“This is impossible,” Trulissinangoth whispered. Her clawed fingers made a strange sign in the air before her and a fearful hiss escaped her. “We must be dead.”
I was inclined to agree with her.
We stood on the edge of a ridge that surrounded an enormous circle etched into the glossy black ground hundreds of feet below us. Miles-long scrivenings filled that circle with patterns so complex I couldn’t begin to decipher their elegant sweeps and maddening curves. A silver fire blazed at the heart of the scrivenings, its light the beacon that we’d followed all this way. My eyes watered and my heart skipped a beat at the scene before us.
Trulissinangoth was right. This couldn’t be real. It wasn’t possible.
The giant marched across the circle toward the fire, and an enormous dragon stomped across the plain from the opposite direction. My breath caught in my throat at the sight of a Locust Court spirit the size of a skyscraper that skittered toward the flame between the giant and the dragon. A fourth creature, its body an amorphous collection of slime atop far too many tentacles, approached the flame, as well, and its enormous hourglass pupils narrowed to slits as it reached the edge of the inferno.
The four beings reached into the fire in perfect unison. They raised brands of silver flame over their heads, then turned and walked back the way they’d come. At regular intervals, they lowered their torches to the pattern beneath their feet, and the intricate scrivenings burned and warped around the fire. Holes appeared in the design, their edges charred and frayed, and a red void showed through the dark ground.
The senseless destruction filled me with a despair so intense it brought tears to my eyes. The pain in my heart was far greater than the agony in my core. I couldn’t take another second of it. A sob escaped me, and I turned away from the fires that spread to fill the crater.
I collapsed, and the stone floor of the arena rose up to meet me.
The Recovery
“I DON’T THINK HE’S dead.” Niddhogg’s rough voice was accompanied by a painful pinch on my cheek. “Look, he winced. He’s totally alive.”
“I’m not,” I groaned. “I’m totally dead.”
“You will be if you ever scare me like that again.” The pain in Clem’s voice convinced me to open my eyes.
She sat next to the bed, her own eyes wide and searching. Her lower lip trembled as she reached out to take my hand in her shaky fingers. A single tear leaked from her left eye and ran down her cheek.
“I’m okay.” My creaky voice made the words sound unbelievable even to my ears. “I think.”
“You are not.” Hirani’s words were sharp as a dagger. “You’ve hurt yourself quite badly. I hope it was worth the price you’ve paid.”
“Did everyone survive the challenge?” I asked Clem.
“Yes,” she said quietly.
“Where did we place in the rankings?” I was nervous that we’d come in last. After coming in third during the first challenge, our team couldn’t afford that.”
“We beat the dragons.” Clem smiled. “We were first place, overall. The dragons came in second, Yzlanti was third, and the Dojo of Opal radiance came in dead last.”
“Then it was worth it.” I let out a sigh and sank back into the pillows. “Where am I?”
“The School’s staff infirmary.” Hahen appeared at the foot of my bed and lashed my sheet-covered soles with his tail. “Where foolish boys go after they’ve nearly killed themselves.”
“It’s not that bad.” A quick examination of my pained core showed me that the delamination had accelerated more quickly than I’d expected, but my body was fine. “I’ll survive.”
Hirani clutched the arms of her chair and used them to hoist herself onto her feet. She made it halfway to standing, then froze in place when her shaking knees threatened to betray her. A few deep breaths later, she’d steadied herself and managed to stand unassisted. She crossed the dimly lit room to my bed, every step revealing shocking new details.
The right side of her face was covered in bandages, and blood had seeped through the white gauze to form ugly red patches. A scabbed wound ran from the corner of her mouth, down her chin, and under the collar of her robes. Her lustrous black hair was streaked with thick strands of stark white, and the pinky and ring finger of her left hand were gone below the first knuckle. Her breath was harsh and labored by the time she reached my bed, as if the simple walk had taken a herculean effort.
“I’ll survive, too.” Her sarcastic grin was pulled down on one side by her wound.
“What happened?” The rude question slipped out of me before I could stop it.
“You know.” She twitched her eyes, the only part of her that still looked how I’d remembered, toward Clem to let me know that wasn’t a conversation we’d have in mixed company. “Your foolish gamble won the battle, Jace. You completed all three of the challenge’s goals and saved your friends. At a truly horrible cost.”
“I don’t need my core healed to win the last challenge.” I pulled up the sleeve of my left arm to show Hirani the medallion I’d stitched to my channels. “This discipline lets me use my techniques. I didn’t lose sight of the war, honored Elder. I made a calculated sacrifice to save the rest of my team. I can’t finish the challenge without them.”
Clem squeezed my hand tighter and bit her lower lip. She turned her eyes away from me, and a faint sob shook her shoulders.
“They didn’t get out of there unscathed, Jace,” Hirani said quietly. “They’ll heal, given time.”
“How much time?” An urge to throw off my sheets and go find my friends flared inside me. “Where are they?”
“Stop.” Hirani pressed her fingertips against my shoulder until the tension ran out of my body and I lay back against the
