Seirin woke from a troubled dream. Immediately, she threw off her sheets and paced about her room, hugging herself. Some unknown water spirit had tried to contact her. It felt important, urgent even. She had to find it.
Unfortunately, what should have been a simple Searching turned up nothing. She frowned. Maybe if she’d been home, where her power was strongest, instead of here at Hurricane Point. No, location shouldn’t make a difference. She could learn what she wanted here, and she would learn quickly.
Grabbing her robe from a nearby chair, she raced for the door. The Observatory would be her first stop, the perfect place from which to survey the world. If she could find the source of the message then…
Her hand had just touched the handle when a series of deafening explosions rocked the fortress. Casements rattled, and the floors shook. She struggled to stay on her feet, gripping the door to keep from falling. Her body went numb. Something terrible had happened.
Immediately, she launched herself at the windows. Pure green light exploded around her, glass burst and fell away like showers of stars. The Observatory tower loomed ahead, while in the distance a hellish glow painted the sky. She climbed. The seconds it took to reach the top seemed agonizingly long.
Her bare feet slapped against the diamond floor, and she let out a relieved sigh. Aeryk stood in front of the far windows, gazing northeast, his body rigid.
“Aeryk? Aeryk, are you all right?”
His answer cut across her like an arctic wind. “Vissyus. I think… Seirin, something’s wrong with him.”
She stiffened. “That’s ridiculous. Nothing’s wrong with him.”
Aeryk lifted his arm and pointed east. “Volcanoes are erupting. Hundreds of them… all over the world.”
“Impossible. Where’s the smoke – the ash?” It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be.
“He cleansed them.” Aeryk turned. His eyes were red, and the look he gave her held self-loathing. “You know what that means.”
The air in the Observatory grew cold. She backed away. “No. I don’t believe it. I won’t!”
A puff of air wrapped itself around her and gently carried her toward him. “See for yourself.”
Reluctantly, she forced her gaze into the world. The eruptions had quieted, and while Roarke and Botua had already started to repair the damage, she still saw the scars – mountains broken, forests burned, here and there new lands forming in the oceans.
“I sent Ventyre out to check on him after the first few eruptions. That was hours ago.”
“And?”
“He never came out.”
Seirin’s legs felt weak, her throat constricted.
“When Vissyus didn’t answer, Ventyre cast a Searching into the volcano. He has a second guardian – a water spirit.”
“Why would he…?”
Aeryk tightened his embrace. “His mind is gone, Seirin.”
Seirin’s eyes widened. The dream! The spirit called to her, tried to warn her. As if unlocked, she saw it again, this time more clearly – fire and ice, rage and innocence, twisted together and yet shattered into a hundred pieces. She couldn’t stand. This was her fault. All of it.
“What have we done?” she whispered.