The crowd was in front of next.
Fear blanketed them all. The captain, the others, and the one still lingering in the back—the man in charge.
“Healers.” This was a military settlent on a border. There would be so. There had to be.
No one moved.
I raised my hand, and shards of ice rose into the air, hovering with patient nace. “Move, or everyone dies.”
No one did.
Fwoosh.
One shard snapped forward and buried itself dead-center in the forehead of the mayor, general—whoever he was.
He was dead now. His title wasn’t important.
“NOW!”
“TRENT!” the captain shouted. “STAND!”
A man nad Trent lurched upright. He hadn’t been in our group, but the shout tore him out of his stupor at least. He stumbled toward , hands out, trembling so hard his fingers looked like they might break.
I grabbed his wrists and he yelped. I didn’t bother explaining and hauled him in, dashing to Elric’s side where Sia sat with one hand cupping his cheek.
I still didn’t see Bristle anywhere, but if I could get Elric back up… he could do it. I knew he could.
“Heal him,” I commanded.
Trent’s gaze flicked between and Elric again and again, panic strobing in his eyes. “I—There’s too much—”
My eyes narrowed, boring into him. “I’m not asking you to. Do it or die.”
He gulped, throat working like he was swallowing glass.
“There’s only one?” Sia asked, her voice trembling like a leaf in a hard wind.
I looked back at the crowd and spoke again, only loud enough so they could hear , but I kept my voice cold. “I will look through each orb. If anyone is hiding…” I took a deep breath. Principles didn’t matter to at this mont. “You won’t be the only one punished.”
Yet no one stood.
Trent, shaking, forced the words out. “Th—the others are in the front lines.”
His hands glowed with white energy, hovering over Elric.
“If Lyra had co instead of …” Sia said, the sentence thinning into nothing as tears gathered in her eyes.
I didn’t respond. I just watched Elric.
It wasn’t enough.
I could see it clearly.
His wounds wouldn’t close.
My gaze slid to Trent’s back, a desperate idea forming too fast to question. Back then, when I’d first t Thea, I’d felt her incredible power surge through . It was warm, and for an instant, before it retreated to its source—mine.
Her Internal Force had stimulated the awakening of my Nexus. Had lent it just enough energy to move.
My hand landed on Trent’s back.
“PLEASE!” he pleaded. “I’M—”
“Prepare yourself,” I said evenly. “You can do it after this.”
“Wha—hup.” He gasped as I poured everything.
Everything into him.
My Internal Force. Beast Force. Precursor Energy. And even the new heat running through —Animora.
His hands stopped glowing.
Now they shined, turning a white so bright I had to turn away.
“Wait,” Trent rasped, breath low. “St—sothing is wrong. Sto—Ah…”
My efforts doubled the instant the light dimd.
Because it had worked.
Elric’s body was no longer littered with clean lines of blood from his piercings. Many had sealed, but he was still unconscious.
It wasn’t good enough.
“Sia,” I called out.
She didn’t hesitate, placing her hand on mine.
I don’t know if he couldn’t stop, or if Trent kept going because he understood what the alternative was, but either way, he did as he was told.
His skin began to bubble. His body went rigid. Shudders sharpened into violent convulsions.
“Ughhhh…”
“EL!” Sia jerked her hand away at the groan.
And when I did, Trent collapsed, skin red like boiled lobster, heat blisters swelling across his body. I knew without checking what I’d done.
But I shoved it aside and moved to Elric, whose eyes were already fluttering.
He blinked several tis as I moved to his side, opposite Sia. His eyes found her first, but at my voice, he turned.
“Elric. Please. You need to get up. Now.”
I didn’t wait for an answer. I hauled him upright. It was obvious he wasn’t fully clear-headed, but once he adjusted, scanning and spotting Thea. He opened his mouth to speak, but at first only a croak ca out. He swallowed hard, forcing his throat to work, and then the words finally ford.
“Bristle. The dog.”
I looked at Sia. She pointed toward a building nearby. The wood was broken, bent inward like sothing had smashed through. I sprinted.
Just like the others, Bristle was cut into ribbons.
But he was breathing. The level of injury wasn’t as great as Thea or Elric, but not less than my own which were starting to bring a fuzziness to my head.
It didn’t take more than a mont before I was back with blood, fur, and warmth in my arms. But to my confusion, Sia was shaking her head, already protesting in panic. “Lyra told not to let you—El, not again!”
Elric pushed her away, motioning sharply for to set Bristle down beside Thea and the sli.
