The low clouds at the dawn horizon glowed blood red with the approaching sunrise. A crimson taint touched the former D'ronstaq Manor as the glow brightened, and to those walking along the sandy paths formerly tread by slaves, Trainers, and Overlords, it felt like walking on faintly bloodstained ground. To the two Cohorts who emerged from the west side path, the ones who had helped Verano carry the body of Jothan to his final resting place, it seemed appropriate.

They crossed the clearing, passing the quarters of the Elder of the Holy Order, and stopped before the path leading to the Portal building. The two warriors at the head of the path had lifted their staffs and were about to cross them to bar the way when the Cohorts dropped to their knees, bowed their heads, and began to pray.

Soon another Cohort drifted over from the north path, one who had helped Verano dig the graves of his victims. He passed the gate and stopped beside his brethren, knelt, and prayed.

The warriors exchanged a look. Two more Cohorts arrived and joined the first three, making the total five. Then another emerged from the gardens once tended to by the D'ronstaq slaves. Two more became seven and eight, arriving from the path which led to the Circle, where once a confused and scared fourteen year old girl learned what it really meant to live by the choice she had made.

The sun broke the horizon, its golden rays sweeping away the crimson. The congregation had become twelve, all kneeing in total silence, all praying or meditating, as both warriors and other Cohorts looked on in wonder.

No one would dare approach them and ask what they were doing. Prayer was sacrosanct, and nothing dictated where one could do it. Indeed, the goddess taught that all prayer and homage to the gods should be done in a place significant to the supplicant or to the query which was to be asked.

Rolas and Hurus were among the onlookers, and they feigned curiosity along with the rest as they made a slow retreat. Away from the others, they spoke their own prayer in hopes the gods would see fit to spare the innocent.

Verano reached for a piece of fruit, which fell from his trembling fingers halfway to his plate. He forced a quivering smile and snatched the fruit from the table, tossing it onto his plate.

"Is something wrong, Mage Verano?"

Verano's eyes glazed for a moment as he stared across the table. He managed a tiny croaking chuckle. "Oh, um, not at all, Elder Wurlos. Not at all! Just ... just had a little trouble sleeping last night is all."

The squat form of Holy Elder Wurlos nodded once. "I did note you were looking a bit peaked this morning. I hope you are not falling ill."

"I am quite all right, Elder, but thank you for asking!" Verano said in a voice more exuberant than he had intended. He cleared his throat. "Ah, that is ... I was simply, um, awoken unexpectedly last night and had trouble getting back to sleep."

"Please see the Healer if it persists. It is important we keep our plans on track."

"Of course, Elder, of course. It's just ... recent events have everyone a little distraught."

"Nevertheless, our time for mourning has passed." Wurlos paused to chew a piece of bread. "Even the fool will grieve for the fallen, but it is the wise man who knows when to stop and concern himself with the living. That is why the Holy Order wasted little time in sending me here."

"Ah, yes, understood!" Verano glanced at the door. "Ah ... Elder ... I wonder if I might ask a favor of you."

"What is it?"

"I ... I have an errand to run. O-outside the Manor."

The Elder had picked up his goblet of fruit juice but now slowly lowered it. "Oh?"

Verano swallowed. "A ... a-a parcel, arriving by courier. I wish to receive it privately."

The Elder considered. "And you cannot receive it in the Manor?"

"As I said, it's ... i-it's a private matter. A ... uh ... an old friend has died, and he wished me to have some of his personal effects."

"Ah, of course," said Wurlos.

Verano relaxed, though the lie had put a bad taste in his mouth. And yet he had already violated Inonni death rituals several times over, what was one more such deception?

He knew of the Cohorts praying near the Portal building. He still believed he should be among them to atone for his crimes. He forced himself to believe he could still do some good with what he had learned, but he was adamant on one point: no more death by his hands.

"I will inform the guards at the gate to allow you egress," said the Elder.

Verano's lips twitched into an uneasy smile. "Thank you, Elder, you are most kind and understanding."

Katla's eyes darted over the parchment she clutched in her hands like a lifeline. Behind her, several Mages tended the Portal device, keeping it as quiescent as the prodigious energy it had accumulated would allow. Mage Ganno stood before Katla and rocked on his heels as the Portal from the Guild Hall seethed and churned behind him.

"And will this do it?" Katla demanded. She lifted her head. "Will this finally provide the stability we need?"

"I believe it will, yes, Mage Q'yoona," said Ganno. His smile was weak, the excitement of his discovery tempered by his exhaustion, as he had worked through the night.

"I didn't ask you if you believe it will. I asked you if it will."

Ganno paused. "Well, yes ... if it's correct."

"I need to know whether this is correct or not."

