Aurania froze mid-step, her axe still raised. The clash of gunfire and shouts faded for a heartbeat as the sound cut through everything else.

  She turned and looked to where it had come from, the corner where Tamiyo and Elias had been.

  “—No,” a whisper escaped Aurania’s lips.

  That bastard Sable held Elias by the wrist. Smoke was rising from him. Tamiyo was cowering back away from him, eyes the size of planets.

  Sable released Elias and he fell limp to the floor.

  Then— crack. A thunderous report as Riza’s round slammed through the wall and into Sable, sending him hurtling across the room, too fast to track.

  At least she got the bastard back.

  A sound to Aurania’s left caught her attention, and she turned to see Soren finally rising from where he had been knocked down. He raised himself up to one knee, and looked around the room.

  There were still five other soldiers crouched in cover and firing. Aurania moved to cover while firing her handgun at one of them.

  Then something moving behind her made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She turned, saw where Sable had landed—

  And he stood up.

  How the fuck did he survive Riza’s shot?

  Aurania stared at him for a moment, stunned. Sable looked around the room at the situation and saw another of his men gunned down by the collective fire of Violet, Veolo, Amalia, and Inelius.

  He turned and bolted from the room.

  Aurania almost tried to follow him, but several bullets pinged off her armor, forcing her to take cover.

  Then a crippling pain pinged from inside her skull. Something was wrong with Soren.

  She looked out from her cover. He was standing in the same spot, but he was staring at Tamiyo.

  At Elias.

  He had connected the dots.

  A low, building growl was coming from somewhere around him. Steam rolled off his armor, and inside the helmet she saw the white glow. He looked possessed.

  One of the Conservatory soldiers advanced on Soren, shooting as he approached. The bullets pinged off his armor but might as well have been mosquitoes. When he got close enough, the soldier tried to electrocute Soren again, the same way Sable had. He reached out to grab him—and Soren caught his hand.

  The shock charged and surged into Soren. Aurania saw bolts dance up his arm, and then they reversed. Soren somehow redirected the charge, amplifying it as he sent it back. The man’s armor overloaded, and he was cooked inside. The armor plating melted, sparks exploded outward, and he fell to the floor as if he were a solid statue.

  Shit is going south fast.

  “Volkara!” Aurania yelled out. “Inelius— data core! Violet, Amalia! Get Tamiyo and Elias out of here—!”

  Shots rang down at Aurania from the three remaining soldiers.

  Soren noticed.

  He turned and leapt the entire distance over to one of them. An uppercut to the face turned the man’s face to gore. The force lifted the man’s body several feet off the ground. Soren grabbed it mid-air by the ankle and swung it like a hammer into one of the other soldiers, sending both bodies into the wall with a bloody sparking mess.

  It was one of the most terrifying things Aurania had ever witnessed.

  “Veolo! Grab one of those bodies and get to the ship.”

  The girl did as ordered. Everyone but Inelius had already run. The lazarco got the data core out and bolted.

  Aurania looked at Soren, who was staring down the last Conservatory soldier. The soldier was unloading his rifle into Soren, leaving glowing orange where the bullets melted the metal armor plates.

  Soren crouched slightly, angled his shoulder toward the man, and launched. He flew like a cannonball into the man, and the two crashed through the wall, out onto the salt plains.

  The room fell eerily silent, the sounds of gunfire from moments ago still echoing in Aurania’s ears. Her breath was ragged, and her heart pounded in her chest. She slowly stood up, surrounded by smoke, and blood, and broken bodies.

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  Nothing felt real.

  Maybe she imagined it, but the same way she heard Soren’s thoughts slip through sometimes, she heard Elias’ voice, like the ghost of a whisper.

  Go get him. He won’t be able to stop on his own.

  Aurania listened.

  She rushed through the hole where Soren had obliterated the last soldier.

  The sun above Piria blazed low and pale behind a thick white haze. The landscape stretched out in every direction, a vast, shimmering, skeletal salt plain. The ground cracked beneath her boots like old porcelain. Gusts of wind carved spirals into the dust.

  Soren stood facing away from her, visible tendrils of white rage slowly raising off of him. She felt all of his pain. She saw his shoulders shudder as he sobbed.

  A low whumph of a shuttle engine flared to their left.

  Aurania looked up and spotted it, white and angular, already climbing fast. The Conservatory shuttle. Sable was making his escape.

  Soren saw it too.

  He started running after it, as if he could somehow reach it from the ground.

  Then he launched, leaving a small crater in the ground where his foot kicked off with impossible force.

  Aurania saw his silhouette rise, higher than any creature should be able to jump. A trail of white steam followed in his wake. He was almost flying.

