From Afar

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EMILY WATSKEN

The battle was over. Gideon had pulled me to the closest cart and was holding a scrap of his
robe against my wound to try and stop the bleeding, but the dark cloth was already shiny with
blood.

"Come on, up, Miss Watsken. We need to get you to a healer. Up, up!"

His thin arms tugged at me, pulling me awkwardly up to my feet. Every movement sent waves of
dull fire pulsing out from the wound, making me feel like I was going to throw up, or pass out, or
maybe throw up and then pass out.

I wasn't really paying attention as Gideon directed me, focusing instead on just keeping my feet
underneath me. Each deep breath hurt.

"You all!" Gideon shouted. There were a group of young men and women around my age close
by.

Where did they come from? I wondered absently.

"Are any of you emitters?" When the group eyed us warily, Gideon snapped at them. "Well?"

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"No, sir." The speaker was a thin blond boy. He seemed familiar, but I was having a little trouble
focusing on his face. "But there is an apothecary and healer in town, assuming he hasn't fled.
We have wounded too, we can show you the—"

The boy cut off, his gaze drifting past us. Gideon turned to look, hauling me with him.

The air seemed to vibrate in the direction of the Grand Mountains, though I couldn't tell if it was
real or just my eyes shaking in my head. Then I felt the shaking in my feet, an audible tremor
that ran up through my bones.

As we all stared at the distant blue silhouettes that extended out of sight to the northwest, the
sky behind them turned suddenly white, as if there had been a flash of lightning that covered the
entire sky over the distant country of Elenoir.

LILIA HELSTEA

It was an uncharacteristically clear day. Xyrus City almost always had blue sky above it and
white rolling clouds below, but today the clouds had broken, and it felt like I could see all of

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Dicathen. With my duties at Xyrus Academy suspended due to the Lances' attack, I had taken
to walking around the rim of the city, just watching and listening.

The sky was so clear I could see all the way to the Grand Mountains and into the Beast Glades
and Elenoir beyond them. The little town of Greengate wasn't visible from this distance, but I
knew it was out there, tucked away at the base of the foothills to the south, surrounded by fields.

Jarrod, Clara, Cleo, the Havenhursts, and several of the others I'd helped to escape Xyrus
Academy would be there, safe. The feeling this knowledge gave me was warmth and hope,
pride and fear, happiness and passion all together.

Professor Glory had said that it would take everyone to win this fight. No one could sit it out. We
all had to be prepared to make sacrifices. It would be hard, but if every man, woman, and child
fought back, then we could retake our continent and save our people.

I stopped near the warehouse where I'd said goodbye to Jarrod Redner, my first refugee, to
gaze out at the land we were trying to save.

It really was beautiful. The way the sun shone on the Grand Mountains in the distance, the way
the sky behind them almost turned white…

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White?

Behind the jagged ridge of the mountain range, it was as if the color had been drained from the
sky over Elenoir, but clouds of smoke and dust could be seen drifting over the forest, even from
Xyrus.

There was a glimmer of purple light, and I watched with growing horror as a wave of destruction
grew outward, slowly enveloping Elenoir before being lost behind a black cloud.

MICA EARTHBORN

I floated over the Beast Glades, staring northward. Something in the elven homeland was
releasing enormous amounts of mana. I couldn't see it even with enhanced vision, but I could
feel it.

The sensation was so overwhelming I didn't even notice Aya fly up to hover at my side until she
spoke. "What is it?"

"No clue…"

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We stayed silent, lost in an outpouring of magical power the likes of which we couldn't even
imagine. It felt like someone had ripped open the word and pure mana had started flooding in,
but from the way it ebbed and flowed, I was sure it was a battle.

But who, or what, could be causing it?

Aya suddenly gasped and pressed her hand to her chest. She dropped several feet, so I rushed
down to wrap my arm around her, keeping her from plunging down into the forest.

"What's wrong, Aya?"

Her face was pale, her eyes wide and crazed. She was staring past me toward Elenoir, where
the color seemed to have been leached from the sky.

Then I felt it, an explosion of mana so intense that it made my heart skip a beat. Holding the
elven Lance, I could only watch as a black cloud began filling the white sky. A wall of force and
fire was racing across the Elshire forest toward us, consuming everything in its path.

In my arms, Aya began to scream.

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