THE GROUND BEFORE ME is a maze.
A labyrinth of masks and earthly animations.
I sprint through the chaos, dodging blades, leaping over tree roots to make it through the gate.
More masked figures run out, confused, attempting to make sense of the insanity. Zélie’s animations break through the ground like rising mountains. They swarm like an infestation, a plague no one can escape.
It’s working. Despite myself, a smile comes as I sprint. It’s a whole new world of battle. A game of sênet more chaotic than anything I could’ve imagined.
All around me fighters go down, screaming as Zélie’s animations grab hold. Like cocoons, the earthly soldiers wrap themselves around the assailants, pinning the assailants to the ground.
For the first time, the sight of magic is thrilling. Not a curse, but a gift. A fighter lunges toward me and I don’t even have to reach for my blade; an animation crashes into him, knocking him out of my way.
As I leap over the fallen fighter, the earthly animation looks up. Though it has no visible eyes, I can sense its gaze. A chill runs through me as I near the gate.
“Ugh!”
The cry is distant, yet it seems to echo in my head.
The smell of the sea wavers.
I turn; an arrow’s pierced Zélie’s arm.
“Zélie!”
Another arrow flies, this time striking her side. The impact knocks her to the ground. New animations rise to take the arrows head-on.
“Go!” she shouts from down the field, finding me in the frenzy. She keeps one hand gripped on the sunstone as the other stanches the wound in her side.
My feet drag like cement, but I can’t ignore her instruction. The gate is only a few meters away. Our family and the scroll are still inside.
I push forward, making it through the gate and toward the camp. But before I can move on, a different sight gives me pause.
A divîner with a powerful frame races out the gate. Blood stains his hands and face. For some reason the sight makes me think of Tzain.
But most troubling of all is the smell of smoke and ash. It overpowers me as he runs past. I don’t understand why until I whip my head around and see the divîner’s hands begin to blaze.
A Burner …
The sight stops me in my tracks, reigniting a fear Father’s pounded into me my whole life. The type of maji that incinerated Father’s first family. The monsters who set him on his warpath.
An indomitable fire rages around the maji’s hands, billowing in shocking red clouds. Its flames shine bright against the night, crackling so loud it practically roars. As it floods my ears, the sound twists into screams. The futile pleas Father’s family must’ve made.
A new wave of arrows launches from the trees with the Burner’s arrival, forcing Zélie back. It’s too much to handle at once.
The sunstone slips from her grasp.
No!
The world shifts, time freezing as the forthcoming horror dawns. The Burner lunges for the orb. This must have been his plan all along.
Zélie stretches forward for the stone, pained face illuminated by the blaze in the Burner’s hands. But her reach falls short.
The Burner’s fingers barely graze the stone when his body erupts in flames.
The fire burns inside his chest, shooting from his throat, his hands, his feet.
Curse the skies.
It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
The blaze is all-consuming. The air incinerates to a scalding degree. The ground beneath the Burner’s feet smolders red. Just his presence melts the dirt around him like metal in a blacksmith’s forge.
My feet move before my mind catches up. I sprint through the mammoth trees and paralyzed masks in my way. I have no plan. No viable attack. But still, I run.
As I race to get there in time, the Burner holds his flaming hands in front of his face. Through the fire he almost looks confused, unsure of what to do.
But as his fists clench, darkness radiates from his stance. A new strength, a rediscovered truth. He has the power now.
And it’s a power he’s hungry to use.
“Zélie!” I scream.
He stalks toward her. A swarm of animations charge with a vengeance, but he breaks straight through them, unwavering as they splinter into burning rubble.
Zélie tries to rise from the ground and fight, but her wounds are too severe. As she falls back, the Burner raises his palm.
“No!”
I lunge, throwing myself between his hand and Zélie’s body. A surge of terror and adrenaline races through me as I face the Burner’s flames.
A comet of fire twists in his hand. Its heat bends the air.
My magic builds in my chest. Thrashing into my fingers. The image of my powers restraining Kaea’s mind returns. I raise my hands to fight—
“Stop!”
The Burner freezes.
Confusion rocks me as he turns to the voice’s source. A young girl makes her way across the camp, thin brows knit in concern.
The moonlight illuminates her face, glowing against the puff of white on top of her head. When she reaches us, she stares at the streak of white in my own hair.
“They’re one of us.”
The comet of fire in the Burner’s hands goes out.