Eleven
I spend a few moments perched on a razor of black rock while the salty wind picks at my tattered skin. The deeper cuts still leak red down my arms and legs, but the sun bakes the blood dry almost immediately.
Marissa is a small lump curled against a boulder nearby, her head pressed into the crook of her arm, shielding her eyes from the glare. She looks dead, save for the shallow rise and fall of her chest. The wave seems to have ripped the life out of her.
I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired, not even after a day of drills. The adrenaline from outrunning the wave has faded, and now tremors work their way through me, starting in my feet and climbing into my stomach.
I try not to think about Callen leaving. It’s pointless. Survival makes cowards of us all. Perhaps he just needed a reason to break the bond between us. Still, the space he occupied feels barren.
My eyes hurt but I daren’t close them. I want to see when the next wave will come and if it will pass through here. If it does, we should be able to move to the other side of the barrier and get some rest. But if I fall asleep now, I might never wake, drowned in my sleep.
In the distance, the Mother Shard looms—a beacon, alive and counting our doom. The horizon is filled with rows of jagged rocks, the ocean sighing endlessly between them.
We must be halfway to the Mother Shard by now. Maybe less. Distance feels wrong here. The wave came too fast. Too precisely. And that crashing sound—it wasn’t thunder. It had to be another wave.
The wave shouldn’t even be possible, and yet something about it feels controlled. Like the Mother Shard is steering us towards something.
Marissa stirs in her sleep, moaning softly.
I want to shake her awake, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
I know from her huddled form that she’s as raw and sore as I am.
The wind howls over the rocks, tugging at her clothes, and I find myself wishing, absurdly, that the world would just stop for a moment. This place is too much.
I take a deep breath and force myself to think. I barely notice when the breeze calms to a low, restless whisper between the stones.
My head snaps up as small rocks skitter down the ridge.
My body tenses, and I scan the ridgeline, half expecting Callen to return for round two. Instead, I see a flash of dark green uniform and dark hair streaked with grey.
Rask, and just behind him, the stocky female Earthborn—Orla, I think.
They move together with a strange but brutal grace, picking their way across the rocky outcropping. They stop at the edge of the ledge, and the terrain beneath their feet begins to warp and shake.
Orla crouches and places her hands on the dark rock. Her eyes squeeze shut, and the surface of the stone ripples, softening into grey mush as a bridge forms out of nothing, connecting the ledge to another one out of view.
She stands, blood streaming slowly from one nostril, and nods to Rask. He grins, impressed, before stepping onto the new path.
They haven’t seen us yet.
I debate waking Marissa, but she startles awake on her own, sensing my unease. I raise a finger to my mouth in warning, but it’s too late.
Rask is staring directly at me, grinning like a hunter who has found wounded prey.
“Look who we have here,” he says, licking his lips.
“Run, Marissa!” I shout.
Marissa blinks the sleep from her eyes and hurtles to her feet, breaking into a run.
I hear Rask laughing behind as I grab Marissa’s hand and guide her through the rocks. I gesture towards a narrowing corridor of broken stones leading us deeper into this part of the island.
“Will you fit through there?” she asks, voice trembling with uncertainty.
Her uniform is torn at the thigh from her scramble to get moving. Blood soaks her leg, but she ignores it, limping slightly as I pull her along.
“I’ll be fine,” I pant.
I let go of her hand and urge her ahead of me. She slips through with no issue, and I squeeze in after her, shards biting into my palm as I shuffle through.
We weave our way through more corridors of stone, gasping for breath.
I can hear the thundering footsteps above us, echoing like a war drum. My heart hammers in my chest while I try to scout a way forward. If I get this wrong, we’re dead.
Up ahead, the stone rises sheer above us. But there, at the base of the wall, a series of narrow passageways cuts through. Most of them look too small to fit through, but there is one in the centre that could work.
“Aim for that middle hole,” I instruct Marissa.
“Are you sure?” she responds, wheezing. “I’m scared you won’t fit. Please don’t leave me.”
“Don’t worry,” I say. “We’re going to make it through together. Now go.”
She picks up her pace and throws herself through the gap, shredding more of her uniform as she goes. Now that I’m here, this gap is tiny, but it’s my only choice. I climb in headfirst, and I can hear Rask’s rough laughter from behind.
Panic flares. For all I know, he can crush me inside the stone.
I shove the thought away and keep crawling.
