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The Silver Sparrowhawk flew as if the entire universe was collapsing behind it. Spurred on by the Tamer, it flapped its mighty wings to reach the Black Amphitheater as quickly as possible.

Darjin observed the colossal black glass structure, its interior illuminated by countless lamps, casting hypnotic reflections on the Lake of Currents. The sight was both beautiful and eerie.

A short distance away, the Lethenium Dart approached. Moments later, a fleeting light illuminated its belly, like the cut of a blade. Seconds passed and the Lethenium Dart exploded.

The blast was so powerful that it engulfed the Amphitheater like a sea of flame.

And the immense crimson fire rose into the sky.

The raptor uttered a terrified scream and tried to stop its flight, bending its body and flapping its wings to reverse course, then swooped down and hurled itself in the direction of the summer residence on the shore. The heat of the flames and the shock wave of the explosion chased it like a bloodthirsty predator.

Darjin opened her eyes wide and put a hand to her chest.

Shadi.

The pain horrified her, the burning smell and the hellish heat prevented her from thinking clearly.

None of Laamar's blows had hurt her so deeply. Not even his hands around her throat compared to the sting when she felt what had happened.

She had failed.

She had lost the girl.

The Black Amphitheater rocked. The roar went through it like a wave, shaking it to the foundation and into the iron framework.

The glass shattered and exploded, letting the water around the first level flood everything.

Then came the wall of light and flame, the rain of free-falling glass shards from the levels above, those closest to the Dart.

Shadi was swept away.

The Lake of Currents flooded the Amphitheater with a force that nearly knocked her unconscious, sending her down, down, and down again.

Underwater, she witnessed the inferno of flames and molten Lethenium engulfing the magnificent structure. Fear and the certitude of death merged in her mind. Silently, she said goodbye to everyone as her lungs collapsed and the water enveloped her. She hoped that her parents could escape the nightmare and that Darjin would wake up in peace the next day, spared the spectacle of death.

The surface of the lake above her grew more and more ablaze with flames and destruction.

Was this the end of her? In a raging fire that did not even spare the water?

What about Zayr? What about his son?

Questions filled her mind, distracting her from the unbearable pain and drowning sensation that clouded and began to extinguish her thoughts one by one.

Then something fell into the water.

It was large, flat, shiny.

An Eye of the Ether.

It plummeted quickly, heading straight for her.

The fear of the pain she would feel, crushed by its enormous surface, shook her and gave her back a few moments of tenuous lucidity.

The Eyes can do much more than reflect distant images. The Sacred Artifacts of the gods read hearts. They recognize the worthy, they condemn the blasphemous. Remember these words and use them when all seems lost.

She saw the silhouette of the Sacred Artifact descend faster and faster, spinning until the reflective surface was in front of her face.

Shadi closed her eyes, now resigned to embrace death.

Then a strange calm came over her. The pain faded, replaced by a strange lightness. Her body, once a vessel of struggle, felt... weightless. It was as if she was being lifted, carried upward by an unseen force. The pressure on her chest eased, the water no longer a crushing weight.

Confusion. She was no longer in the icy embrace of the river. Her senses were flooded with a strange, otherworldly sensation. It was as if she were floating in a sea of silver mist, a shimmering, weightless expanse.

The terrible roar of the disaster, and the desperate beating of her heart, were replaced by a profound silence, broken only by the faint whisper of the wind.

Shadi opened her eyes, but the world was not the world she knew. It was a canvas of stark contrasts, a landscape painted in shades of ash and charcoal, a desolate monochrome. A city she didn't recognize lay in ruins, its skeletal structures stretching toward a blood-red moon that hung heavy in the sky. The air was thick with the smell of smoke and decay, a grim remembrance or cruel omen of the devastation that had befallen this place.

She stood on a hill overlooking the ruins, a silent observer of this scene of unimaginable destruction. The wind whispered through the shattered buildings, carrying a mournful, echoing lament. It was a grave song, a poem of fragile life and scorching of loss.

Her skin felt strangely cool, almost numb. A faint pain throbbed behind her eyes, like an echo of the struggle she had endured. She listened, but it was only the wind that answered a question she had no right to ask.

Was this a dream? A nightmare?

Fear mixed with a strange, awe-inspiring wonder. This place, this desolate beauty, held her prisoner, a silent, uncomprehending witness.

The ground shifted beneath their feet, the soft, yielding gray grass replaced by the unforgiving hardness of stone.

A road.

The path was carved into the earth, lined with dark, unyielding stone faces.

Their eyes, hollow sockets filled with the darkness of the abyss, followed her every step. Their mouths, twisted into sneering grimaces, spat out words of venom, their stone teeth gnashing with an unnatural hunger. Each syllable was a lash and each accusation a searing brand on her soul.

Shadi closed her eyes.

Hot tears burned her cheeks.

She felt them there before she opened her eyes again.

In the sea of hateful faces, she saw them.

