My friends had gathered around me, Abi’s shield between us and the last of our enemies. The other gunman lay on the ground, a smoldering hole through the center of his chest. Eric’s work.
“Enough,” the leader growled. She held one hand above her head, a dark metal cylinder clutched in her fist. “If you make another move, I’ll bring this cave down on top of us.”
The woman’s aura overflowed with hate and desperation aspects. She was a zealot. Nothing would make her happier than to die for her cause. She had no intention of letting us leave here alive.
“Run!” I barked to my friends.
They’d all recognized the same danger I had. They didn’t hesitate to flee, Abi backing away with his hands raised to keep the shield intact.
I didn’t run.
“That won’t save you,” I said, cycling my breath with my words. “And it won’t kill me. Tell me who sent you.”
The woman sidestepped away from me and deeper into the cave. She was young, only a few years older than me. Her eyes were bright jade sparks set into smooth, pale skin. Smudges of dirt and oil dotted her forehead and cheeks, and her brown hair was tied up in a complex braid. Her adept core was strong and filled with jinsei. She could’ve been a student at the School of Swords and Serpents, if her life had gone differently.
“You know who sent me,” she said. “And if you think this will end with my death, you’re a fool. Let’s see what brought you all the way out here.”
The killer backed deeper into the cavern, toward the coffin. If she saw the runes and escaped, my mother would send another team to investigate.
I couldn’t let that happen.
I followed the woman, careful to stay far enough back to not spook her. The wound in my side throbbed, and most of my jinsei was tied up in keeping me alive. I wouldn’t be fast enough to stop her if she detonated the grenade, and I wasn’t sure I’d survive the explosion. I’d bluffed and hoped she’d believe me.
“If you think my mother cares what happens to you, you’re the fool,” I said. “She’s insane. She wants to destroy everything, wipe the slate clean and hope for a better start. But she’s wrong. You are all wrong. There’s something worse out there than corruption. Something more dangerous than dragons. If you go through with this plan, you’ll be dead long before you have your victory party.”
The woman laughed, a short, bitter snap of a sound. We’d reached the burial chamber. Her eyes flicked to the coffin, then back to me. A malicious smile spread across her face.
“Do you think we care if we die?” My enemy spat on the ground between us. “When you’ve lost everything, losing yourself doesn’t seem so bad. But we’re not fools, either. You came here because this place is important. Judging by how scared you looked when I saw the coffin, I bet you’re here for whatever’s inside it. I’ll just take a little picture and send it to your mommy so she can have a peek.”
The woman produced a phone from a hidden pocket in her robes. Her thumb felt along the edge of the long, thin rectangle of metal and plastic, searching for the activation button. If she sent a picture, my mother would know exactly why we’d come. She’d figure out the keys, and then it would be a race.
The heretics had more resources than I did. If they got a head start, even a few seconds, I’d never catch up to them.
“Put it down, and you’ll walk out of here,” I promised. “Last chance.”
A digital imitation of a camera’s mechanical shutter sounded from the phone’s speaker. The heretic had opened the camera app. In a few seconds, she’d take that picture. If the camera had a data connection, my mother would see it almost immediately.
I reached out and grabbed the magma aspects from the stone beneath our feet and wove them together in a crude spell centered on that phone. My sorcery was a wild, uncontrolled thing, as likely to burn me as my enemies. I didn’t care. I had to stop her.
I unleashed the spell.
My serpents snapped into action. They snatched more and more magma aspects and wove them into the deadly braid.
The phone burned like a star in the heretic’s hand. She screamed as molten rock poured out of the device and consumed her fingers, her hand, her entire forearm.
“You can stop this,” she wailed. “Your mother doesn’t want you to carry this burden any longer. Let her take up the mantle. Let her remake the world for you.”
The words rocked me like a physical blow. Somehow, my mother had found out what I was doing. She’d sent her people here not just to stop me, but as the first step in remaking the Flame herself. I couldn’t imagine the insanity she’d cause with that power.
“Never,” I said.
I couldn’t have stopped the spell even if I’d wanted to. My serpents were eager to carry out my wishes, and the fist-sized ball of fire swelled until it was as big as a beach ball.
“You can still come to us,” the heretic cried as the rest of her arm vanished into the burning maw of the spell. “You’re the same as we are. We can work together.”
“I am nothing like you,” I shouted back at her.
My strength was fading. Blood loss and the effort of controlling the sorcery were too much for me to handle. I let the spell run wild.
The heretic vanished in a ball of fire seconds later. The heat was so intense the floor beneath my creation bubbled and went soft as wax in the summer sun. Hot lava bubbled up to meet the blazing sphere I’d woven. The heat tightened my skin against my skull. The edges of my robes smoldered.
I watched the cavern floor become a lake of magma. My serpents kept at it, fueling the fire,