The young Mage scratched his head. "Well, we have to test it, of course."

Katla shook her head. "No, we can't."

"What? I don't understand."

"Didn't you hear what Mage Q'kollan told us?" Katla snapped. "The Inonni are watching us!"

"Yes, I know, but--"

Katla gestured at the Portal device. "If we try to run this thing up for a full test, the Inonni will discover what we're doing. And we'd have to let it quiesce for at least three candlemarks to avoid burning it out before we dare run it up once more for the real thing."

Ganno sighed. "I ... I'm pretty sure this will work. I've checked and rechecked the calculations. I had two others check it this morning before I came over. We all think it will work."

Katla looked down at the parchment again. "I can't find any flaw in the mathematics. All right, we'll go with it."

"You can't do that!" cried an older Mage.

"What choice do I have?" Katla shouted back.

"You are putting a great deal of trust in a bunch of numbers, Mage Q'yoona!"

"A bunch of numbers is what got us this far!"

"And yet," said Mage Q'kollan as he stepped between Katla and the older Mage. "Some of those numbers proved to be wrong and had to be corrected."

Ganno looked put out. "I really am pretty sure the calculations are correct."

Q'kollan paused, then sighed and nodded. "And I will have to put my faith in them as well, as Mage Q'yoona is quite correct. We cannot test it without alerting our adversaries."

Katla headed over to the Portal device and summoned one of the Mages tending it. "How long to implement these adjustments?" she said as she handed him the parchment.

The young Mage's eyes scanned the formulae as one of his peers looked over his shoulder. "A candlemark, maybe two."

"Get on it. As soon as you're done, you're to ..." She paused as her voice caught. She swallowed and took a quick, deep breath. " ... you're to start cycling the Portal up to full power. We're going to do it."

The Mages nodded, their expressions a mixture of solemnity and excitement. The one holding the parchment turned to the others. "All right, you heard her, let's get on it!"

Katla wrenched her eyes from the glowing energies of the Portal. She took another deep breath before she turned away and marched back to the remaining members of her team. "It's a go for this morning. I want anyone not essential to the final preparations to head back to the Guild Hall with Ganno, but don't take anything with you."

"Wait, what?" cried one of the younger Mages.

"But I brought my lucky quills, I've had them for ages!" another whined.

"I said leave them!" Katla cried. "If anyone is watching us, and they see us suddenly carrying everything away, they'll think something is up. This way, they'll think we're just ... I don't know, headed back for a meeting or something. Now, please, get going, now."

As the others trudged away, Q'kollan said, "That was good thinking, Mage Q'yoona."

Katla rounded on him. "What are you still doing here? I meant you, too! Get back to the Guild Hall."

Q'kollan glanced at the Mages stepping into the Portal back to the Guild Hall. "I had assumed I would remain in a advisory role a little longer if--"

"You can't advise me any more, Mage Q'kollan, though ..." She lowered her voice. "... I appreciate the gesture."

Q'kollan slowly smiled and clasped Katla's arm. "Good luck to you, and I fully expect to see you back in the Guild Hall by this afternoon safe and sound."

Katla smiled back, but her eyes misted. She fought back tears and clasped his arm in return, then watched as he joined the others. This was her last chance to back down. Once the Portal closed, the next one would not open until summoned with her focusing pearl. It would be a special Portal, adjusted to allow it to operate better in the interference generated after Katla triggered the cascade.

"Now or never," she whispered as the line of Mages was down to the last, Q'kollan himself. Her heart pounded as he paused, looked back at her, and finally stepped through. A breath later, the Portal closed with a resounding boom.

Katla felt her insides unclench. She had made her decision. The agony of the moment had passed. She approached the Mages still working on the device. "All right, let's see how quickly we can get this done ..."

The Inonni agent appeared at the perimeter of the camp and was recognized and admitted into the clearing by the warriors patrolling its periphery. Yet when he tried to approach Mage Rellenu, another agent stepped in his path.

"I have urgent news," said the first agent.

"It will wait," said the second. "Can you not see the Honored Mage is busy?"

The first agent looked past the second. Rellenu was facing the direction of the Oceanus Mage camp, his hands raised, holding a brightly glowing pearl.

"He is taking readings of the Oceanus Portal device," explained the second agent. "What news have you?"

"I have witnessed a great many of the Oceanus Mages leaving."

"Their belongings as well?"

"No, only themselves. I did not see any evidence they were breaking camp, but I have never seen so many leave at once."

"Who is left?"

"The young female Mage we believe is coordinating their efforts, plus three of her close associates. Before the others left, they appeared to hold a discussion over a parchment."

"Did you hear what was said or see what was on the parchment?"

