My hood had fallen from my head at some point. Whispers of my name skittered through the remaining practitioners. They clustered close to me, toward the middle of the circle I’d formed by pushing the Mages outward.
I erected my ether shield, wider than any one I’d used before. It stretched around us and protected us from the Mages, who stood on the outskirts. Their black eyes stared from expressionless faces, like dark pinpoints through the twinkling blue of my shield.
A sharp stab hit the back of my eyelids. It seemed to pull from behind me. I turned to find a Mage—a blond male—shoving his body into the white-blue hemisphere. I tensed and concentrated on holding the shield.
The other Mages joined his effort, shoving and pounding at it. I felt them as if they shoved and pounded directly at my skull. Their energies stabbed at me, like knives slicing into my skin. A scream tore at my eardrums. It took me several seconds before I realized it came from my own mouth.
My throat grew rawer with each passing second. I fell to my knees and fought against the impacts invading my head. I filled my vision with an image of the wall I’d erected, forcing the ether to obey me and stay in place.
I struggled to keep my eyes open, to stay conscious. Through the slits of my eyelids, I saw the practitioners around me stumbling. They clutched one another to stay upright. Their swords clattered to the ground as they fought for balance. The shaking inside my head wasn’t just inside my head.
The ground rumbled and cracked. A split raced from just in front of me to the north, extending under the shield. The blond Mage who’d started the attack on my shield slipped through the crack and disappeared into the earth. But the pounding continued.
My head spun, and I fought to focus. Too few of us remained inside. The Mages would decimate us if I let them. Gray clouds darkened the sky. Thunder rolled, vibrating in concert with the earth beneath my feet. Despite the darkness, the suns shone brighter, streaking the sky with reds and yellows. I felt them in my chest—the suns and the clouds, the thunder and the lightning, the vibration of the earth.
I cleared my mind, shoving the pain away. The clouds dispersed. The ground stilled.
A sharp stab hit me in the gut as a Mage swung a weapon at the shield. Lightning struck behind my back, out of my field of view, but I felt it anyway. More lightning. The ground trembled in rhythm with renewed thunder.
A practitioner to my left leapt over a crevice in the earth to avoid being drawn into its depths. Another wasn’t so lucky as lightning struck him. My nostrils stung with the stench of burnt flesh, and his corpse slumped to the ground.
I had to end this.
The ether wall shimmered like specks of twinkling lights in the growing darkness. I didn’t know how long I could hold it. Maybe forever. Maybe only another minute. But I needed it to fall on my terms.
The shield pulsed all around me. I exploded it outward toward the Mages. It broke into large sharp pieces that sliced them limb from limb. My own extremities burned as I felt their pain. Tears sprang to my eyes and rolled down my cheeks.
I sucked in a deep gasp. With the shield gone, a weight lifted from my chest. I feasted on the air like I’d almost drowned. The cool air screamed its way down my lungs. A welcome burn, like pins and needles washing away the numbness. I inhaled again.
Energy continued to hum through the air. It buzzed. But not all around me—just behind me. I felt inhuman movement tied to the energy. I whirled around. One more Mage stood there, still alive. Nude, with thick veins pulsing over his muscles. He approached with slow, even steps.
At ten feet away, my head still had to tilt upward to see his face. His large frame was capped with a mass of tangled sable hair hanging past his shoulders. Above a thick waist, a muscular chest jutted out. He looked as solid as a building. My eyes watered as I tracked the Mage, rather than letting them drift shut and sleep.
I struggled to rise to my feet and attack. But my disobedient limbs hung lifelessly. I tried again, willing ether energy into my body. My muscles screamed as I climbed to my feet and took a leaden step forward. Thunder vibrated the air, a stark contrast to the perfect, sunny sky that had existed just minutes before. Another flash of lightning shot through the sky and struck the ground nearby. The sound of the strike rang in my ears.
The Mage lifted a hand. I flinched, but my arms moved too slowly to block. So tired. So very tired. I squeezed my eyes shut and prepared for the final blow. I cringed at his touch, though it was soft against my skin at first.
When the Mage gripped my upper arm, my body felt light—like I might blow away into the swirling wind. Sona’s voice whispered in the back of my head to fight, but my limbs refused to obey. They twitched and then fell limp again.
The Mage’s touch ripped my breath from me. My chest burned with a fire I couldn’t see. Everything I’d felt a moment ago—the thunder and lightning, the practitioners screaming and running in all directions—it all became muted. My sensitivity to the world bled from me, from my skin into the Mage’s.
I tried to call ether to my hands, but I couldn’t sense it anywhere.
The Mage’s skin glowed a reddish tint. It was the first time I’d ever seen a Mage smile. His lips stretched wide to reveal sharp teeth. Black eyes that I wouldn’t have thought capable of joy danced with happiness. Laughter shook his thick chest. The vibration of it moved down his body and into the ground.
The ground rumbled more forcefully. I stumbled, but the Mage held me upright, dangling me by my arm. Weakly, I yanked away from him, but he held tight.
So this is death.
My brother’s voice sang to me sweetly. My eyes fluttered, begging to close for a final time.
The world fell apart. The sky burned a fiery red even through the dark clouds. No bits of blue shone through the angry red and gray. Cracks splintered across the ground every few yards. Fire burst upward from the cracks, and water pounded down from the sky. Any minute, lightning would strike me, or fire would engulf me, or water would fill my lungs.
My head sagged to my chest.
A glint of silver caught my attention in my peripheral vision. Beautiful. My lips tugged into a smile.
A metal blade swung toward me, ringing as it cut through the air. Blood sprayed on my face. It stung my eyes and filled my mouth. Through the red drops in my vision, I watched the sable-haired head as it was severed from the Mage’s shoulders and tumbled to the ground.
Without the Mage to support me, my body dropped. Cool hands gripped my arm and swooped up my legs. My nose filled with the familiar, comforting sweet scent of metal. I nuzzled into a lean chest.
“Loken,” I mumbled.
“I’ve got you,” he said.