I scramble up the slated rock, jagged edges biting into my palms, feet slipping as I clamor for purchase. Just when my grip begins tofail, strong hands seize the back of my armor and haul me over the ledge.
I collapse on my hands and knees, lungs dragging in air, heart a thunderous drum. My fingers dig into stone. I’m shaking, soaked through, and utterly breathless.
Kael crouches beside me, one hand steady on my back.
“You alright?” he asks, voice low and warm.
“I am,” I manage.
Around us, the others stumble into view—sodden, scraped, wide-eyed. Even Therion looks like he’s been dragged through a downpour.
“Is it not slightly concerning,” Ronyn starts, peeling wet curls from his face, “that we look like this and the adventure hasn’t evenstartedyet?”
“I thought you were always up for a plan without a plan, brother?” Therion quips, clapping Ronyn fondly on the shoulder.
Ronyn’s roguish grin creeps across his face. “Which is why,” he announces, dripping with cavalier charm, “I’ll be going first—into wherever the fuck it takes us.”
He strides towards the cascade, sopping wet curls hanging raggedly down his neck, opens his arms wide and plunges himself through the sheet of water with his head held high.
I sprint toward the falls, heart in my throat. “Ronyn!” I scream. “Ronyn!”
Seren is beside me in an instant, her scream tearing from her throat, “Ronie!”
Kael’s hand settles on my shoulder. “We were all going through, anyway, El.” His voice is steady, grounding, calm. “I’ll go next, okay? Make sure he’s alright.”
I nod, tucking Seren under my arm, pulling her into my side.
“The bastard’s got balls, I’ll give him that,” Daelen remarks from behind us.
“Or a very small brain,” Jax scoffs back.
I tune it all out, focussing solely on Kael.
“I’ll meet you on the other side, Duskae,” Kael says tenderly,eyes on me as he walks backwards into the cascade which swallows him whole.
I suck in a sharp breath, my lungs catching on the absence—the not-knowing carving something raw through my chest.
“You need to go, El. Can’t have you last with no one to cover your back,” Therion says, practical as ever. “Hold Seren’s hand—go through together.”
Seren and I lock eyes, and clasp hands. “Together,” I agree.
“Together,” she whispers.
We walk towards the cascade—the end of one world, and the beginning of another—and ignore the war drum beating inside my chest. I tighten my grip on Seren’s hand and charge into the unknown.
The mist coats my skin, and I feel the first crash of water hit the top of my head, and then I’m falling.
Tumbling.
Weightless.
Light. Color. Sound. Wind. They whip and swirl around me, blurring into a tunnel of weightless chaos.
I realize, suddenly, that I’ve been somewhere similar before—Mavyrn’s gateway of threads.
Where’s Seren?I look around, but I don’t see her. I can’t see anything but the kaleidoscopic colors and light that blur in my vision.
I feel like I’m falling upwards and downwards at the same time, disorientation causing my chest to tighten with panic.
