“You first.”
Perin stepped into the ring, expression grim and proud. He gave a slight nod, then turned to face the rest of us with fire already beginning to shimmer around his fingertips.
But I couldn’t watch him fully—not with the fear crawling through my chest. Because while they were preparing to draw from themselves…
I wasn’t sure I had anything left to draw from at all.
Perin lifted his arm high, fingers outstretched, and the air around him shimmered like heat rising off sun-scorched stone. I watched as something rippled beneath his skin—tendon or vein or magic itself. It pulsed unnaturally, crawling up his forearm like a living thing. He didn’t grimace, didn’t flinch. But there was nothing natural about it. His body was a vessel being stretched by something it wasn’t meant to hold.
“Good,” the major said, his voice calm and cold. “Controlled. Sustained.”
Then his eyes cut to me.
“Ashlyn. You are next.”
The words hit like a slap. I took a breath, then another, and stepped into the center of the ring.
The stone felt colder beneath my boots than it had a moment ago. Maybe it was me.
I closed my eyes and reached inward, calling to the storm.
It was there. My magic. Coiled and ready—but there was no anchor.
Kaelith didn’t rise to meet me. She couldn’t.
You’re on your own,I reminded myself.You can do this.
I inhaled, lifted my palm to the sky, and shaped the cloud.
The air trembled.
Above me, thunder cracked once—deep and muted, like a warning. Dark clouds twisted into existence, forming a small storm cell directly above the sparring ring. A soft rain began to fall, sizzling where it touched the stone.
For a heartbeat, I thought I had it.
Then the lightning came.
A fork of white-blue light cracked the sky open and arced down—too fast, too strong,too eager.It found my outstretched palm like it had been waiting for the invitation.
Pain slammed through me like a hammer. I screamed.
Riders scattered from the edge of the ring, shouting and cursing as the bolt exploded on impact. The crack echoed across the Ascension Grounds, a flash of light blinding everything for a second.
My knees buckled.
I hit the stone hard, the scent of ozone thick in my nose, the burn crawling up my arm like fire beneath the skin. My vision swam.
“Ashlyn!” Zander’s voice, rough and panicked.
Another voice—closer. “Ash!” Remy. His boots scraped against the stone as he sprinted toward me.
I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t see.
All I could feel was the absence of Kaelith where I’d once found strength.
And the taste of lightning on my tongue.
Zander rushed to my side.
