But what should she do with that information? If she did something, could she see Norin fall faster and potentially spare more from this man’s fate?
A hand closed around her watch and Vi briefly thought of summoning Taavin. But if she did, he’d know she’d run into the fray, putting herself in danger. Perhaps putting the future of the entire world in danger with her.Ninety-three times. She’d hurt him enough for one day.
“Thank you for the information.” Vi stepped away, leaving the man to hover, clearly still dazed. She’d done all she could for him. “Head for the northwest corner of the city. Avoid the port and the outer wall at all costs.”
Vi ran upstream through a river of people. Then, all at once, there was no one left for her to push against. She found herself among burning rubble, the crackle of magic blazing through the sky.
Men and women littered the ground around her. Some were burned to husks. Others still oozed crimson into the cracks of the road. Vi stared at the carnage, at those soldiers still fighting in the distance, flames glinting off their plate armor.
She had seen death, up close. But she had never seen war. Standing before it now, Vi felt frozen in place. She wondered if she should feel terrified, if she should weep.
There weren’t any feelings though. It was as if any single emotion was insufficient, and so they all left her. Everything was numb. She was presented with the embodiment ofjuth calt: the world had been shattered.
Without warning, a tiny jolt of magic broke the stasis Vi was unwittingly trapped in. Her heart began to race. The bodies around her were more than just corpses; they suddenly became men and women, people with lives, daughters and sons. Vi fought against the swelling sickness that threatened to overcome her.
Another crack of magic—one Vi would recognize anywhere.
When she turned, a wall of flame blocked her vision. The fire roared with unnatural power, connecting one blazing building to the next. It was no doubt a dividing line. The break in the wall must be on the other side and someone very, very powerful was trying to contain the flow of soldiers within.
Yet even a heavy curtain of fire couldn’t hide the pull of something greater—a god-like magic. Determined and drawn by an invisible tether, Vi marched forward toward the fire, allowing her own spark to swell within her.
You feel it in your marrow. Taavin’s words echoed inside her.
“Yes,” Vi whispered to no one. He had been speaking about the truth of her situation. But Vi felt something far greater in her bones. Within her was a power that recognized and sought out its own—the power of a goddess.
You will be free of the bonds of time because my magic is in you, Yargen had said.
Raising a hand, Vi used her magic to bore a hole through the flames that barred her path. It was surprisingly easy, given how impressive the fire was. Whatever Firebearer made it was weaker than Vi expected, for she gained control of the inferno as though it had been her own power all along.
A tunnel opened up before her and Vi charged through, quickly releasing her hold on the fire. On the other side, more carnage waited.
The chorus of battle she’d heard echo over the crackle of the blazes throughout the city was now reaching its crescendo. The large wall surrounding the city had been blown in, reducing nearby buildings to rubble. Debris scattered inward, men and women fighting around large chunks of stone. Those with crimson armbands and red plumes seemed to have the upper hand, pushing back the silver-plated soldiers in short capes of Solaris blue and white.
The same jolt of magic pulsed through her, stronger and closer this time. Vi’s eyes were drawn to a far corner, where a woman was locked in the heat of battle with a group of three. She wielded a sword that glowed with a blue haze; power crackled off of it as she alternated between swinging it and casting balls of fire off her free hand.
Vi watched in awe as Fiera Ci’Dan made quick work of three soldiers. She wondered if Fiera had even the slightest idea of how much the weapon was influencing her power.
“Push them back!” Fiera screamed to the soldiers fighting their way up the mound of debris where the wall once stood. “Don’t let them through! Show them the strength of Mhashan.” Fiera began running and Vi picked up her feet as well.
Their paths intersected near the center of the battlefield. Without missing a step, Fiera shifted her weight, bringing the sword across her body in a swing at Vi. Vi reacted instantly, dodging backward. Fiera held the sword out, keeping her at length, and met Vi’s eyes for the first time.
They stared at each other, panting, unmoving. Energy crackled underneath Vi’s skin—something more than her own power or Yargen’s. Vi knew it as the hair-raising sensation of fate playing its hand.
“Your face is… You…” Fiera struggled for words between heavy breaths.
“There’s no time to explain. But I am not your enemy.”
“Who are you?” Fiera said, as she looked Vi up and down, lowering the sword.
“I’m a traveler, and I’ve come a long way to tell you…” Vi trailed off. To tell her what? That she needed the sword? That she was the granddaughter of another Fiera from another world? Vi had been acting on instinct, pulled along by her gut, and now she wasn’t sure if it had landed her in a good spot.
“To tell me what?” Fiera pressed, with an expression that told Vi she’d seen right through her uncertainty. Another explosion rocked the city. Magic sloshed off the blade in her hand and Fiera cursed and turned, frantically scanning the wall. “Guards in the First Legion, go through the opening, find where they’re trying to breach the city a second time!” Men and women pushed farther up the rubble and Fiera started in their direction. Vi gripped her forearm, and Fiera’s eyes darted between the clearly offending touch and Vi’s face. “Unhand me.”
“It’s a distraction,” Vi blurted. “Tiberus Solaris is coming from the sea.”
“What? There’s no—”
“They split their forces, weeks ago, I think.” Vi struggled to remember her history. The fall of Mhashan had seemed like ancient history when she’d studied it with Martis. Now she was searching her brain for every last detail she could recall. “He’s coming from the sea.”
