The chamber erupted into chaos.
Viggo charged into the nearest cluster of dark mages, scattering them like ninepins. Fairbridge’s wind magic detonated through the space, deflecting shadow bolts and buying precious seconds.
Evander had eyes only for Winchester.
He stormed toward the dark mage, magic spiralling around him in a devastating vortex that blocked out the attacks Winchester’s henchmen directed at him. He reached the circle, felt a slight resistance as he breached it with the sheer force of his magic, and directed fire and ice lances at Winchester.
The dark mage met his attack with a wall of shadow that absorbed the elemental assault and hurled it back at him.
Evander barely managed to deflect his own magic, the force of the impact sending him skidding out of the circle and across the blood-slicked floor.
“Impressive,” Winchester said. “But you’re out of your depth, Ice Mage. I’ve been touched by a power you can’t begin to comprehend.”
He raised his hand. Shadows pooled around his feet.
The air itself seemed to scream in the next instant, dark magic andBlood Magicmelding into an onslaught of pure evil.
Evander threw up every defence he had—wind, ice, fire, earth. He layered them in a desperate barrier as Winchester’s attack struck. The force was staggering and almost drove him to his knees.
“My master has waited years for this moment,” Winchester continued, his voice taking on a dreamy quality. “The Codex will be his. And with it, the power to remake this pathetic world.”
He started raising his hand again and froze.
The air above them had just throbbed with a power that drowned out all noise.
Evander’s stomach plummeted when he raised his head.
The point of darkness was expanding.
The convergence opened with a tearing sound, the fabric of space ripping as if it were paper.
Winchester stared at the phenomenon, his burned face twisting with triumph.
“It’s opening,” he breathed. “At last, it’s opening!”
The blackness expanded vertically, forming a doorway large enough for a man to pass through. Beyond it, the dimension space created by the First Archmage blazed with ancient power, fragments of the Codex swirling in an impossible dance around the main body of the book.
Winchester stepped toward it.
Horror filled Evander. He didn’t think. He simply moved.
He slammed into Winchester with every ounce of strength he possessed, physical and magical alike. The dark mage snarled in fury, shadows lashing out to tear at Evander’s flesh. But it was too late.
They tumbled through the tear together, reality twisting around them.
Evander heard Viggo and Fairbridge’s distant shouts.
Then there was only light and the deafening roar of ancient magic.
CHAPTER 41
Evander had experiencedmany impossible things in his life. He had wielded the power of four elements, faced creatures born of shadow and malice, and walked through places where dark magic had reimagined the world itself.
None of it had prepared him for this.
The dimensional space was vast beyond comprehension, an expanse of light and energy that stretched endlessly in every direction. There was no floor beneath his feet, no ceiling above his head, only an infinite breadth of swirling luminescence that pulsed with every shade of white.
The air thrummed with a power so ancient, so pure it made his very soul tremble. And everywhere, drifting like leaves on an invisible current, were pieces torn off the main body of the Crimson Codex.
