a small window.”

“It needs to happen during your next advancement,” Relyn confirmed. “Apprentices face permanent damage, and full Artisans have less adaptable bodies.”

“Right, and I’m almost an Artisan. Won’t we miss our chance if we use this?” She held her breath as soon as the words left her mouth, hoping against hope for some kind of reassurance. She could delay her advancement like Kalden had, but that wouldn’t work as a long-term plan. If you restricted your soul for too long, then it might get stuck that way for good.

Besides, how much longer could she survive as a mere Apprentice? The world grew more dangerous everyday, especially when she had Masters trying to kill her. Then there was the matter of finding more Etherite. The Solidors had Mystic-level powers and an entire cult at their disposal. For all that, they didn’t have a single spare shard to their names.

“We’ll find another way,” Relyn said. “We need a spacetime Mystic, that’s true. But the Aeon ritual was just one path to get you there.”

In other words, she might still become a Mystic someday. But was that enough to free the people trapped in the Archipelago? Was that enough to see her father again, and face her true enemy?

‘This is bigger than us,’ Kalden said in her mind. ‘Bigger than this city. We might sacrifice more lives in the long run if we give this up.’

‘You don’t really believe that,’ Akari thought back. She could feel the truth in Kalden’s heart, deep beneath his half-hearted objections. He’d just lost his brother today. After that, he couldn’t help but imagine the thousands more who would perish in this fight.

Akari returned her gaze to the nearest screen, and she caught a glimpse of the deep trenches that cut through the city. Each one was at least fifty feet deep, and half again as wide. Dozens of buildings had toppled into the water, and crowds of people swam to safety. And those were just the survivors. She’d tried to ignore the casualties before this moment, and all the homes that suffered the same fate as the Darklights’ house. She’d been focused on her team, and anything else was a distraction.

Now, she might hold the fate of millions in her hands.

A part of her rebelled against that idea. Who were the Solidors to force this choice on her? Akari wasn’t some martyr who gave into the cruel world’s demands. She was the rebel who hacked the system and squeezed it for all she could get.

But that was before. Before she’d hurt Emberlyn, and betrayed her family, and her sect. Before she’d realized the truth about herself. She wasn’t some action hero living in a movie. She was just one person, and Storm’s Eye could kill her with a thought.

This was a chance to make a difference. And if she couldn’t do that, then what was she fighting for?

“Shit,” Akari muttered under her breath.

Kalden met her eyes, then he cycled knowledge mana to his pouch. He knew the truth as well as she did: they only had one real option here. The three crystal cuffs appeared in his hand a second later, and he passed them to Thane without comment

“You did the right thing,” Relyn said. “Thank you.”

Akari sank back onto the fountain’s and forced out a weak smile. “Don’t suppose you can scare it off with just one piece?”

“I’ll do my best,” Thane said. His face told a different truth, however. One piece would barely break the creature’s shield—the shield that three Mystics had failed to scratch in their last, desperate moments.

Thane retrieved some equipment from his pocket dimension, and Relyn stepped closer to where Akari sat.

“I’ll tell you a secret,” she began slowly.

“What’s that?” Akari asked.

“I never would have done the ritual if you’d kept the Etherite.”

Akari let out a nervous laugh. “What? Did I fail some test of yours?” Her mind flashed back to last Hexember, and all the warnings Elend had given her.

“No, you passed. But we had our doubts about you from the start.” She shot Kalden a look. “Both of you. We’ve seen too many tyrants rise to power on our world, and most of them started like you two. Good intentions and grand ambitions.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Akari asked.

“It can be,” she replied. “Grand ambitions make us forget what it means to be human. What happens when you stop fighting for the people around you? It’s just some abstract victory, true? This is why your Mystics can be powerful mana artists but terrible rulers. They lost their way many years ago.”

Akari didn’t like it, but Relyn was probably right. In another life, she might have grown up to be like those Mystics. And yes, deep down, some dark part of her would gladly sacrifice a city in exchange for the Solidors’ power.

Talek. This was it, wasn’t it? The was the real moment Elend had prepared her for. He’d known the Solidors were concerned about her moral character. But he hadn’t told her that part of the plan. If he had, then she might have tried to fool them.

Elend had seen the path to victory, and he’d moved all the pieces to the right squares Unfortunately, he hadn’t accounted for Storm’s Eye.

“So what now?” Akari asked.

“This isn’t over,” Relyn said. “My husband and I still need your help to return home, and we can still help you advance.”

Akari nodded. Of course, nothing would compare to having the Aeon powers, but she kept that to herself. It was done, and complaining wouldn’t help things.

Relyn turned to the space artist at the edge of her time Construct. “Master Rosintar?”

“Lady Solidor?” The Cadrian man stepped forward and gave her a deep bow. Tall and broad-shouldered, he had a shaved head and a neatly groomed goatee.

“Take Zeller and her team to the nearest safe house,” Relyn said. “Don’t let them out of your sight.”

The Master bowed again and got to work on the portal. This safe house must hav been far from Koreldon City, because it took him several minutes.

“What about the spawn?” Zukan asked. He and the others had been quiet until now, and Akari almost forgot they were there.

“It will take weeks to clean those up, true?” As Relyn spoke, her husband began forming his own portal against the far wall. “They’ll be here when you get back, and the Sons of Talek should be long gone.” She turned back to Akari. “We’ll speak again soon.”

Akari nodded, and Relyn and Thane stepped through their portal.

No sooner had they left than Master Rosintar opened a second portal for Akari’s team. This one led to a small cabin in the middle of the woods. The trees swayed in the gentle breeze, and the sun shone overhead.

Rosintar stepped aside and gestured toward the opening. “Right this way, Miss Zeller.”

Akari let out a long breath and forced herself to her feet. A part of her agreed with Zukan; her team could make a difference on the ground. Then again, Valeria Antano held a personal grudge against Akari, and the dragon knew right where to find her. Staying here was nothing short of suicidal.

“Alright,” Akari said to her team. “Let’s go.” She stepped toward the portal, and the others’ footsteps echoed behind her.

Just then, a shockwave tore through the air. It felt like an AMP, but several times stronger. Rosintar’s portal broke into mist, and Akari and her teammates collapsed on the tile floor.

A volley of Missiles ripped through the air a second later. Akari couldn’t make out their aspects, but one thing was clear: these had come from another Master. Master-level Missiles carried a certain weight to them—a threat of impending doom.

She and her teammates remained frozen in place, but Rosintar moved in a blur, catching the attacks in his portals and hurling them straight back. Two figures appeared in the doorway—the same ones who’d been with Valeria at the Darklights’ estate.

“Go!” Rosintar shouted over his shoulder. “Get out of here!”

He opened a wide portal beneath Akari’s team, and the six of them fell through together, landing on a street outside the terminal.