Roben, his face distorted in a mask of betrayal, his eyes burning with a cold, accusing light.

Her mother, her features etched with a pain that mirrored her own, her lips moving in a silent, hateful, accusing whisper.

Her father, his face a mask of disappointment, his gaze heavy with the weight of her implied failures.

She ran, her legs screaming in protest against the unforgiving stone, her lungs burning again, now filled with a desperation that slowly turned to endless cold.

Her cries were lost in the vast emptiness. Her tears, bitter and poisoned, flowed freely, washing away the last vestiges of hope.

She stumbled, her feet finding no footing on the slippery, moss-covered stone. The ground gave way beneath her, revealing a chasm, a black abyss that swallowed the light, a void that promised oblivion. She stood at the edge, her mind a whirlwind of fear and despair.

Were they right? Was it all her fault? What terrible sin had she committed to deserve this?

Were the gods punishing her for being an instrument in the hands of a rebel?

A colossal pillar of obsidian rose from the heart of the abyss. Like a jagged monolith, it pointed up into the dark sky, defying the void itself. Atop this spire stood a figure. The being of immense stature was draped in a long, crimson cloak that billowed in the nonexistent wind; his face was obscured by a hooded cloak.

But even from this distance, Shadi could sense an aura of power emanating from it, a palpable force vibrating through the air. The creature held a long, gnarled staff in one hand, its tip glowing with an ethereal light that cast long, dancing shadows across the desolate landscape.

The giant surveyed the panorama, sweeping his gaze across the ruined city on the other side of the chasm, his silent scrutiny encompassing the vast, crimson line that snaked across the horizon. It was a line of fire. The burning scar that cut the world in half, leaving only death and eternal silence.

The moon, a spectral orb in the inky sky, cast a burning glow on the scene, bathing the giant in a hot light that seemed to amplify his otherworldly presence.

The air was thick with the smell of ash and despair, hanging heavy around her, choking her will to breathe, to live.

A shiver ran down her spine, warning her of the danger that lurked in this desolate place.

The mere presence of the giant made her unable to think clearly.

All that remained was the ability to perceive horror, defeat, the certainty of imminent annihilation.

The giant spoke, his gaze fixed on the ruined city. The sound did not reach her ears, but a voice echoed in her soul.

"Mortal," it boomed, its voice a low rumble that vibrated through the earth, "whence come you to trespass upon this hallowed ground?"

Shadi was shaken by the ancient words, which carried the weight of ages and reverberated through her very being. A sense of dread, primal and instinctive, coiled within her. She felt small, insignificant, a mere speck of dust in the face of this colossal being.

A god. Of ash and fire, of death and darkness.

"How dare you enter my domain, a place where only shadows dwell and memories linger?" The giant's voice, though harsh, held a hint of something else. Curiosity.

Then a pause. Silence stretched out, heavy and pregnant with meaning.

Was it acceptance? Understanding?

"My child," the giant spoke again, his voice softer now, tinged with recognition. "Keeper of memories, memories of Kenjir."

Shadi didn't understand. She couldn't accept being in this non-place, seeing what couldn't exist, hearing a voice without sound.

Why did he seem to despise her and at the same time take a morbid interest in her?

"You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be able to do this. But time conspires with fate. The road becomes more tortuous. I should squash you like a cockroach. I should, yes, I should. And yet."

The giant lifted the huge staff and then drove it into the rock with malice. The roar of the stone as it cracked was joined by the powerful shockwave.

Shadi screamed, her heart in her throat, and curled up, her arms around her head as a powerful wind hit her.

She could still hear the creature's voice, its creeping anger deep in her soul.

"Don't come back. Don't come back or I'll undo the impossibility that you are, the angry, mad splinter that you represent, girl."

The water was no longer crushing her chest. Shadi collapsed under her own weight and vomited, coughed and then vomited again.

She breathed.

She breathed heavily, feeling her lungs quiver with pain and anticipation, filling with air only to pull back from the strain.

Light clawed at her eyes, new, strong, hot.

Where was she?

There was something solid beneath her. She was crawling on it, no, sliding on it because of the patch of water around her.

Where was she?

She felt laughter.

It was clear, crystal clean.

It was cream and balsam and honey and spices and pepper. It was sweetness and pain and longing and endless joy. Was it a man's laughter?

She struggled to keep her eyes open, to sit up and clear her mind.

Alive, then.

It was more than she had dared to hope.

As her vision sharpened, giving her a distinct picture of her surroundings, Shadi turned around.

There was green everywhere, a bright, vivid green, like precious stones and blown glass. And this was definitely a bathroom.

Behind her was an Eye of the Ether that kept dripping.

The laughter repeated itself and she could finally make out where it was coming from and who it belonged to. He was immersed in a large bathtub, like a water god.

No, not a water god.

The Nurturer God.

The Lord of the Emerald City.

Shadi was in Napur.