“Both of you too,” he said quietly, extending his hands, palms facing the injured. “Stand near them. There’s not a lot of ti.”
Sia looked to , sothing torn and desperate forming on her face. “You can’t—”
“SIA MOVE!” he shouted, the force of it making her flinch.
But she still didn’t move.
“Peter,” he said.
Only my na, but with that dim, hollow gaze, I understood exactly what he was asking.
With a wave of my hand, Sia slumped over, breath stolen away in an instant.
I caught her before she hit the ground, set her gently beside Thea, then sat myself down where Elric wanted .
He drew in a deep breath. But before he started, I asked the one question that mattered.
“You’re going to use that power again… Will you be okay?”
He smiled a small, lopsided smile. “It’ll be fine… Just get stronger.”
Before I could say anything else, his entire body erupted with light. Warmth rolled out from him and swallowed us all. I felt my body kick into overdrive, replacing what it had lost, knitting what had been torn open.
It only took a few breaths.
Then his skin began to wrinkle under the strain, folding in on.
And when the light faded, I moved on instinct, catching him as he sagged, holding him up.
It was worse than last ti. I’d joked before that he looked like a mummy, and even now that didn’t fit. No.
He was a ghost.
His breathing was thin, and his skin had gone pale and worn. Elric’s hair had turned white. His lips had lost every trace of pink. Older wasn’t the right word for it.
Weaker was the only thing that felt right.
Movent stirred behind .
Thea mumbled sothing, but didn’t rise.
None of them woke, but without even looking, I knew they were fine. I lifted Elric carefully and laid him beside Sia. “Fuck… I’m sorry, man.”
When I stood and turned, my eyes landed on Trent first before sweeping back to the others.
A deep breath in. Then out.
“For my people, there is nothing I wouldn’t do!” I pointed to the crater where the Starborn woman had been. “The Kingdom doesn’t care about you! If you die in battle, it will be a aningless death! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?!”
I pointed at Trent next. “YOU THINK THEY WILL AVENGE HIM?! YOU THINK THEY’LL HUNT DOWN BECAUSE OF WHAT I DID?!”
Another breath. “NO!!!”
I held the silence, letting my words sink into them and on my own chest. Then I lowered my voice, squeezing my eyes shut tight. “I will die for you. I will kill for you. I will teach you. Show you that you don’t have to fear them. Show you how to make them fear you.”
Slowly so of them began to rise. n and won who’d been thrown down by the battle before, pulling themselves upright.
“All you have to do is stand with . To follow. And to never betray.”
I didn’t know what the contracts could really do through blessings, but I didn’t care. I didn’t need them. People managed without chains like that in my world. All I needed was absolute loyalty. Whether it ca through power, respect, fear, or love didn’t matter, as long as it ended the sa.
“Stand with .”
One by one, they stood.
One by one, they walked over. So moved quickly, as if the choice had been made the mont I spoke. Others dragged their feet, stopping halfway, wrestling with themselves, then coming anyway. But all of them ca. All but one.
The last one who had stood too, didn’t.
He waited.
The captain’s eyes locked onto mine, steady as iron.
“You can co too,” I said. “Forget all this.”
He shook his head.
“Unlike the others, I’m close to my parents… and even then, I wouldn’t.” He paused, jaw tightening before he spoke again. “You are clearly special, but it clearly nearly cost you everything. I have seen the capital, young man… I saw the first prince. I stood in court as the head of State was…”
He didn’t finish.
And I didn’t weigh his warning. Not now.
“Help with them,” I told a couple of the others as I hooked my arms under Elric and started to lift and then… a familiar sound cut through the air.
I froze.
My head snapped toward the rip forming in space, my heart jolting into a hard sprint. I cursed my luck. Serith’s Stepping was far cleaner than this jagged tear, so it wouldn’t be her.
“Ahugh!”
But to my surprise, she was the one who ca flying out, spilling onto the ground in a hard tumble. Another figure passed through just after, landing with the sa uncontrolled impact, and Serith snapped her hand up, forcing the portal shut with a sharp, final gesture.
“Nova?” she called, not even looking around yet.
Nova stood, answering in a flat, feminine, chanical voice. “Thirty-percenet were destroyed, but the rest escaped.”
Serith dragged a hand through her hair, exhaling like she’d been holding her breath for hours. “Thank goodness. Sorry. Maybe we can build more…”
Nova’s gaze panned across the ruined scene and then found , a smile forming on her display.
“:)—Hello.”
My eyes widened. “Serith! Help—Elric, he… please, help.”
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