Ten.
I see the Opal Falls, the Great Hall, and, looking up at the stars, a myriad of small, tiny fragments of our time together scatter in my eyes, the memories I cherish arising in the dark. It’s how our visions start, but this is like looking at chips of a looking glass of our time together, all through Ten’s eyes.
I piece them together until they form the picture of me that he sees. Someone strong and capable. Someone he trusts and loves. And I use that vision as my own shield against the destructive nature of the darkness I’m trapped in.
All the magic that I’ve ever been gifted has been malleable. I can bend it, sometimes even without conscious thought. It wants to be used. It will obey. This ancient power is the same as the magic that sits in the well at the centre of my chest. It’s the same. It can be wielded and forged into something that I don’t need to be afraid of.
I hold the memory of Ten’s eyes, my comfort, in my mind as I ask the power to mix with the magic at my centre. It feels conflicted, looking for the catch, as if after so long being trapped, it’s suspicious of what might happen.
My hands ball into fists as I fight my emotions and the urge to force it. But, despite everything in my past, the Maker’s words ring in my mind. Now, with everything on the line, is not the time to be rash.
Gently. Quietly. I absorb the power, allowing the well to fill over and spill within my chest. I wrestle to channel it and use myown memories, my own armour to protect myself from the raw darkness within. It’s pure. And once I feel the strain of the well—the pressure on the edge of the walls, as if they might crack at any moment—I aim.
I become the light. Not hot and rash and blazing like last time, but cool and calm, like crystal.
Like starlight.
And I focus all of it on Novandia, his heat and the burning furnace that he brings. But he is no match for the blast of previously dormant energy that is now coursing through me. This was the plan the Usher had all along: to forge his own power and use it for destruction.
Novandia is hiding in the darkness, trapped and desperate to get out, but my strength can hold him back. Contain him, just as Aslendrix must have done with her curse, all those many years ago.
The Usher wanted him to be free, to be on a level playing field with Aslendrix, but I won’t let that happen. The power slides through me smoother than flowing water. It has its own pulse, beating loudly, rising, stirring within, as if it recognises the shift in my resolve, and is moving to overwhelm me in a different way. It grows bigger, expanding until I fear what will happen. I know I won’t be able to contain it any longer. And, in a violent crack of power that vibrates the air around us, I am surrounded by nothing, travelling through the dark. I am the very space between us, but I cannot reach Novandia. He is shielded. Cut off. Trapped. Closed off within Aslendrix’s curse.
As I reach for the control, wanting to ensure he never has the potential to gain his power again, the air shakes, and my stomach falters as I jolt at the sensation of the ground against my knees. I’m back at the Transference stone with Ten holding me.
I push away from his touch and scramble away, not wanting him to be harmed by what is inside me, as I focus on finishing my task to banish Novandia. I climb onto the stone. We aren’t veiled in darkness now. The column of light from me, channelling through me, has pushed Novandia back. All the threads of power, all the colours, connecting Aslendrix to the Naturals, the Elementals and the realm of Kirrasia, dance and weave around me, as if suddenly they are there for me to see. It’s beautiful, a tapestry of colour and shine, hidden from all eyes. But I can see. AndSheis there, woven within us all.
As I raise my eyes to the sky, the stars and the night close in around the tear in the sky the Usher brought. The sun, its watery glow receding as my power pushes it back. And the complicated lock of magic, the overlayered threads, binding Novandia in his curse, shine like spun gold for me to see.
Whatever was inside of me, whatever I took from the stone, I bind around those locks, tightening every hold and gap, wrapping the magic and power, willing it to encase and hold, so they can’t ever break.
The relief in my chest is enormous, bringing me to my knees as the energy within me balances. I’m not drowning anymore. I’m not frightened. I have locked Novandia away, but the power from the stone still wrestles with me.
And I smile.
“Nooooo!” The screech rips the quiet from around us, and I crash back to the scene here and now.
The Usher wails to the side of the stone, cradling his arm in his other. The cloak he is always shrouded in is caked and dripping with scarlet blood. “You stupid girl. You could have had it all. You could have ruled over everything,” he rants. “What have you done? What have you done?”
He half-falls, half-jumps from the stone, and that’s when I see him.
Kalan.
His body lies still against the snow, a scorch mark over his chest.
“No. No! What happened?” I look around and see Ten coming for me and spot Calix with Kyra and Lyle a few yards away. “What happened?” I cry.
I see the blood covering Kalan’s sword, and look back at the Usher, who’s scampering off.
My power lashes out, and I wrap my magic into a claw, sending a stream of dark ropes of shadow after him. They seek him out and wrap around his body, pulling him to the ground, but it’s not enough. My anger only expands, and the heat and fury I fought so hard against only moments ago now flows from my centre. There’s no calm or control to this. It’s violent and angry, and it smothers the Usher until I stand over him. His bloody stump of an arm tells me what happened. He looks at me with anger written over his aged face, his skin drawn and hallowed at the eyes and cheeks.
“I thought your brother was the strong one,” he croaks.
“He is strong. But you underestimated me. I thought it was my brother I needed to fear, but it was you. I won’t make that mistake again.”
Kalan saved me. He risked everything for years and finally paid the ultimate price with the rest of his life.
The darkness builds inside of me, riled by my own thoughts until I can’t keep it contained any longer. I clench my hands and howl at the sky as the energy within me snaps the Usher’s neck.
