I pick up the two long-bladed daggers Ten chose for me and add them to the sheaths at my thighs. I can use my magic. Protect them all.
“Incoming!” Calix shouts as he reaches the edge of the training circle where we’ve gathered.
“Kyra, you shouldn’t be here. You should be?—”
“Safe? Not sure where that is anymore, Ever,” she interrupts me. “The Court’s in disarray. Just like before, only worse. People are doubting the Warriors after what happened last time the alarm sounded and are standing up to their authority.”
“It’s starting.” I look at Ten, then at my friends. “All of you. Inside. I’ll keep you safe.”
“No. We stand with you, Ever. Not behind you as a shield,” Raiden answers.
“It’s a pretty fucking good shield,” Calix adds, looking directly at Kyra.
She just shakes her head and picks up a sword herself.
“Well, we’ll find out just how good.”
Calix and Ten take point, me between them, and Kalan to my left.
Lyle, Raiden, Capella, and Kyra spread out.
Ascella’s the first to reach us, using her speed to her advantage. The Warriors she brought along flank her on both sides, with Ravi and Azur in the mix.
“You don’t have to do this, Ascella. We’re not here to fight you.”
“Lay down your weapons. Aten Ciro, you are banished and will be taken into custody. As will your… friends, for conspiring with you, the prisoner, and another banished Kirrian.” The spokesperson nods past me to Lyle.
“That’s not going to happen.” Calix draws his sword, and he and Ten shift their stance together.
“Awfully confident for a couple of trainees. You think you can overthrow us?” The Warrior chuckles.
“Yes.” They both answer in unison, and despite the situation, I smile.
The Warriors are the first to move, surging forward in two groups and Ten and Calix waste no time in challenging them. For a few seconds, I simply watch as they clash blades, and then, I pull on my magic, on the barrier that I need to weave together and protect them all with.
I picture the golden threads, and the air around us grows thick with energy, the hum settling like a cloak.
The next swing of the blade from one of the attackers does nothing. Sliding off, just like with Ascella. She grunts, her frustration turning to anger as she realises we’re protected.
Until a deep rumble of thunder sounds over our heads.
The light in the sky becomes a watery yellow as the dimming sun is stripped away, and the sky is suddenly cleaved in two by a black void.
I recognise it at once.
The Usher is here.
He did this to me once before. When I took Selina’s power, he used his warped magic to neutralise me, and he did it to Fenix, and he’s here.
The black scar above us grows, and the noise of people running, scared and confused, reaches us even here.
I wait for the same sensation to run over me, but here, in Kirrasia, it’s Aslendrix’s power that feels like it’s draining out of me, running away, as if the stream of energy is coursing in the opposite direction.
As the Goddess’s power dissipates, what was granted to me by Novandia, when the Usher offered me up, answers, as if now unchecked by her balance of power.
I am not without magic. Just without balance.
And that terrifies me.
