“But you don’t really knowme. I can help them—”
“I know what you are capable of,” he cut in. “You could restore life to all those who perished, but they will not live to see tomorrow. You know this. You saw what happens if the balance is so gravely disrupted.”
I had.
Gods, Ihadseen this in my dreams.
“You cannot help them,” he said, his voice thick with sadness.
Eather throbbed, and I clenched my fists. “I can—”
The ground started to shake violently again, sending me staggering to the side. I turned back to the river just as the bank collapsed.
“It’s too late,” he repeated, his voice somehow louder than the chaos. “And you shouldn’t be here.”
My hands fisted tightly at my sides as I registered the sound of…were those sirens? They were different than what I was familiar with. This sound was jarring and relentless, a piercing, high-pitched wail that cut through the air. Another unfamiliar noise drew my gaze to the sky. It was a constant roar, similar to the beating of a draken’s wings but faster and stronger.
Above, a strange, fast-moving object with spinning…blades created a dizzying blur against the sky as it flew over the river. It was no beast, but other than that, I had no idea what it was.
I stared wide-eyed. “What the…?”
Another joined the oblong-shaped thing in the sky as the rumbling in the ground intensified, making it difficult for me to stand still.
The last of the water spilled down a massive, ragged opening in the riverbed. Deep and wide rifts opened in the wet soil, spreading rapidly toward the banks.
A voice boomed from the object in the sky, shouting instructions to those on the bridge. People rushed from the metal boxes and raced in both directions as ruptures in thepillars appeared, sending stone and thick plumes of dust into the air. Metal creaking, the bridge swayed. The first web-like cable snapped with a crack as loud as thunder, whipping through the air with a reverberating twang.
I shot forward, summoning the essence as another cable popped. And another. The rifts in the pillars split wider, and the entire bridge seemed to rise and then buckle.
“Stop.”
One word.
That was all it took.
Every muscle in my body locked up. I was frozen with one leg half-bent in mid-step. My will collapsed, and the essence recoiled like the cable slicing through the air.
“There is nothing you can do for them,” he said.
My lips wouldn’t even move, nor would my tongue curl around the words building in my throat.
“This entire city and everyone in it will be gone by the time the sun sets.”
No.
I didn’t care what he said or what I saw while in stasis. I refused to believe there was nothing I could do. There had to be something. Why else had I been drawn here?
Concentrating on the essence, I felt it press against my skin. The air crackled and hissed, but I couldn’t summon it forward. It was like my connection to it had been severed.
My gods. He hadthatkind of power?
Panic crept through me as sweat broke out on my forehead. I was utterly helpless. Anything could happen, and I wouldn’t be able to stop it or defend myself. And no one was here to help me. Casteel was back home, in our realm, and—
“There is no reason to fear me,” he said. I would’ve laughed had I been able to make the sound.
His words weren’t at all reassuring.
As I could do nothing but wait for the inevitable pain and terror to reach me, my gaze rose to the sweeping structures east of the bridge.
