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T he bell's deep toll is persistent and impatient. I give myself one last look in the mirror while Raith checks the edge of his sword with a calloused thumb. Satisfied, he sheathes it with a click.

The door to my room bursts open. Two upper-year legacies stride in, their expressions cold and impassive.

"Time to go," the tallest says, his air elemental—an eagle twice the size of Ambrose's water hawk—hovering above his shoulder. "With us."

Raith moves instinctively, positioning himself in front of me. "She's not going anywhere with you."

"You'll both follow us, or you'll both be disqualified before the Crucible even starts." His eyes narrow. "Your choice."

"What's happening?" I ask, grabbing my rapier and strapping it to my hip.

"We're going to the courtyard. That's all you need to know," the other legacy says, this one a water affinity with a serpent elemental—similar to Serena's but somehow more refined, more controlled.

Raith and I exchange glances. I feel his suspicion, his anger, and beneath it all, a cold determination that matches my own.

My mind is a war of emotions. Fear for the coming Crucible, but there's also hurt. I understand his reasons for keeping secrets from me, but I still can't believe he's Raith Aurenciel. He's the heir to the entire fucking Red Kingdom. The man I've sworn an oath to and tethered with wants to reclaim his throne and presumably continue fighting against Empire and everyone I've ever known or cared about.

But there's no time to talk. No time to process everything properly.

I'm escorted out of my room and led through a hallway where the same scene is playing out everywhere I look. Raith is dragged ahead of me, led down the stairs and out of view.

Upper-year students are everywhere we go. They’re hauling more first-years from their rooms, confusion and fear etched on the faces of my peers. Most are half-dressed, fumbling with uniforms and boots as they stumble into the predawn darkness.

A masked figure wearing Empire black and gold moves through the crowd, pressing small discs into trembling hands. When they reach me, they place one in my palm—cold metal carved with pulsing blue runes.

"Stasis token," they explain tersely. "Activates if you're about to die... usually. Don't lose it."

I study the token with awe. If it really does what they say, maybe there's a chance we'll make it through this thing alive. I’m reminded of my bargain with Voss. He agreed to help tip the scales in favor of survival, but not without cost.

He’s going to still expect me to go with him to the ruins with this is all over.

Typhon materializes beside me, still in his flying fish disguise but clearly agitated. "I do not like this, angry human."

"That makes two of us."

I'm led from the water tower to the courtyard, where I scan the crowds of students for my friends. Instead, I see Malakai's people gathered in the corner—not confused or disoriented like the rest of us, but organized in perfect formation. They're already wearing full gear, weapons strapped to their sides, faces set with grim purpose.

They look like a fucking army, and the only thing that eases my mind is knowing the weapons they wear are all sabotaged. It’ll only be a slight edge with magic and elementals involved, but it’s something.

Seeing the way they’re all ready, dressed, and even look well-rested makes me certain they knew. They knew we’d be roused early and they were prepared. So what other unknown advantages have they been given?

Malakai sees me glaring and has the audacity to wink at me.

A horn blasts from high on the walls, vibrating through my chest. We're all shoved and pushed toward the center of the courtyard.

Voss waits for us there, silver hair gleaming in the moonlight. Behind him, Empire emissaries watch with cold eyes. I try again to spot my friends and Raith in the chaos, but the darkness and confusion make it impossible. Around me, others are moving around frantically searching for their teams of five. A few pair up but most are still looking.

"The Crucible begins now," Voss announces, his voice carrying over the frightened murmurs. "Your objective is to reach the quarry, retrieve the ceremonial blade, and return. The winning team will earn legacy status."

"What about—" someone begins, but a second horn blasts, and the world twists inside out. Magic rushes through me, pulling me apart and reassembling me somewhere else entirely. My insides lurch as my vision clears, revealing dense forest bathed in the first pale light of dawn.

I double over, vomit from sudden nausea, and wipe my mouth with a grimace as I take in my surroundings. I’m not in the courtyard anymore. I’m not surrounded by the chaos of hundreds of bodies.

I’m alone. Alone in a fucking forest somewhere outside the castle. Thick wisps of early morning mist curl around me, shrouding everything from my knees and below in white.

