The light in her skin died. The writhing runes froze mid-movement. Her chest stopped rising.
The Soul-Lattice collapsed. Without the Weaver to hold the blueprint, the raw energy Kaelen, Thane, and Flynn were pouring in had nowhere to go.
"She is unraveling!" Hephaestus roared, dropping his hammer. He grabbed Aria’s shoulders with his bare, scarred hands. "The form is losing cohesion!"
Aria began to blur. Her edges were turning to mist.
"Elias!" I bellowed, looking at the heap of robes in the corner. "Get up!"
Elias groaned, pushing himself up. He looked dazed. Blood streamed from his ears. He looked at his hands, confusing them for something else.
"I... I lost the count," Elias murmured. "The variable..."
"Forget the math!" I yelled. "Look at her! Look at her, brother!"
Elias looked. He saw Aria fading.
His eyes widened. The turquoise light flared back to life.
He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the blood, ignoring Apollo. He rushed back to the circle.
"I have her," Elias gasped, thrusting his hands into the mist that was Aria. "I have the thread."
He didn't use logic this time, instead he just grabbed and wove purely on instinct, tying the dissipating energy back into the core.
Aria solidified with a violentsnap. The air pressure in the room dropped as she became real again.
Apollo laughed. "Delays. Just delays."
He stepped forward to finish it.
Thane was in his way again.
"Move, Earth-Shaker," Apollo commanded.
"No," Thane said.
He was battered. His armor was dented, his face swollen. But he stood there, casting a shadow that covered the dying girl.
"If you want her," Thane rumbled, raising his fists, "you have to go through the mountain."
Apollo sneered. "Gladly."
Just as Apollo raised his hand to blast Thane into dust, the Forge shook.
Not a tremor. A convulsion.
The floorunderthe Anvil cracked.
Red light bleeding up from the fissure.
The Titan.
And Aria’s eyes snapped open again.
They weren't looking at the ceiling. They were looking at Apollo.
“Hephaestus," Aria rasped. Her voice sounded like two planets grinding together.
