If she thought too much about what was about to happen next, she may not be able to do it. Her will might fail her.
She spoke.
Vi didn’t know the words she was saying, she didn’t know the meanings, but she echoed him anyway. She allowed the magic to be pulled from her. It felt almost like an invisible hand plunged into her chest, pulling forth all she was with a violence that seemed appropriate for an unnatural act.
They were two mortals, playing at godhood.
Taavin’s head tipped back and he let out a scream as his magic exploded in a burst of flame, mingling with the fire of Yargen. In the distance, voices. Ulvarth or the Swords were coming to investigate. They must have discovered her absence.
But it was too late.
The Voice was immolating under her hands, with the help of her magic. The fire before them blazed brightly, brighter than anything Vi had ever seen before—so bright, she was certain to be blind when it faded.
The whole world was consumed…
And Vi was falling into the void it left behind.
Chapter Thirty-Five
There was nothing but light,so bright she squinted and her head ached. Vi tried closing her eyes, but she couldn’t even do that to block it out. The light was in her mind, in her flesh. It seared through her from the inside out.
She felt every layer of skin boiling. Red lightning finally broke through, flesh disappearing into the void above her as she continued to fall. She felt her tongue crisp and her hair singe. She felt the burn down to the clean white of her bones.
There was nothing left of her. At least, Vi couldn’tfeelanything. All sensation had vanished from head to toe. She was a spirit, her body gone.
Tick.
Tock.
No… perhaps, there was something. The watch Taavin had given her still ticked. Vi was aware of magic swirling from the timepiece as time and space whipped around her like wind. From the magic that had been stored there with their final act together, life began again, and Vi let out a scream more animal than woman as everything rushed back all at once.
A new heart—her new heart—beat in time to the watch. Veins sprouted from it, unfurling outward like bloody ribbons. Bone and sinew became her foundation, sprouting muscle and then layering on flesh. Her nails grew back in place, her hair flowed past her shoulders.
And her freshly made, still-falling body began to finally,finally, slow.
Tick. Tock.
The end of the world is near, and we must be ready to meet it. Taavin’s voice echoed and Vi turned, trying to find the source of the sound. Her new heart began to race.
Tick. Tock.Tick. Tock.Tick. Tock.
Vi covered her ears, trying to blot out the noise. The faster her heart beat, the faster the incessant ticking. It would drive her mad before she even—
“Young one,” a voice that sounded like every man, woman, and child in the world speaking all at once startled Vi from her thoughts. There was silence, then the voice again. “My Champion.”
“Y… Y…” Vi could barely form a word. Her mouth was new, foreign, strange.
She turned in place, aware she was no longer falling. But all around her was nothing more than bright light, swirling yellows mixed with blues and whites. The same colors and intensity as the flames that had engulfed her.
“I am here.”
“Where?” It felt like eternity stretched in all directions, all possibilities contained within.
Vi looked behind her, and when she turned forward again she was startled to see the shadow of a woman. A long veil covered her face, bolts of silk hiding her form. A crown of pure light sat on her head.
“Queen Lumeria?” Vi said, finding her voice once more.
“No. It is I… I who have seen this world from its start. I who sowed the seeds of life. I who gave you ground to grow in. I who gave you light to grow by.”