The hole constricts around me. I drag myself forward, slicing my palms on the sharp edges. Marissa is screaming at me to hurry.
I manage to get through, stumbling onto solid ground. I ball my hands into fists, gritting my teeth as blood drips from my palms and stains the rocks.
“Nice try!” Rask shouts, and I can see his hulking form through the hole.
The energy around me shifts as Rask channels his Mana into two enormous stone gauntlets. A wicked smile teases the corners of his mouth as he charges towards the opening.
I drag Marissa against my side and throw up a shield.
Golden light erupts from my hand.
I don't know how I do it. Only that protecting her feels as natural as breathing.
Huge shards of razor-sharp rock hurtle towards us and ricochet off my shield. My arm trembles with the impact, and I plant my feet as dust billows around us.
There’s no time to process the miracle. We have to keep moving.
“We need to go,” I say. “We can’t stop.”
Marissa nods, reluctantly releasing me, and we take off running.
I risk a glance over my shoulder. Rask is gaining, his hands bloody to the wrists. Orla follows close behind, her fingers twitching dangerously. The air seems to vibrate around her as she channels.
The terrain opens onto a narrow shelf suspended over a sea of broken rocks. At the far end, a cluster of rocky outcroppings rises towards higher ground.
“Don’t be scared,” I urge, but Marissa stumbles, falling to her knees and catching herself with splayed hands.
She cries out, more in frustration than pain, and forces herself upright again.
By the time we reach the midpoint of the walkway, Rask is almost on us. I spin, placing myself between him and Marissa. Mana burns hot in my chest, primed and restless, waiting to be released.
I throw up a loose, desperate bubble of golden light.
Rask slams into it, and a crack splits the air like a breaking branch.
He staggers backwards and nearly steps off the walkway, but a thin veneer of shining onyx forms beneath his foot. At the rear, Orla stands with one hand outstretched.
Saving him from the fall.
Rask grins. “There he is.”
He eyes the shimmering golden bubble between us, then glances back at Orla, who has joined him on the walkway.
“You want to break it or shall I?” he asks her.
She grins, lips peeling back to reveal yellowing, broken teeth. “I’m sure you can handle one Lightborn kid, Rask.”
Rask lowers his head and charges again, coating one shoulder in rough chunks of dark stone before slamming into the shield.
The force knocks the breath out of me, but the shield holds. Barely.
Behind him, Orla summons a boulder sharpened to a wicked point. It spins in the air, growing larger with every rotation.
“Marissa,” I yell. “Go. Now!”
She hesitates. I can see in her eyes that she wants to stand her ground and help me, but she knows she can’t. She sprints for the far end of the walkway, looking back only once.
I pour more of my Mana into the shield. Orla launches the spike at speed and I brace for impact. The shield buckles as the spike hits, dissolving into shining splinters. The spike also shatters, the broken pieces falling to the rocks below.
Rask seizes his opportunity and lunges for me again.
He stops—
“The wave is coming!” Orla barks.
I risk taking my eyes off them as I follow their gaze. She’s telling the truth.
This one is worse. Taller. Faster. The water isn’t even blue anymore. It’s black. And it’s moving with purpose, racing towards us.
“I’m not going out like Brannic!” Orla shouts, hightailing it back across the walkway.
Rask turns and runs after her, fixing me with a hateful sneer. Orla is already scrambling up a ridge at the far side. So Brannic was the first to fall.
I break off running before I even realise I’ve moved, chasing after Marissa. She stands at the edge, her eyes wide with panic, darting side to side, searching for the best route upwards. I seize her hand and pull her towards me, spinning her around.
“We don’t have time to go up," I say. "We need to find cover.”
I spin us around, searching for any space to hide in. I spot a lip of rock jutting out a few meters away and drag us towards it. It’s a small recess, just big enough for the two of us if we squeeze.
I yank her in with me, half carrying her, diving into the pocket as the sound of the wave draws closer.
“Look at me, Marissa,” I say, placing my hands firmly on either side of her face. “We need to work together. Do you think you can do that?”
“What do you mean?” she whimpers.
I take a deep breath. “We need to summon a shield to block off this hole from the wave.”
She shudders, looking like she’s about to burst into tears. The shadow outside our little cavern grows, and I know the wave is upon us.
“We’ll be fine,” I say. “You can do it. You just need to channel your Mana with mine. You saw what the Fireborn did with their flames when they attacked Kael, right?”
She nods, sniffling a little, before collecting herself.