  The shuttle banked hard, engines burning bright, and dodged just as Soren reached their altitude. He missed them by meters.

  But he wasn’t done.

  Mid-air, Soren twisted his body, rotated to face the retreating shuttle, and extended both arms forward. His palms glowed bright white, energy pulsing through the joints of his gauntlets.

  Aurania felt the air charge.

  A split second later, the world screamed.

  The beam tore from his hands like a lance from the gods, howling with the unholy resonance of pressure, light, and force. It wasn’t fire. It wasn’t plasma. It was pure white energy fueled by Aether Dust. It made a shuddering subharmonic sound that rattled her teeth, and she felt the noise as much as she heard it.

  It struck the shuttle’s right engine, scarring it with a glancing blow that sent it spiraling momentarily off course.

  But it didn’t fall.

  Sable’s ship stabilized, veered into the upper atmosphere, and disappeared.

  Soren didn’t get to watch it flee.

  The force of the discharge launched him backward, flinging his body like a rocket from the sky. He crashed down onto the flats, slamming into the ground with bone-shaking impact. A cloud of salt and dirt billowed around him as he skidded, flipped, and rolled until he finally came to a halt.

  The ground began to shake continuously.

  The quake rippled outward in concentric circles, fracturing the surface. Cracks spiderwebbed through the basin, hissing with heat and static. Aurania staggered to keep her footing.

  Soren didn’t get up.

  Aurania ran toward him, the salt-cracked ground splintered beneath her boots as she ran. Dust still hung in the air like smoke from a just-ended war. The quake hadn’t stopped, it rolled and pulsed in irregular bursts, like the world itself was struggling to breathe.

  Leaping into the crater he had caused from landing, she dropped to her knees beside him, skidding in the grit. His armor was cracked and torn, cosmic steam venting out the joints. His breathing came in sharp, ragged bursts, like every inhale was a fight.

  His helmet was cracked along one side, the impact fracturing the visor down the middle. She reached out, grabbed both sides, and yanked it off.

  Soren’s hair was glowing, strands of white fire lifting on unseen currents. His eyes were lit from within, pure light, no iris, no pupil. Just white, like a star burning at the end of the world.

  His face was twisted. Not in rage anymore. In agony.

  She didn’t speak at first. She just tore off her own helmet and gloves, tossed them into the wind, and reached out.

  She placed one hand on either side of his face, fingers pressing gently against his temples, thumbs brushing his cheek bones.

  “Hey,” she said softly. She was shaking.

  He didn’t respond.

  “Hey,” she said again, firmer. “You need to control it. We need to go. You’re not alone.”

  His hands twitched. She felt the muscles in his jaw tighten beneath her palms.

  The light in his eyes flared, then dimmed, just slightly. His breathing started to slow.

  “It’s okay,” she said, her voice a whisper now. “I’m here. You’re alright. You’re not lost.”

  A shudder rolled through him. The light receded more.

  After a long moment, his eyes blinked. Once, slow. The glow dulled to an ember. His hair, still gently alight, began to settle.

  Aurania exhaled and leaned her forehead to his for just a heartbeat.

  Then she slid one arm under his and hauled him upright.

  “Come on, Soren,” she muttered. “They’re all waiting for us.”

  Together, they staggered across the fractured salt plains, each step made harder by the tremors rippling through the earth. Aurania didn’t look back.

  The Ghost of Mandachor loomed ahead, ramp down, engines humming with urgency. Veolo stood at the entrance, beckoning them forward.

  Aurania and Soren climbed the ramp together, her grip never leaving his side. He was still unsteady, but his steps were returning, one after the other. His armor hissed and groaned with each motion.

  They crossed the threshold.

  “Raine,” Aurania called out hoarsely, “get us the fuck off this planet.”

  The ramp receded, the hatch sealed shut behind them, and the ship vibrated as it powered upward. Aurania eased Soren down into a nearby seat. He didn’t speak, just rested his elbows on his knees and stared at the floor.

  She stood still for a moment, catching her breath. Then turned.

  The others were there. All of them.

  Amalia sat with her hands clasped, face streaked with silent tears, jaw clenched so hard her neck trembled. Violet leaned against the wall near the door, arms crossed tight, her cheeks wet and eyes red.

  Tamiyo sat on the floor, knees pulled to her chest, trembling.

  Inelius stood at the console, hands gripping the edge of the dashboard like it was the only thing keeping him grounded.

  No one spoke.

  The silence pressed in from all sides, thick and unbearable.

  Everyone was silent.

  Everyone except Riza.

  She was in the corner, kneeling over his body.

  The legendary woman—famous for her silence—cried harder than anyone Aurania had ever heard.