The camp was a whirlwind of confusion and urgency as the group grappled with the aftermath of the attack. Lyralei clutched a salvaged tome to her chest, her eyes darting between her companions. "What in the name of the ancients was that?" she demanded, her voice sharp with fear. "Finnian—what was he out there?"
Gareth, methodically checking a blade's edge, snorted without looking up. "Looked like a bloody god waking up, if you ask me. Never seen power like that."
Kira, pacing the perimeter like a caged predator, paused to fix Seraphina with a hard stare. "Who is he?"
Zara, her usual brightness dimmed, fidgeted with a half-packed satchel. "He's still Finnian, isn't he? I mean, he's not… something else now, right?"
Seraphina stood at the edge of the firelight, Her expression was unreadable, but her silence spoke volumes. "I don't have answers for you," she admitted finally.
"That's not good enough," Gareth snapped, slamming a dagger into its sheath. He stood, towering over the group, his face set in a scowl. "We're leaving at first light, Seraphina, and he's not coming with us. I don't care what he is or what's after him. I can't leave with him and risk encountering who sent those shadow soldiers. You're on your own now."
Lyralei stepped forward, her jaw tight. "Gareth, we can't just abandon them now! What if he's dangerous? What if he can't control it?"
Kira's eyes narrowed, but she nodded. "Gareth's right. We can't stay here, and we can't bring him along either. Whatever he is, he will have to figure out on his own."
Zara hesitated, then added quietly, "I'm afraid but they are right."
Lyralei's shoulders sagged, her argument lost against the group's resolve. Seraphina met Gareth's gaze, her own eyes steady. "First light, then."
*****
Seraphina found Finnian sitting apart from the others, staring at the blade across his knees with an expression of mingled fascination and fear.
"You're afraid of it now," she observed, settling beside him on a snow-covered boulder.
"Shouldn't I be?" Finnian replied without looking up. "You saw what happened. That wasn't me."
Seraphina was quiet for a long moment, her celestial senses still picking up traces of the divine power that had erupted from him. "Tell me what you felt when it happened."
Finnian's hands tightened on the sword's hilt. "Like I was drowning in liquid fire. Like something vast and ancient was trying to pour itself into a vessel too small to hold it."
He finally looked at her, and she saw genuine terror in his eyes. "For a moment, I understood things—terrible things about the nature of existence, about power, about what gods really are. And I wanted to remake everything according to that understanding."
"That's the danger of uncontrolled divine awakening," Seraphina said carefully. "Divine consciousness operates on scales that mortal minds aren't equipped to handle. Without proper training, without understanding the limitations of flesh and spirit, it can consume everything that makes you human."
"Is that what's going to happen to me?" Finnian asked. "Am I going to lose myself to whatever's inside me?"
Seraphina considered her words carefully. The truth was complex, and some of it he wasn't ready to hear. "That depends on you." She said simply. "But that's a conversation for another time. Right now, we need to focus on keeping you alive long enough to learn control."
She stood, brushing snow from her robes. "We leave at first light. The person who sent those shadow soldiers will be coming, and when he arrives, I don't want to be anywhere within a hundred miles of this place."
"What about the others?" Finnian asked.
"They're leaving us behind," she said quietly.
Finnian's head snapped up, his eyes wide. "What? Why?"
"They're afraid," Seraphina replied, her voice calm but heavy. "What you did back there—what you became—it's too much for them. They don't understand it, and they don't trust it."
Finnian's hands tightened on the sword's hilt. "I don't understand it either."
"I don't blame them." Seraphina's expression darkened. "The magical signature on those creatures—it's unmistakable. Only one being commands shadows with that kind of power and malice. His name is Kael Vorthak, and he's a bounty hunter feared by even emperors."
"Why me?" Finnian asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Because you'll have a beautiful price on your head now," Seraphina said grimly.
"We leave at first light, just the two of us. The others will go their own way, but we'll find a safe place to begin your training. There's no time to waste."
*******
The portal pulsed once behind her as Mrs Ravenswood stepped into the ruined courtyard.
She froze.
Her boots sank into a half-melted patch of stone. The sanctuary's great arch — once shielded by enchantments and radiant glyphs — now hung cracked and scorched. Two of the defensive pylons had been shattered. Burned sigils flickered on the walls, struggling to stay alight.
Mrs Ravenswood moved forward cautiously. Her coat was torn at the sleeve and marked with someone else's blood, but she barely felt the bruises. Her mind was too focused on the signs — magical disruption, burn patterns, deep-force impacts. Someone had attacked this place hard.
And someone inside had fought back.
Finnian.
She moved faster now, crossing the chamber with practiced silence. Broken shards of shadow-armor lay scattered near the walls — obsidian with veins of nightmare energy. She knelt beside one, tracing a faint pulse still embedded in the surface. A shadow wraith, just like the ones from the Outlands — but dead. Destroyed.
Elena stood, exhaling slowly. "You held your ground, didn't you?"
The main halls were quiet.
She reached Seraphina's room.
Empty.
Gone.
Not "stepped out" gone. The furniture had been stripped, the walls scrubbed of arcane residue. No trace of the sorceress's energy signature lingered.
Except… something faint on a wooden frame.
Elena crossed the chamber, crouched low. Her fingers brushed over the frame revealing symbols. Her lips moved, murmuring an unlocking spell from another life, their meaning becoming clear as daylight.
"Thank goodness," she breathed. "I'll be with you soon Finn, just hold on."