“I’m going to use a spell to stop her,” I told them. “Maveryck, I could use some help.”
The thief nodded, and we faced the queen.
My magic flowed quickly, fed by the intense power swirling around us. Maveryck’s magic also fed into mine. With a whispered word, I let my magic flow, glowing inside me, then I pointed my finger at the queen’s heart and released the spell.
Blue and amber shot from my hand, but instead of hitting the queen as I’d hoped, the magic wrapped around the queen. It only aided to fuel her own powers.
“That wasn’t good,” I said to Maveryck.
“No, magic won’t affect her, it seems.”
“What about weapons?” Kull asked, hefting a discarded basita that had been thrown to the ground during the chaos.
“Yes, try it!” I called back.
He lifted the weapon and pulled the lever that launched a white flaming bolt at the queen. The bolt struck her chest and disabled her for a moment. The wind died down, but when it did, the queen lowered. Her feet touched the ground as she focused on us.
Her eyes glowed bright white as she crossed the distance. She pointed the sword’s tip at my heart.
“There is a piece of the goddess within you,” she said, her voice like a thousand whispers. “Give it to me.”
I backed away. She needed the goddess within me to completely harness Theht. She’d tried to take the goddess from me before, but without the sword, she’d been unsuccessful. Now, she would have no trouble controlling the dark goddess’s powers, and no trouble controlling me.
“No.” I stumbled away from her.
“I will take it from you.” She lifted her hand. Magic shot from her fingers and wrapped like barb wire around my skin, flaying my flesh. I cried out as the queen hovered closer, looming in my vision.
“Your power is mine.” She pressed the palm of her hand to my chest. I screamed as pain lanced through my skull, pulling and ripping my brain apart. Shadows clouded my vision. All that existed was the pain. She would kill me trying to take the goddess from me—I knew I would die soon, that I could do nothing to stop her, when that part of myself that had always existed within me—Deathbringer—reacted.
The pain stopped.
I rose and blasted the queen with my magic. She flew backward. Her assault on me stopped.
As I stood, everyone around me laid prone on the ground. Fires burned in every direction, their crackling mingled with the howls of the jagamoors far in the distance. I glanced at my hands, my arms, feeling as if I was a different person in another body. Something besides me controlled my actions as I walked to where the queen lay.
Gasping for air, she stared up at me with haunted eyes. The sword lay on the ground near her.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “Don’t touch it.”
“I must,” I answered, and I didn’t recognize the hollow, lifeless voice coming from my own mouth. I lifted the sword off the frozen ground. Its magic knew me.
Power licked over my arms and coursed through my body, giving me more strength than I’d ever felt before, but as the magic took hold of me, so did Theht.
I peered into the mirror’s blade, my image staring back at me, but as I looked, my magic exploded from my hands, opening a portal without my controlling it.
Wind howled through my ears as I was thrust from one reality to another.
Where are you taking me? I asked Theht.
To the place where you shall transform the world.
I landed in a heap on the sand. The bitter taste of bile filled my mouth as dizziness overwhelmed me. Opening my eyes, I tried to focus on my new surroundings.
I lay in a desert—a familiar place I’d seen in visions many times before.
No, no, no, I can’t be here!
As I crawled to my hands and knees, the wispy form of Theht stood in front of me. She was robed in a black cloak and hidden in shadow.
“Where are we?” I gasped.
“This is the isle of shadows—a realm that exists between worlds—the place where you will do my bidding. No one can touch us here. There is no magic that can stop my will, and the one prophesied of killing me cannot travel here. You will direct the course of the star fragment to the world, and then with its destruction, I will take all power for myself.”
The portal crossing had taken its toll on me. Thinking coherently was becoming a problem, but I finally managed to speak.
“No,” I said. “I won’t. You can’t force me.”
The shadowy form loomed closer. Her eyes met mine. “You’re wrong,” she said, her voice a whisper as she wrapped her hands around my throat. Her magic surged through my body, into every blood vessel, and then I rose above the ground, watching as we soared toward the night sky.
We flew until we floated above the planet. Theht controlled me as we sped toward the asteroid. Her power combined with mine as she thrust me toward the approaching rock. I did not feel cold, nor did the lack of atmosphere bother me. I couldn’t control my movements, yet I could still feel my arms and legs, which meant I must’ve still somehow been in my body.
As we reached the asteroid, I found Earth among the stars, a blue orb the size of a marble from my perspective. Below me, the asteroid rocketed forward, away from Earth’s orbit and away from destruction. For now, our world was safe. If I did nothing, it would stay that way.
But Theht’s powers overwhelmed my meager magic, and I watched my hand lift and point toward the asteroid.
I could stop this. I had to stop this now.
Magic gathered in my chest, making me panic. I’d come too far to let this happen. Lucretian had told me I could use time to stop prophecy. In vain, I tried to conjure some sort of spell to stop
