Akari glanced back at her teammates, hoping against hope that someone had an idea.

No such luck. The winds threatened to blow them off the mountain, and they had to cycle their mana at full force just to keep the cold at bay.

She tried to breathe, but the thin air offered no relief. Her chest tightened, and her heart raced even faster. The others didn’t look much better, either. Arturo let out several ragged coughs, and Relia curled up in a ball behind her. Only her condition could make her do that; it must have flared up at the worst possible time.

Zukan shielded them all with a flaming orange Construct, but he couldn’t move from that spot. Neither could Kalden or Elise.

For Talek’s sake. They were the best in their class, and they were losing to a storm.

Step one was to get down from here, and fast. That meant a portal. She glanced left and right, but her surroundings were a blur of darkness and raging mana. However, she spotted a short ridge nearby. If she reached that, she might see farther down the mountain.

Akari flared her Pure Cloak and forced herself to her feet. She stumbled forward, clutching the nearby rocks with her other hand. Rather, she tried to clutch the rocks, but her numb fingers refused to move.

Another dragon roared in the distance. The sound shook her bones, and her knees quivered even harder.

Two more steps, and she reached the stone ridge at the end of the plateau. From here, she had a clear view of the wasteland beyond. The mountains went on for miles, and shards of jagged rock dominated the scene. But where was the ice and snow? What sort of place was this? She had an inkling . . . but no, Elend couldn’t have sent them there. They were only Apprentices.

Akari cycled mana to her glasses, activating the light-bending Constructs. The lenses zoomed like a sniper rifle as she focused on a spot farther down. She stretched out a hand, and a red crosshair appeared in her vision. These glasses had been her Midwinter gift to herself. They were actually her favorite gift, but she’d never say that out loud.

She shot a spacetime Missile at her target, but the storm tore it apart. Damnit. She needed more power.

Akari dropped her Pure Cloak and focused entirely on her spacetime mana. The air stung twice as hard, and darkness closed in around her vision. Life mana flowed from the embracers around her calves, keeping her awake.

When she finally stretched out a hand, her fingertips were as black as the night sky.

Frostbite. Relia could heal that later, but only if they found shelter. She had to hurry.

The dragon roared again, and she glimpsed it on the horizon. It was pale white, and thin as a skeleton. For all that, she felt its power like a weight pressing on her soul. This was a Master-level mana beast.

The creature stretched out its massive wings as it flew toward them, gliding on the currents of the storm. Its body was as big as a manor, and its mouth looked wide enough to swallow them whole.

Focus.

Akari shot another spacetime Missile at the valley below. It wasn’t a perfect shot, but anything was better than here.

The dragon closed in, opening its massive jaws. Akari braced herself for another roar, but the sound didn’t come. Instead, it sucked in the air like a massive vacuum. Boulders flew off the mountain, straight into its mouth.

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Akari lost her footing a second later. Missiles caught her legs as her teammates tried to hold her back, but their mana broke like cobwebs against the dragon’s might.

Up became down as she spun through the air, and her vision was a whirlwind of stone and sky. She flew straight into the dragon’s open mouth, past its razor-sharp teeth, and over its tongue. Her body smacked into its uvula, which was easily as big as her.

The dragon snapped its head to the side, and the force of it sent her body whirling. Everything went dark as it snapped its jaws shut, and the scents of acid and metal stung her nostrils.

She barely had time to take in her surroundings before the muscles contracted around her. Akari tried to grab onto something, but the walls were hard and smooth as they forced her downward. The world grew darker as she fell, but no less cold.

Finally, she shot another spacetime Missile toward her feet. The tunnel forced her down like a pit of quicksand, and she fell feet-first through her own portal.

Down became up once again, and Akari emerged on the rocky basin where she’d formed her first half of the portal. She Cloaked her muscles against the cold, but that did nothing for her frostbite. Talek. She’d probably be dead by now if not for her Apprentice body. Still, she doubted she’d last another minute out here, even with her mana flowing at full force. Her fingers were almost completely frozen, and even her face felt as stiff as plastic.

It took her several seconds to reorient herself, but she activated her Silver Sight and found the dragon hovering right above her. Her teammates were still on the stone plateau, a quarter mile away.

Akari dropped her Cloak and switched back to spacetime mana, preparing to make another portal. The frostbite had eaten through her fingers, but she could still launch Missiles from her palms.

Up above, the dragon’s body glowed with silver light as it used its wind technique again. More boulders flew toward its open mouth, and Kalden flew with them.

Akari moved on pure instinct, launching a spacetime Missile straight toward Kalden. She formed the portal in midair, intercepting his body halfway between the plateau and the dragon’s mouth. Kalden emerged from the portal behind her, and his momentum carried him a dozen feet into the air.

The dragon stayed focused on her teammates, and Akari pushed on her third portal, moving it closer to her group.

Zukan leapt through the portal a second later, carrying Relia and Arturo over his shoulders. Elise stumbled behind him, looking like she might collapse as well.

The dragon flapped its wings up above, and the currents of icy air almost knocked her to the ground. It let out a roar of anger before it turned its attention downward.

Shit.

Akari closed both portals and gestured to Kalden’s belt pouch. She drew in a deep breath and forced out a single word: “Bomb.”

Kalden cycled knowledge mana to his pouch and held out a hand. Akari opened a portal in the same moment, connecting it to the other portal in the dragon’s throat. The alchemical bomb appeared in Kalden’s outstretched hand, as big as a mini-fridge. Kalden dropped it through the opening, and Akari sealed it shut.

The dragon prepared its wind technique, and Akari rounded on Elise. She tried to say “illusion,” but her mouth refused to form the syllables. Instead, she made a broad gesture with her frozen hands.

Elise must have understood, because bursts of dream mana shot out from her palms, encasing the group in a massive dome.

Kalden pressed a finger to his handheld device, detonating the bomb inside the dragon’s throat. Akari felt the blast deep in her chest, and the dragon thrashed its head in rage.

Talek. That bomb would have destroyed a building, but they hadn’t even wounded the thing. Not that she’d expected to hurt a Master-level mana beast. The whole thing was just a distraction.

Elise finished her Construct, making the whole group invisible. More Missiles flew out from her palms, then an illusion of their group ran farther down the mountain. The dragon let out another roar, flapping its wings in pursuit. Elise’s technique wouldn’t have fooled a real Master, but this creature didn’t seem self-aware, despite its raw power.

Akari let out a breath of relief as the dragon sucked up the illusions and flew away. Her legs gave out in the same moment, and her vision blurred.

“Akari!” Kalden reached out his arms and caught her before she hit the ground. “Hang on,” he said. “Just one more portal.” He rotated her head to face a nearby cave, less than a quarter mile away.

Right. Shelter first, then she could pass out.

Akari cycled spacetime mana and tried to raise her arm to shoot a Missile. Her arm didn’t budge—she couldn’t even feel it.

Kalden grabbed her hand and aimed it toward the distant cave. Unlike her, he’d been Cloaking his body this entire time, and he was far better off for it. The wind threatened to knock them both off their feet, but Zukan appeared behind them both, holding them steady.

Akari fired her Missile toward the cave, opening a portal at her feet. She and the others fell through, and the darkness finally closed in.