The first agent shook his head. "While the Honored Mage was instrumental in negating enough of their anti-approach wards, he has yet been able to completely deactivate many of the anti-spying wards. I hear little more than a soft buzz when I try to listen and attempts to use a distance-viewer are still blurred."

"No matter. That is what these readings are for. Their anti-spying wards are too weak to block Portal energies."

Both agents looked towards Rellenu as the glow in his pearl faded. When the Mage lowered his arms, the agents approached. "Honored Mage, this one brings news," said the second agent.

The Mage listened as the first agent repeated his report. Rellenu started nodding his head halfway through. "Yes, yes, obviously they are up to something," he said, his voice betraying a trace of impatience. "I can sense the Portal energies building up towards something. As to what end I am not yet sure, but it cannot be good, not when the bulk of their Mages have retreated."

The first agent looked thoughtful. "Because they fear a danger?"

"Exactly! Whatever they are doing, it is considered dangerous enough to risk as few lives as possible."

"What is the danger to us?" asked the second agent.

"I still do not know." He put the pearl away, then reached into another pocket and pulled out his Farviewing pearl. "But once I do, you can be sure Elder Iridus will not hesitate to act."

From a concealed position in the underbrush at the edge of the clearing, Jollis lowered the blue pearl from his ear as Rellenu concluded his conversation with the agents. He kept his eyes trained on the Mage and noted which pocket into which he placed the Farviewing pearl.

He was fortunate they had not thought to put their own anti-spying wards this close to their camp. He had picked up every word of the conversation, and he could see almost the entire clearing. He had observed the two warriors patrolling the perimeter and confirmed they were no more than an honor guard. They would be no less trained; he would have to dispatch at least one at the same time he killed Rellenu. Jollis found this plan most distasteful. The warrior was only doing his duty. He was an innocent in this war.

In war, men die. Jollis had learned the former Lord Tarras K'riis had once said this to the current Oceanus Emperor. The Inonni prided themselves on training their warriors to minimize unnecessary death. The idea that Elder Yurton may have been correct, that sacrifices must be made to a greater good, disturbed him. But was Jollis' version of good greater than any other?

Jollis' heart felt heavy, and he doubted it would ever lighten. He wanted to believe he had the tacit approval of the gods, but this did little more than help him remain focused. It did nothing to ease the guilt or the horror.

What would Amanda think? Surely the death and destruction to be wrought by the Oceanus Mages would sicken her. Or had her heart chilled enough to celebrate this blow against the Inonni? And what would she think if she knew Jollis had helped strike the blow? For some reason, that was important to him.

Jollis lay low in the grass and became motionless as a warrior passed. He waited, and did his best to quiesce his disturbing thoughts.

The three young Mages stepped away from the Portal device. "There," one of them said in a voice of both awe and trepidation. "It's done."

Katla had never taken her eyes from the device. She stared at the gold-crimson energies which churned with furious vigor. They had somehow bottled a tempest in a manner which bordered on insanity. Once she applied the trigger, it would breach the continuum and draw raw power from the transdimensional realm. The energy would feed back on itself, like a massive chain reaction. If it did not surge outward towards the other Portals, it would have nowhere else to go.

No one spoke. They remained still and stared as Katla did. Only when the energies remained contained and stable did their tension ease.

"All right," Katla heard herself say, and held out her hands.

One of the Mages placed a control crystal in her right hand. Another placed a device similar to the one Ganno used in her left. Katla's gaze remained fixed on the device, as if the swirl of energy had entranced her.

"Now, get to the spot we arranged," she said. "Summon the Portal. Leave the focus on the ground and step through."

She heard no movement in the moments which followed. Finally, one of them spoke. "Are you sure you don't want at least one of us to remain to--"

"Do not argue with me!" Katla cried. "Go! Now!"

After another moment's hesitation, she heard their retreating footfalls. She waited what seemed like an eternity before she heard the faint crack of thunder which signaled the Portal opening. Only then did she tear her gaze from the device and turn around. The Portal looked so far away, tiny and impotent. She witnessed the last of the three step through, and then it sat, energy coruscating around its periphery, standing perfect and stable as if in mockery of her.

Katla swallowed and turned back to the Portal device. She let go the breath she had been holding as she raised the control crystal and stepped forward. Her arm tingled, and her feet buzzed as the ground thrummed. She gave the crystal a slow twist, and energy surged and spun faster. A low roar rose briefly, shaking the nearby trees, then subsided. Then again. And again.

She glanced down at her left hand and watched the glowing gemstones slide along the strings. The first part had been successful; she had tapped the continuum. More energy was surging inward, but it was heading out just as fast, accumulating in unseen forks along the paths to the other Portals. Three had formed so far. Now a fourth.