Was I just teleported? I didn’t even know teleportation was possible, but I suppose I don’t know much about the power of a true primal. Maybe it’s some form of air magic?

"Typhon?" I whisper, trying to get my bearings.

He materializes instantly, his small fish form darting anxiously through the air. "I'm here. The others were transported elsewhere. Deliberately separated and disoriented, it seems. I should note I sense the magical interference Serena spoke of. This area is shielded. Invisible to any but those who are here in this forest."

Before I can respond, a cry echoes through the trees—pain and terror cut suddenly short. I press myself against a massive trunk, breathing hard as I try to locate the sound.

But I remember the stasis tokens. With any luck, I didn't just hear someone die. They were only put into stasis. Taken out of the challenge. I creep closer to the sound of the scream and spot a downed pair of water affinities in a small rocky clearing.

Corpus, one of Malakai’s elites, looms over the downed girl.

The girl is frozen stiff, surrounded by a shimmering blue kind of shield.

The stasis worked, then. Thank the gods.

But Corpus kneels down and presses his hand against the shield. Blue energy flares at first, repelling him. He tries again, more slowly this time. His hand slips inside the barrier, letting him rifle through the clothing of the frozen girl. He jerks his hand back, clutching the stasis token.

Her shield snaps out of view and she gasps, eyes fuzzy with confusion, as if she just woke from deep sleep. Before she can get her bearings, Corpus grips her hair, jerks her head back, and drags a blade across her throat.

The world lurches beneath my feet as I watch red blood flow in the moonlight, spilling down her uniform and disappearing into the swirling white mist. Corpus clutches the hem of her shirt, wipes his dagger, and stalks off into the darkness.

Gods. It’s as if he knew exactly how to bypass the stasis. How to make sure they could still murder fellow students, even with the protections Voss put in place. I think I might be sick again as the implications settle, but I don’t have time.

Someone else is coming toward me. Fast and loud.

Footsteps crash through the underbrush and someone gasps for breath between pained whimpers. A girl with an air affinity mark on her left hand bursts into view, terror etched across her face. Her elemental, a small water fox, streaks alongside her.

Behind her comes another student I recognize as one of Malakai's elite. It's Titus, the huge water affinity who tried to kill me in weapons training. His water turtle elemental glides silently through the air beside him. The girl doesn't see him raise his hand, doesn't see the blade of compressed water forming between his fingers.

I don't think. I just move.

I use a thread of earth essence to fling dirt into the air and a burst of wind essence to blast it into his face. Titus flinches back, nearly stabbing himself with his own water blade as he reaches to wipe his eyes.

He never sees me coming.

I’m on him in a heartbeat, rapier flashing and catching him below the arm. The empire steel bites deep, punching into his flesh and drawing blood.

Titus howls in pain, losing his water blade as his concentration is broken. He spins to face me, teeth bared in rage. His elemental abandons the pursuit of the girl, turning black eyes toward me instead and opening a beak that looks sharp enough to sever limbs. But Typhon darts in, distracting the turtle with powerful jets of magical water sprayed from his mouth.

"Thorn," Titus snarls, recognition dawning on his face. "Malakai will reward me well for your head."

He lunges, summoning another water blade. I parry, my rapier singing through the air. It's different fighting with real steel—heavier, deadlier, an extension of my arm rather than the flimsy training weapon I'm used to.

Titus slashes wildly, but I can see the patterns Raith has drilled into me.

I side step a slash, left palm opening as I spray a jet of water against his inner thigh. The pressure of the blast makes him slide back, costing him balance as I spin inside his guard, flicking away another strike with my rapier. I use my momentum, pulling my elbow up and forward to slam beneath his chin.

Titus’ teeth clatter and he makes a pained sound.

I don’t give him time to recover. I stab upward, rapier finding the soft spot beneath his ribs. He gasps, eyes wide with shock, but the token at his neck flashes blue, and he freezes mid-fall, suspended in stasis. To my surprise, his elemental freezes too.

For a moment, he's completely still, and then his body falls back with a heavy thump to disappear into the thick mist. Only his curled, frozen fingers stick up above the fog.

