And yet Alena refused to give up.
No matter where they take you… I will find you.
That vow, made long ago, burned fiercer than ever. How could she call herself the Omega and restore the balance between the worlds if she couldn’t even save her sister?
Dalmatius’ flames writhed, poised to strike Leukos—but Alena was swifter.
She thrust out her hand, and the air whipped around her. “My sister won’t be your weapon,” she snarled. “Not while I stand.”
A razor-sharp gust ripped through the space between them—sharper than blades, faster than arrows. It slammed into Dalmatius with the force of a hurricane, hurling him backwards.
But the gust struck more than just him.
It tore across the battlefield, igniting stray embers from Dalmatius’ fire and drawing them into the funnel of wind. Flames roared along the path, engulfing the space between the waters and scorching the very air. Soldiers scrambled back, shouting as steam and fire coiled towards them in a blistering column that swallowed everything.
The Makhai, still holding back the waters, didn’t move. Along the river path, screams echoed.
Ash swirled. Heat clawed at her skin. The scent of scorched earth and blood filled her lungs.
Alena stood at the heart of it, chest heaving, horrified by the full destruction she had unleashed.
The pathway lay in ruins, with charred bodies scattered across the ground and bronze glinting amid churned mud. Shouts erupted ahead as more soldiers arrived, but the noise was drowned out by the ringing in her ears.
“Alena!” Leukos was suddenly there, unscathed by the flames, pulling her back towards the riverbank.
Dalmatius got to his feet, staring at the devastation she had wrought, his lips curling in something between fury and awe. Then he turned to Katell. “Capture her.”
He summoned a ball of fire in his palm and hurled it. Katell caught it one-handed, her fingers wrapping around the swirlingflames without flinching. Fire curled up her arm, engulfing her in molten light.
Acracklike splintering bone echoed through the air—the Makhai trapped in ice stirred.
Alena dropped beside Nik, pulling him to his feet. At the same time, Leukos slammed both palms to the ground. Jagged columns of ice erupted, forming a towering wall that sealed off the path behind them. “That’ll hold them off for?—”
The words died in his throat. Already, the ice sizzled, fractures spreading as Katell’s fire ate through from the other side. Thick steam hissed, choking the air.
“Twelve be damned,” Nik muttered, one arm tight around his ribs.
“Go!” Leukos shouted, yanking Alena forward. “Move!”
Nik blurred ahead in a gust of wind, reaching the top of the embankment first. The rain had eased, but the downpour had turned the slope to sludge, making every step a struggle. He hauled Alena, then Leukos up after him. They’d barely cleared the riverbed and rejoined the wolves when chaos met them head-on.
A full Rasennan cohort clashed with Achaean and Westerner forces on the bank, shields locked, swords thrusting in disciplined formation. They surged forward, and the Achaeans countered with raw force, steel flashing in the rain. Shields crashed, mud churned underfoot, slick with blood, and war cries drowned beneath the storm’s fury.
Lightning split the sky, a jagged bolt tearing down and striking the Rasennan shield wall in a flash of white fire. Men fell, shields ripped from their arms, the air thick with smoke and screams.
At the centre of the carnage stood Volcos, lightning crackling from his outstretched blade and eyes blazing with stormlight.
Nik swore under his breath. “How the fuck did the Rasennans get here?”
From the cliff’s shadow, more soldiers surged forward, as if conjured from the darkness itself. Alena froze. “By the Moon…”
It had to be a Gift.
Behind them, the ice exploded with a shriek. The Makhai advanced, an unstoppable nightmare made flesh. Katell followed, fire coiling up her arm, face blank.
“Run, now!” Leukos yelled.
The wolves surged forward, and Alena fell in behind them.
