But it’s his eyes that seize me. They’re fierce and unyielding,and right now they sweep across the carnage with a raw intensity I’ve never encountered.
The older man’s gaze flicks between me and the smoldering wreckage. He grips his staff tighter.
“It’s definitely her,” he says, voice rasping with urgency. “The Spiritborn.”
The what?
The younger man fixes his stare on mine. It feels like the rest of the world collapses into static, leaving just the two of us. He looks at me like I matter. Like he knows what I am, even if I don’t.
And gods, I wish my parents could’ve seen it first.
My pulse slows, eyes are growing heavy, and I’m painfully aware of the sputtering magics still dancing along my skin, like stray embers that won’t quite burn out.
The weight of everything swells again, slamming into me with the force of a tidal wave. I break into a cold sweat as darkness envelops my vision, and my knees buckle. Lyra’s arms struggle to hold me upright.
I hear the older man bark something to the younger—something about catching me. My eyelids sag, the world spinning into a blur of black and crimson. The last thing I remember are gray eyes above me, staring right into my soul as I collapse. Then everything fades, leaving only the echo of his gaze and the older man’s words:
It’s her . . . the Spiritborn.
THANE
We’ve just returned from another skirmish, exhausted, blood still drying on my leathers, when Valen’s eyes snap open from a trance.
“There’s been a massive spike of Elemental magics,” he says, voice trembling in a way I’ve never heard before. His knuckles whiten around his staff. “A village in the western plains is under siege.” Then, softer—but heavier. “It’s her.”
A current of fire jolts through me. I sit up, my exhaustion forgotten. “Show me.”
Valen waves a hand over a scrying bowl, and I see glimpses—flashes of a young woman blasting shadow creatures into ash, her body aglow with raw power.
My heart stutters.
Holy hell, she’s real.
I don’t hesitate.
I grab my sword. “We go now.”
Valen doesn’t argue. “Get the others.”
Ten minutes later, I’m standing with him—alongside Rian, Kai, and Brenya. Four of us, plus the mage. Fire. Air. Water. Earth. Valen needs one channeler from each clan for this spell. It only works if the Elements stand together.
He steps forward, voice low and sure as he begins the incantation he’s spent months perfecting—a spell designed for one purpose.
To take us to her. The Spiritborn.
“Are you sure it’s her?” Rian asks, his tone tight. “You’ve spent half a year on this—”
Valen has been tracking spikes of Elemental magics for the past three years, believing the time of the Spiritborn was approaching. I don’t doubt him.
Valen’s voice hardens. “I’m positive it’s her.”
Then, he speaks the words:
“Water sees the path to commit
Earth shapes the needed split
Fire activates the hidden gate