The fleeing girl has stopped, watching us with wide eyes.

"Go," I tell her. "Find somewhere to hide. Malakai's people aren't worrying about the objective. They're just trying to take out anyone who isn't with them. Tell anyone you find to hide their token well. They’re taking it once stasis triggers and executing people while they’re dazed."

“Thanks, Nessa,” she says shakily, nodding before disappearing into the trees.

"That was unwise," Typhon notes. "He could have bested you."

"I couldn't just let her die."

"Your compassion may get us killed."

“And there’s no point surviving if I can’t live with myself.”

I have no way to know where the quarry is from here. I doubt I could even find my way back to the academy if I wanted to. There are sounds of struggle and fighting all around me. I hear magic flaring and see the bright lights of elemental attacks.

I press my back to a tree, eyes wildly scanning as I try to think of something resembling a plan. I can distantly feel Raith's presence through the tether, and it seems like he's slowly getting closer. Of course he is. He's coming for me. And knowing him, he's not letting anything slow him down.

If I wasn't worried about Mireen, Beck, Ambrose, and Brunhild, I would lay low and wait. But I need to find them. I can't risk them getting caught out alone.

With a hard swallow, I slowly move deeper into the trees. Bright green flashes to my right and someone screams. There's harsh laughter a moment later, then an explosion of blue light followed by cursing and shouts. I hear the clatter of weapons clashing, more shouting, someone cursing in frustration.

I look down and see my hand is shaking.

"Calm, angry human. We need to stay calm. Be ready for anything."

I take a shaky breath and nod my head. "Doing my best."

I freeze as movement catches my eye to the right. It is a blue shark's fin cutting through the mist a little ways ahead. My blood goes cold and I duck behind a tree, peeking out to make sure it's not coming closer.

The shark slices through the mist without a sound, and then I see it... Two waters hiding behind a large rock. They don't realize?—

I open my mouth to warn them but it's already too late. One of them is yanked under the mist with a strangled scream that is cut off instantly. The other makes it a few steps before the shark leaps above the mist and bites the back of their head, triggering their stasis immediately.

Malakai... the shark means he's close. That, or he simply told it to go out and hunt down anyone it could. The only saving grace is that he may not find their frozen forms beneath the mist. The shark may have just saved their lives.

It swims through the mist, curling around the rock to disappear in the distance, searching for more prey.

It takes all my willpower to start moving again, but I do it. I remind myself that I've trained as hard as anyone here. Maybe harder. I'm unbound. I'm tethered to a fucking ancient water dragon. I can do this. I need to do this, because my friends might need me.

The sounds of struggle are already becoming less frequent. I stop twice when I see organized groups of five or more jogging through the trees like patrolling soldiers. Everyone else seems to be scattered in small groups.

"Perhaps Malakai's groups were teleported in together?" Typhon guesses as we watch another group pass far ahead in the distance, trailed by a team of deadly elementals.

"I wouldn't doubt it. The corruption goes all the way to the fucking top, apparently. Titus and Corpus may have just split from their groups to hunt down more people before they could find their groups."

I get back to searching. I have no idea how I'm going to find anyone like this, so I start taking the risk of whisper yelling for my friends when I think there aren't any enemy groups nearby. "Mireen? Beck?" I whisper.

A branch cracks to my left, seemingly in response.

"Ambrose?"

But no response comes, and cold starts to drift up my spine.

An earth elemental erupts from the ground—a massive boar of living stone, tusks sharp enough to gore. A tall student with a green earth mark steps into view behind it.

"Found one," he calls to someone unseen, voice chillingly casual. "It's Thorne."

Two more students emerge from the trees—a water and an air, elementals at their sides. The air's falcon circles overhead, its wings leaving magical contrails of mist. The water's jellyfish pulses with menacing light.

"Three against one," the earth says, smiling. "Malakai said to bring you back alive if possible. Dead if necessary."

Fear bites at me, and I feel the first pang of worry through the tether. It's not from Typhon. It's Raith.

He's feeling my fear, and I can sense his desperation to reach me no matter the cost. I try to calm my fear so I don't worry him or force him to be reckless in getting to me, but it's no use.

