"Amara, what's wrong?"
I couldn't answer. The pain was spreading, radiating outward from the center of my chest. It felt cold and hot at the same time, burning and freezing.
"Amara!" Kai was beside me now, his hands on my shoulders. "Talk to me. What's happening?"
"I don't..." I managed to choke out. "My chest—"
The pain coarsed through my body and for a second I couldn't breathe. My vision began to blur.
Then, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.
I sucked in a breath, my whole body shaking.
"Are you okay?" Kai asked, his face pale. "Should I call for help? I can try to..."
He was cut off as the temperature in the room suddenly started spiking.
Heat rolled through the air, thick and suffocating. It came from outside the door, pressing against the wood.
"What?" Kai started.
Then smoke began seeping through the cracks around the door frame, starting as thin wisps, then becoming thicker and darker.
"No," I whispered.
The smoke filled the room fast, curling around us, making my eyes water. I coughed, covering my mouth with my sleeve.
"Get back!" Kai shouted, pulling me away from the door.
Flames started to erupt from the door itself. They were black around the edges, and they didn't just spread, they moved like they had a mind of their own, crawling up the walls, across the ceiling, closing in around us.
"Kai—"
"I've got this!" He thrust his hands forward, and spell circles appeared in the air, glowing bright blue. Water materialized and shot toward the flames but the fire didn't move at all.
"What?" Kai's panic was beginning to show all over his face. He tried again, his hands shaking as he drew another circle to summon more water, but the flames consumed it, growing larger.
"Why isn't it working?" I shouted over the roar of the fire.
"I don't..." Kai stumbled, catching himself against the wall. His face had gone pale, sweat beading on his forehead. "Something's wrong. I can't... my magic—"
He tried to form another spell circle, but it glowed unevenly and died before it fully formed.
"Kai?"
"I feel something," he gasped. "It's draining me. Something's pulling my magic out."
I felt it too. That same pulling sensation, like a presence was reaching inside me and taking what it wanted. My reserves were emptying, faster and faster and I wasn't even using magic.
The heat was unbearable now, making it hard to breathe.
"Ventus!" Kai shouted, desperation in his voice. "Ventus maxima! Come on!"
A weak gust of wind appeared and immediately died.
"No, no, no." He fell to his knees, his hands pressed against the floor. "Why can't I—"
"Kai!" I dropped beside him, grabbing his shoulders. "Stay with me!"
"Can't—" His eyes were unfocused. "My magic is gone. All of it."
The flames were everywhere now, boxing us in. The smoke was so thick I could barely see.
I felt my own magic draining away, but I knew I would be fine because had an endless reserve of magic sealed inside me. It was Kai I was worried about. He had already used most of his power trying to get us out, and now something was draining what little he had left.
Kai suddenly went limp and fell forward, but I caught him before he hit the ground.
"Kai! Kai, wake up!" I shook him, but his eyes had closed. He was still breathing, but barely.
The fire roared louder, getting closer.
We were going to die in here.
Unless...
No. I couldn't. I shouldn't.
But Kai was unconscious in my arms, and the flames were seconds away from reaching us.
I didn't have a choice.
I closed my eyes and reached deep inside myself, to the place where the restrainer spell sat. If I do a temporary release, then I just may be able to save us.
My hands trembled as I whispered the words Zaine told me countless times never to say. "Release."
The seal broke instantly and wild, overwhelming power exploded through me. It rushed through my veins, filling every part of me until I thought I might burst from it.
I opened my eyes and saw that the flames had stopped burning. Instead, they were frozen in place, as if time itself had paused.
Then they pulled back, retreating from us, shrinking away until they vanished completely. The smoke cleared in an instant.
The room was silent. But I wasn't in the room anymore.
I was floating.
Above flames. Dark flames. The same wrong, black-edged fire that had just tried to kill us.
Below me, a village burned.
Houses collapsed, people screamed. Everything was destruction and chaos and death.
And I felt nothing.
I watched it all with empty red eyes, suspended in the air, my small hands glowing with that same dark power. It was the same nightmare that plagued me for years.
Then a memory that felt brand new crashed into me all at once.
I was nine years old. Mother and I had traveled to a village in the South Province. She had a big baking job, something that would pay well. We'd stayed at an inn, a small place with creaky floors and thin walls.
The night before we were supposed to leave, bandits attacked our inn.
I remembered waking to shouting. Mother pushing me behind her, as the door to our room was hacked open.
There were three men with rough voices and cruel laughs
"Give us everything you have," one of them said.
