The road underneath our feet was covered in scorch marks, spreading out like roots of a tree around from where Ryan and I stood. The sides of the castle looked as if they’d been scarred, deep, black lines stretching up almost to the top where Zero had been perched.
He was gone, but safe. I could feel the pulse of him in my head.
The vermilion root holding the Darks had survived my lightning, though it looked worse for wear. Little arcs of electricity still crawled over the surface. The Darks encased inside had been spared from my onslaught.
But—
Where Ruv had stood was nothing but a pile of ash.
Where Caleb had stood was nothing but a pile of ash.
Where Myrin had stood was—
I blinked. “What the hell?”
It looked as if part of Castle Lockes had broken off in the explosion, the stone having crashed into the ground. A pile of rubble lay before us, dust still rising into the air.
My magic felt like it was going haywire, something Randall had warned me about. My cornerstone had died and then come back. It would take a little while before I could calm down.
“It worked,” Ryan whispered.
I looked at him. He was staring out around us at the scorch marks upon the stone, eyes wide, hands shaking. “Yeah,” I said. “It worked.”
He reached out and took my hand in his. “It’s over?”
“I—”
Sam
I shouted as a pulse of infected magic burst in my head. Ryan cried out my name, but I couldn’t focus on him, my head bowed, teeth clenched as I tried to withstand the assault in my head. I was already weakened from resurrecting Ryan, and I couldn’t push the yellowed magic away as it bowled over me.
The ground beneath us rumbled.
I lifted my head.
The pile of stone that had fallen from the castle began to shift.
And as the stones moved, I saw a flash of yellow underneath.
“No,” I breathed.
I stood slowly.
Ryan pushed himself up to stand at my side, sword in hand. “What is this?” he asked me.
Sam
My eyes watered as I bent over, hands over my ears, trying to block out the roar that began to whirl around us. It caused my skin to buzz, my bones to ache. My teeth felt loose in their sockets, and I couldn’t seem to catch my breath as I—
The stones fell away.
Underneath, in a swirling sphere of magic, stood Myrin.
He wasn’t unscathed. He had lightning scars that looked like the ones on my chest on his outstretched hands and on his face. His beard had been partially seared off, the ends curled up and blackened. A cut on his cheek dripped blood onto his chin. He was breathing heavily, but he was alive.
Ryan tried to force me behind him. “What the hell—”
“Containment,” I whispered.