Just as Fiera had done all those years ago, Vi tapped a nearby crystal jutting from the ground and beseeched the magic within. It came forth as she rotated her wrist with painstaking precision.Come along now, was her silent command. Magic spun out from the Caverns, condensing into glyphs with no meaning. Perhaps they were words, but neither Vi nor Taavin could read them. So if they had meaning, Yargen kept it hidden.
She poured the power into the crystal she held. The stone’s glow intensified, but it didn’t change shape or color. Yargen’s magic defied time and space. An immense amount of power could be held in a vessel as large as the Crystal Caverns, or as small as the palm of her hand.
The lights in the Caverns began to dim and Vi slowed the rotation of her hand through the air, slowing the draw of power. Two tethers stretched out from the crystal floating above her palm—one to the Caverns and one to the sword.
“Keep going,” Taavin commanded.
“What?” Here was where she usually stopped, allowing the magic to spill back into the dimming sword and Caverns.
“Just from the sword,” he clarified. “Not the Caverns. Collect all the power from the sword and transfer it to the stone.”
“But what if—”
“We do it all again, then.”
Do it all again. He didn’t mean today’s practice. He meant the whole cycle of time they were trapped in.
“No,” Vi whispered, mostly to herself. “We won’t.” This was to be their last time. She had vowed as much to herself, to the world, even if the world would never know it.
One way or another, this vortex would end.
Vi twisted her hand and severed the trembling thread of magic that connected the crystal in her palm to the sword, lifting it away. She watched as the last of the sword’s power was extracted.
The weapon transformed into obsidian as the power drained. Once the last dredges were removed, it fell to the floor and shattered into pieces. The magic once held within the sword now hovered above her palm.
“Now, return the power to the Caverns,” Taavin commanded.
Vi spun the crystal she’d made through the air, feeling the power unravel from it.
The magic didn’t need much guidance from her to return to the crystals surrounding it. Yargen’s magic naturally sought out its own. A phantom thread pulled through her. Magic that lingered on her palms was drawn away with the rest. All at once, the crystal hovering above her palm stopped spinning and fell. It had gone dark, just like the sword.
Vi stared at the obsidian around her feet, panting softly. She jerked her head upward. “The sword is gone.”
“Make a new one.”
“I’ve never made a sword.”
“You just made crystal. You’ll merely make it in a different shape this time.” Taavin pushed away from the stone he’d been leaning against, his preternatural casualness belying the tension thrumming through Vi like the reverberations of a lightning bolt.
Vi turned back to the nearest crystal jutting from the floor. It was nearly twice the size of her. She rested both hands on the sides of the stone. She’d chosen this path; she could do this. Yargen’s magic was around her, within her.
“Easy now, just as before,” she whispered.
Magic shimmered underneath her fingertips in response.
Once more, Vi pulled power from the stone. It was easier this time. If working with the sword was like drawing from a pond of magic, this was an ocean. She had much more to work with and the magic sought her out eagerly.
Stepping back, Vi repeated the process and drew out the magic by spreading her hands. Yargen’s raw essence shone brighter and brighter, the more she pulled. How much power had the sword held? She couldn’t remember. But she doubted anyone but her and Taavin would be able to tell if the new Sword of Jadar was weaker than the last.
Bringing her hands together, Vi watched as the magic condensed once more into a crystal. This time, she kept flooding the stone with power. Glyphs she didn’t recognize but inherently understood appeared within her mind:grow, change, shape. They were magic given form and tied to her will, forcing the stone to grow as she commanded. Crystals jutted out from that initial seed, becoming hilt and blade. In a blindingly bright minute, a new sword hovered in the air before her.
Taking the hilt in her hand, Vi pulled the blade from the magic forge in which she’d created it. The leftover power soaked back into the Caverns. Some lingered on the sword, flooding into her. As it sank into her bones, she felt a rush straight to the head.
Her thoughts spun dizzily until her attention settled on the weapon in her palm.
“It worked,” Vi whispered in awe. A theory, inspired by a five-year-old, supported only by the existence of some black stone that had surrounded Vi after Yargen’s magic had protected her once… she’d finally proved it right.
Chapter Two