I reach for every element around me—moisture from the air, heat from the plants and trees around me, earth beneath my feet, the breeze rustling through the leaves. Power flows, waiting to be shaped.

"I don't want to fight you," I say, buying time, stretching my senses through the forest. Raith's concern for me joins my heartbeat as a frantic, pulsing awareness.

The earth laughs. "No shit. I wouldn’t want to fight three on one either. Hurry up. Get her.”

They attack in unison—the boar charging, the falcon diving, the jellyfish sending tendrils of water whipping toward me. I jump back, acting on pure instinct. I know their tokens will stop my attacks from being lethal, so I don't hold back.

Typhon darts between me and the three elementals, skillfully zipping through the air as he uses powerful water jets to distract and enrage the creatures, leaving me to focus on the people.

I press both palms together, forming water and making it spin outward before I harden it into a razor-sharp disc. I fling it at the earth affinity, who jumps out of the way just before it hammers past him, slicing a tree at the base.

Before the tree has even begun to tip over, I’ve summoned a spear of water and hurled it at the air affinity, but her falcon disengages from Typhon, diving in front and taking the spear in the wing with a shriek of pain.

I’m already almost empty of water essence, though, and the three students are slowly advancing on me, eyes full of murder.

An idea forms, and I don’t hesitate.

I use all my air essence to form a disc of air beside a tree several feet to my right. It’s difficult shaping and controlling it at such a distance, but I manage to fling it toward the group.

It misses horribly, but it does the job. All three pause, staring toward the trees. “Who’s there?” the earth asks.

I reach out to the other side and form a magical ball of fire and fling it at them. By pure luck, it nearly hits the earth, who dodges at the last second.

"You thought I was alone?" I try. If this goes my way, I'll only be triggering stasis. These three will live to tell what they saw. But I can use my unbound powers to make them think they’re surrounded by more students.

The earth takes a step back, head swiveling. "Come out. Cowards. Come out and fucking face us."

"Cowards?" I ask. "You're the ones who started a fight three against one. Or so you thought"

The earth forms a spike of rock in his hand and then throws it at me. Once it's in the air, it fragments into a swarm of small, piercing shards all screaming toward me.

I try to raise a shield of solid water, but I don’t have enough essence left to make it solid. It only slows the projectiles. They punch through, one cutting across my arm like a hot blade as others bite into me, drawing blood.

I hiss in pain, falling to one knee as I clutch the worst wound on my arm. Blood squeezes free, dripping to disappear into the mist.

"Enough," Typhon growls in my mind.

"Not yet," I warn. "Just keep the elementals from surprising me."

Reluctantly, Typhon continues to dart in and out of his fight with the elementals.

I feel myself automatically beginning to heal. But the power doesn't come for free. I'm already low on water, air, and fire essence. Already almost unable to perform more magic after just a few displays of power.

Unless...

"Try me one on one and I'll tell my friends to stay out of it," I shout to the earth. "You and me. Unless you think you can't take me?"

He hesitates. "Fine." With a gesture, he signals for his two friends to back off.

I pretend to motion to hidden allies in the trees.

"Clever," Typhon notes. "He is a fool for believing you, but it's clever nonetheless."

"Shocker. Malakai's people aren't exactly known for their intelligence."

And then I rush him. He fires more shards of rock my way, but I dive to the side and roll. It hurts like hell landing on tangled roots I can't see through the mist, but it's better than the alternative.

I sense Typhon battling the boar elemental through the tether, but can feel that he's toying with it and in no danger, so I put it from my mind.

I use the mist for cover, crawling on my belly toward the earth who shouts in annoyance, firing more magic blindly all around me. Dirt sprays and rock punches into the soil, but none of it finds me as I get closer.

Finally, I jump up from the mist, rapier blurring as I slip inside his guard. I could've put him in stasis, but that wasn't my goal. I just wanted to get closer. To...

I hook my arm around his neck, pressing my entire body to his back and urging as much of his earth essence to flow into me as possible. He was burning through it as he sprayed magic, but I feel power rushing into me anyway.

"What the... fuck are... you doing?" he gasps, barely able to get the words out around the crush of my arm on his neck.

