Myriam screamed again as she crawled her way to Kai, while I finally reached the paragon, seemingly unnoticed. As far as I could tell in the blinding light, the thing standing in front of me had nothing left of the person who used to be a paragon. By some kind of incantation, my brother had turned his former friend and guard into a meat-sack, now useful only as a means of carrying his own vessel.

I tossed the magical hourglass at the paragon’s chest and saw it land and settle between his stomach and my brother’s body. There was roughly half a minute left to see whether my plan would play out and save us, hoping that my people would take care of them back at the tower, or whether we would all die a horrible death only to be later praised as martyrs by the Order.

I walked in the general direction of Myriam, following a path of blood on the ground. A few seconds later, I saw her, laying on top of Kai. My brother’s voice was now chanting a spell I could not recognize. Myriam was constantly being jolted with lightning as she tried to rid Kai of the net holding him in place.

Haad’s voice became louder and faster as he progressed through whatever that spell of his was. I sensed the urgency in his voice, counting down the words, unable to do anything to slow him down. Instead, I touched Myriam’s back and tried to absorb as much of her pain as possible.

The currents flowing from the net into her now found their way into my body through my palms and ended up hitting me on my back instead. At first, I thought someone had punched me from behind. But there was nobody standing there, and yet another stronger punch hit me.

Just a few more moments.

Haad’s voice was now reaching its peak, both in loudness and in the speed he was chanting. By my estimations, this spell was probably a 2048-word one, and he was most certainly around the thousand-word mark. My flesh started burning and I could see smoke rising from below my robes.

I felt my skin crack and open. I clenched my eyes and teeth for a little longer but time seemed to stop in the midst of my agony.

My brother’s voice could not be heard anymore, yet the pain continued.

He must have completed his spell.

I tried opening my eyes but could only see bright white everywhere. I took a moment, attempting to listen to what was happening around me, but the ringing in my ears from Haad’s incantation didn’t leave room for anything else to get into my ears.

Not being able to see or hear, I squeezed Myriam’s back with my hands and prepared to meet my final destiny. I thought of my sister and my friends back in the tower. My communication earrings didn’t function in the forest, so there was no way to say my goodbyes. No way to give them closure.

I waited for what seemed like hours, but nothing happened. Myriam wasn’t moving and I cursed myself for not creating a party with her earlier. However, even though I couldn’t see her, I could feel that she was breathing.

I fumbled around, trying to find Kai, and realized there was no net around him anymore. The pain I was still feeling was probably the direct cause of holding on to Kai’s trap through Myriam.

I attempted to look around me, but the flashing white had barely receded from my sight. There were now occasional dark spots in my field of view, and I was certain that the whiteness was a lingering effect of the bright lights Haad put us under. At least my eyesight were slowly returning to normal.

“Myriam,” I said, and heard my own voice as if coming from a distance. “Myriam, are you alright?”

She didn’t respond, so I reached into my bag and retrieved a potion that would heal her physical wounds. I uncorked the pyramid-shaped bottle, grabbed her mouth with my free hand, and administered the potion to her. I couldn’t see whether she was swallowing it, but I could feel around her mouth and found little to no liquid having escaped her.

Maybe my plan had actually worked. In any case, I could do nothing more now but wait for my senses to return. I administered a healing potion to Kai as well and sat on the floor, waiting for something to happen.

“Kai?” I heard Myriam’s distant voice say as she shuffled herself off the ground. “You’re alright!”

“I’m fine too,” I joked. “Can’t really hear much, or see anything, but fine nonetheless.”

I felt a sudden weight fall onto me and realized Myriam was hugging me tightly.

“What happened?” she asked, and I heard the beginning of a healing spell being chanted.

“I had an extra teleportation hourglass,” I admitted with guilt. “I snuck it on the paragon who was holding the body of Haad. I guessed that by teleporting them back, his soul would have to follow his body.”

I heard the chant end and felt my hearing return to me in full. My eyes swiftly adjusted to the natural darkness of the forest, but the only thing I could focus on was Myriam kneeling above me.

“You had a way out,” she said, as she hugged me even more tightly, “and you used your last shot to save us.”

“I made a promise to help you,” I replied, as she ended our embrace. “I haven’t fulfilled my promise yet.”

“Would the others be alright?” she asked.

“I’m sure they will,” I answered confidently.

Myriam now moved to pick up Kai who was still on the ground. His skin had some scorch marks where the net had held him but the wounds were not there anymore.

“Looks like there isn’t much for me to heal here,” Myriam said, as she shook Kai gently by the shoulders.

Almost immediately, Kai opened his eyes and tried to back away by kicking his feet on the ground.

“It’s okay,” Myriam reassured him. “They’re gone. Adel made sure of it.”

“That priest,” Kai whispered, “the spell he was casting. I felt so cold. So alone and afraid.”

“The important thing is that we stopped him,” I interjected, “and knowing where he is going, I doubt he will find his way back here soon.”

“Was that Haad, your brother?” Myriam asked.

“Yes, technically,” I said, and sighed. “The brother you might have seen when he visited us in Nara was a different person. Haad, the fourth archon, is a fanatic, hellsbent on restoring The Divine by any means necessary.”

“He’s incredibly powerful,” Myriam admitted. “I could barely look at the sky when he transformed into whatever that bright light was.”

“I wasn’t even able to turn my face upward,” I said. “But for all his spells and powers, I pulled the same trick on him twice.”

“Are you sure they can’t return, Adel?” Kai asked in a worried tone.

“I’m absolutely sure of it,” I replied confidently. “At this very moment, my people have probably chained them up with mana-nullifiers and are taking them to the authorities in Leka An.”

“They were probably waiting for us here,” Myriam said, as she looked at the steady upstream of purple lights in front of her. “How are you feeling, Kai?”

“I’m fine, I think,” he said and checked his body for any cuts or bruises.

“Are you ready for the ritual?” Myriam asked.

“Yes,” he said, and stepped in front of the Tree. “Let’s finish this.”