Mother tried to reason with them, explaining we didn't have much.
One of them hit her.
She fell, blood on her lip, and I screamed.
"Shut that brat up," another one said.
The third one moved toward Mother, pulling out a knife. The blade gleamed in the lamplight.
"No!" I shouted.
He raised the knife.
That was when I lost all control.
The magical restrainer spell, the one Zaine had placed on me when I was small had shattered and everything poured out.
All of it. The magic I'd been born with, the thing that made me dangerous.
It poured out and corrupted me instantly.
I felt myself change, like a soulless monster took over my body. My mind had only one thought : 'DESTROY EVERYTHING'
Most of the whole thing was a haze after that. As for the bandits, they were there one minute, and then they weren't.
Then I saw myself outside. The whole village was burning. The dark flames were everywhere, spreading from building to building as it consumed everything, even the people. .
And I was floating above it all, watching but feeling nothing. No fear, no sadness, no guilt...
Just emptiness.
A mindless monster wearing my face.
Then a figure appeared from the smoke-filled air. It was bright, beautiful and terrible at the same time.
It flew toward me, and as it got closer, I saw it clearly.
Even though he looked completely different from how I know him, his eyes were the same. Eyes that held eternity in them. And on his hand, I saw a mark I knew all too well, of a beautiful detailed clock crest.
Zaine.
But not Zaine, the father I knew, the one who smiled and told me stories.
This was Zerephtyrael, his god form.
The God of Time.
He reached me and pulled me into his arms, holding me tight against his chest.
"Calm now, my child," he whispered in my ear, his voice echoing with power and a hint of sadness. "Daddy will make it all go away."
The scene began to fade, the flames dimming, the destruction going out of focus.
Everything went dark.
I gasped, my eyes flying open.
I was back in the storage room. Kai was still unconscious beside me, but he was breathing steadily now.
The restrainer spell had reactivated itself, locking everything away again but my body wouldn't stop shaking.
Outside, I heard voices. Lots of them.
"—saw smoke—"
"—fire in the storage room—"
"—students trapped—"
I heard fast footsteps coming closer and some seconds later, the door burst open.
Professor Ginsberry stood there, a spell circle raised, with several other teachers behind him. Students crowded outside, trying to see.
"Amara! Kai!" Professor Ginsberry rushed forward.
I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn't hold me.
"What happened?" she demanded. "We saw the fire..."
"I don't know," I spoke weakly. "The door locked. Then the fire..."
My sight grew dim, darkness creeping closer.
"Amara?" Professor Ginsberry's voice sounded far away. "Amara, stay with me!"
I heard my name being called, over and over, but it was getting harder to focus.
The last thing I saw was different concerned and frightened faces crowding around me.
Then it all went black...
****
Malachi leaned against the stone wall, barely listening to the group of students crowding around him.
"Your Highness, we really missed you!" one girl gushed.
"Yeah, like, training wasn't the same without you," another added.
He just smiled and nodded, but honestly? He was exhausted. Five days of sitting through boring meetings with his father and some convoys from another kingdom had drained him completely. The King talking politics while Malachi's mind was literally anywhere else.
"So where were you?" someone asked.
"Royal stuff," he said vaguely, scanning the training area entrance.
He was looking for her. He hadn't seen Amara since that day at the infirmary, and he was lowkey worried about her health.
Then she walked in.
Time completely stopped. Or at least it felt like it did. The noise faded, the other students disappeared, and it was just Amara walking across the training grounds. Her hair caught the sunlight and she looked... wow.
For half a second, their eyes met.
Malachi immediately looked away, his heart doing that annoying flutter thing. Please don't let her notice, he thought desperately. He'd promised her he wouldn't bring unwanted attention to her life, but he'd completely fumbled that when he carried her unconscious body through the halls. Now everyone knew. The gossip had even reached the palace: "Prince carries weak commoner girl who fainted in class."
His father had been pissed. "Stay away from that girl, Malachi. This is not a request."
But during class, he couldn't help himself. His eyes kept drifting to her. She looked stronger than before, more confident. Beautiful in a way that made his chest ache.
Every time she glanced his direction, he'd snap his gaze away like she'd burned him.
This is torture, he thought, gripping his training sword tighter. Absolute torture.
Acting like she didn't exist was killing him inside. Especially now that he'd finally admitted the truth to himself.
He was falling in love with Amara Cole. No, scratch that. He'd already fallen. He was just lying face-down in it at this point.