"Winning." I give a hard jerk, wrenching his head to the side. Thankfully, I feel him go completely stiff and cold before any real damage can be done.

Stasis.

His body falls to the ground as I turn to face his two allies. They exchange a look, and then I point to the trees. "My friends are impatient. You two can run if you want. It would be the smart thing to do.”

"Get her!" the air shouts.

I don’t give them time. I use the stolen earth essence to lift a huge spike of earth from the ground and aim the point at the water affinity. He’s knocked aside, blue stasis flaring to life around his body instantly.

And then the air is on me with his short sword.

Behind it all, I can feel Raith's worry for me warring with his confidence in my abilities. He's terrified I'll get hurt, but he also believes in me, and he's using that belief to keep as calm as he can.

I dodge the first two slashes of the air's sword as Typhon handles the elemental. I raise my rapier to block the third attack and the air's weapon clatters against my steel, crumbling to pieces.

The air stares at his broken weapon in shock, giving me the perfect opening to stab at his throat. There's a flash of blue magic and then he's locked into stasis with his elemental.

And then it's over. Three down. I fall to one knee, gasping for breath as I look around, making sure there aren't more enemies coming.

"Gods... This is fucking brutal."

"I am enjoying it," Typhon says.

The sound of footsteps makes me groan and raise my rapier again. That spike used almost all the earth essence I managed to steal, and healing my wounds has drained the rest of my magic. If it's another fight, I'm going to have to hope I can steal more essence or handle it with my rapier.

My throat goes dry when I see the size of the figure stepping out of the shadows. They're huge, and I know it's not Raith. I can still sense he's trying to reach me, but he's not this close.

"Ah! I find you," a familiar voice says.

I lower my rapier a few inches, squinting into the shadows. "Brunhild?"

She comes closer and I finally make out her face.

I let out a heavy breath, relief washing through me.

The northerner doesn't smile, but her eyes show recognition. Dora clicks her massive claws as it scuttles behind her.

"Sexy bear and others waiting. Not safe here."

With a nod, I follow her through the forest. I can't decide if it's a good or bad thing that I hear almost nothing now. The forest is eerily still, and I don't know if we've already lost all chances of winning this thing. For all I know, Malakai's people could have hunted down everyone but our group already. Well, everyone but us and Raith. I can sense he's still alive and coming my way.

"How did you find me?" I ask as we run.

"Ambrose's bird."

The sounds of another battle reach us before we see them—the crack of elemental magic, shouts of pain and fury. We emerge from the trees into a small clearing where Beck, Mireen, and Ambrose stand back-to-back, surrounded by Malakai's people.

Beck's water bear, Uther, smashes into a group of attackers, sending them flying as blue flashes and tokens trigger mid-air. Mireen and Ollie have created a swirling vortex of water that keeps another group at bay.

But they're outnumbered. At least eight students circle them, elemental magic building for a coordinated strike.

"There!" one of them shouts, pointing at me. "It's Thorne!"

Several break off from the main group, turning toward us. Brunhild steps forward, her crab growing to twice its original size.

"I crush," she says matter-of-factly.

She charges into the fray, her crab scuttling beside her as she draws her huge, two-handed hammer. I follow, too drained of essence to do much.

"Allow me to show them what I'm capable of. It's time they knew." Typhon's voice is quiet, but insistent.

I lick my lips, taking in the situation. "Not yet. It's a last resort, okay? Only if there's no other choice."

He doesn’t complain. He just flies into battle, slashing and spraying magic at elementals, quickly drawing the attention of most of them.

"Nessa!" Beck calls, relief evident in his voice. "Took you long enough!"

"Been a little busy," I reply, parrying a strike from one of Malakai's waters who rushes me with a spear. I sidestep the attack, rapier sliding inside his guard with a blue flash as his stasis token triggers.

Typhon weaves through the battle, seemingly small and harmless, but the fierce power of his magical blasts of water are doing serious damage. The other elementals already realize he's the biggest threat and are converging on him.

"You okay?"

"I'm toying with them. Keep yourself alive, angry human. If your token triggers, it freezes me, too."

Brunhild and Beck fight well together, isolating attackers and overwhelming them with strength. Ambrose works with Akaron, occasionally reaching into the air and grabbing one of its legs to lift himself out of harm's way, where he can fire magical attacks from above. Mireen's channeling dispatches enemies with ease as she slides daggers of water around their defenses with deadly accuracy.

I hardly need to do anything before stasis tokens have flared, immobilizing every last attacker. It’s all over in a matter of seconds, and we’re all still on our feet. Every last attacker is shrouded in blue and laying in the mist.

"Everyone okay?" I ask between ragged breaths. It can't have been more than half an hour since we were teleported here, and I already feel as though I've run a marathon.

"They're slaughtering anyone they catch," Beck says, his usual lighthearted demeanor replaced by grim determination. "Activating stasis tokens then killing people while they're defenseless."

Mireen nods. "We saw Serena's group shortly after we arrived. They triggered stasis, then pulled the tokens from their victims and cut their throats. They're executing people."

“I know. I saw Corpus kill someone already. I was hoping the others didn’t know… but I suspected they did.”

"Someone clearly put them up to it," Ambrose says. "And they were given every possible advantage. Malakai's people knew exactly where they'd be transported. They were ready, and they came in with their groups while the rest of us were scattered and disoriented."

"Someone wanted this to be a bloodbath, but they wanted to make sure they got to pick which side survived it," I say, lips twisting in disgust.

Through our tether, I can feel Raith growing closer. His determination pulses through our connection, along with flashes of what he's seen—bodies lying where they fell, students hunting students, blood soaking into the forest floor.

A warning cry from Akaron makes us all tense. Ambrose's eyes widen as he interprets his elemental's message. "Someone's coming."

We form a defensive circle, weapons ready. I can hear them now—footsteps approaching rapidly from multiple directions.

"Get ready," Mireen whispers, water gathering at her fingertips.

But through our tether, I feel a surge of relief from Raith—not fear or preparation for battle. He's close. Very close.

The trees part and figures emerge from the mist—fires, at least ten of them, their elementals blazing like beacons in the morning light. There are a few earths, airs, and waters, too. At their center, I see Raith, his eyes immediately finding mine across the clearing.

"Nessa," he breathes, eyes reflecting the slowly rising sun staining the sky a deep, bloody red. Above, clouds are thickening, too, growing darker as the air fills with the unmistakable scent of an approaching storm.

The fires spread out in a protective formation around us, their elementals making a perimeter that pulses with heat. I recognize Cade among them, his slight frame half-hidden behind two larger students. The other students fill in, eyes wary as they scan the distant trees.

"Raith's gathered an army," Ambrose murmurs, adjusting his glasses as he takes in the newcomers. "Impressive."

Raith strides toward me, radiating purpose. I feel his relief at finding me unharmed warring with the horror of what he's witnessed in the forest.

"Malakai's people—" I begin.

"I know," he cuts me off, his expression hardening. "They're executing people."

"We need a plan," Mireen says. "We can't just wander the forest hoping to evade them."

Raith nods. "The quarry. That's where the blade is. The legacies are guarding it."

"We're not seriously still trying to win this thing, are we?" Beck asks incredulously. "People are dying out there."

"That's exactly why we need to end it," I say slowly, understanding dawning on me. "He wants to get the blade because that will signal the end of the Crucible."

Raith's expression is approving. "Exactly. If we hide, the Crucible keeps playing out. They'll have all the time they want to hunt us to the last person. We either wait to be hunted, or we go on the offensive. Push through the legacies guarding the blade, take it, and win. We end this before more have to die."

I see the logic in his plan, though it means walking straight into what could be a trap. "Do you think Malakai will guess our plan?"

"Almost certainly," Raith says. "We'll likely have to fight our way to the quarry. But if we go soon, we may catch them before they've fully gathered. They might still be scattered and hunting for stragglers."

"So we fight our way to the quarry."

Raith's eyes meet mine, and I feel his fierce determination through our tether. "Together."

A dark shape cuts through the mist behind him—a fin, dark blue against the white. The shark. Malakai's shark.

"Look out!" I shout, but it's already too late.

The massive elemental erupts from the mist, jaws wide and coming straight for Raith's exposed back.