Katla flinched when she saw a flash of blue-white. It subsided quickly, but it was not a good sign. She quelled the urge to look back towards the escape Portal and continued her work.

Jollis saw Rellenu step out of his tent and raise the glowing pearl for the fourth time that morning. And as before, Jollis tensed, his hand on the throwing knives at his belt. He did not need the listening spell pearl, as he had assessed this Mage. Rellenu did not hide his emotions well. Jollis would know the moment that ...

He caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He did not let it distract him but noted it. An agent was running into the camp in a most animated manner. Jollis was grateful for the additional warning. He steeled himself.

"Great gods!" came Rellenu's shocked cry.

Before the expletive had left the Mage's lips, light flashed off steel in mid-air. Rellenu found he could not draw his next breath. He staggered, blood and saliva gurgling from his mouth as his trembling hand brushed the hilt of the knife now buried in his neck. His hand fell away as the life drained from his eyes, and he slumped to the ground.

Less than a breath later, a warrior fell to his knees, a glistening scarlet stain expanding across his chest from the knife buried within. Even as he fell, a third knife whipped through the crisp air, only to clang against the end of the second warrior's staff as he surged towards Jollis.

Jollis bolted across the clearing towards the body of the fallen Mage, where an agent scrabbled for the Farview pearl. Jollis tucked into a roll when he spotted a glint of reflected light. An agent's knife whizzed by his cheek while another grazed his shin, leaving a bright crimson trail.

Jollis came out of the tumble. The agent had the Farview pearl and was about to activate it. Jollis' booted foot cracked against the agent's hand and launched the pearl upward, where it became lost against the azure sky. Jollis instead let his magic sense guide him. He whirled around and landed a kick to the sternum of another agent, then stretched his hand out as he came out of the spin. The Farview pearl bounced off the tips of his fingers, and he was forced to unbalance himself to catch it.

His lack of balance saved him. The remaining warrior had arrived and swung his staff to deliver a fatal blow to Jollis' head. Instead, it struck his shoulder. Pain exploded at the point of impact, but the joint itself still moved.

Jollis fell to the ground, feigned greater injury, then struck. With a sweep of his legs, he knocked the warrior's feet out from under him while shoving the purloined pearl into his pocket. As the warrior fell, he brought the staff down and cracked it against Jollis' left arm.

Jollis both heard and felt his bone break. He clamped down on his emotional response so the white-hot pain would not reach him yet. With his good arm he wrenched the staff partially from the warrior's grip and landed a kick to the warrior's face. The warrior's nose exploded in blood, momentarily blinding him.

Jollis pulled the staff completely from the warrior's hands and sprang to his feet. He sank the end into the belly of an agent who rushed him, knocking the wind from him, and cracked it over the skull of the second. He spun on his heel and ran.

Sweat poured from Katla's face. The hand clutching the control crystal was almost numb, the rest of her arm tingling pins and needles. Inside the column, blotches of blue-white sparked and snapped with distressing and increasing regularity. She felt energy leaking from its surface, threatening to sink into her head and disturb her own sense of time and space.

Breathing hard, she looked at her left hand. Eight forks now. The last attempt had to be stopped here, when the blowback had nearly killed her. Ganno's changes were having no apparent effect, but she had no choice; she had to continue. Her heart pounding, she twisted the control crystal once more.

Suddenly, brilliant blue-white light flashed as bright as the sun, and a peal of thunder shook the ground like an earthquake. For a moment she had the crazy thought someone had just opened another Portal right next to her until she realized the flash had come from above. She looked up and gasped at the sight.

Lightning danced and forked into the sky from the top of the Portal device. She could not understand this bizarre behavior until she noticed that all the blue-white flashes within the Portal device itself were gone. Katla actually laughed. Clever Ganno! He had not so much compensated for the blowback as redirected it!

She looked back at her left hand. Nine complete paths, and now the tenth was forming. Once the tenth was complete, she had to breach the continuum and channel its awesome power all at once, or the incoming energy would have nowhere to go. She had to direct it into the ten target Portal devices. Ten harbingers of death.

Her stomach churned, and she tasted the acid sting of bile. She swallowed it back down as the Portal device suddenly gave another roar which would not abate. The tenth path had formed, and the continuum had been breached. Raw transdimensional energy surged in a furious rush towards the Portal device.

"Now or never," Katla whispered, and gave the crystal one final twist.

Elder Wurlos did not need any new distractions, but as the candlemarks ticked away and the odd gathering of praying Cohorts had not dispersed, he felt the need to investigate.

It was a fine morning. Spring was about to turn to summer, and the humid tropical air was most agreeable to his chronic bronchitis. The sun was warm against his face, and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves in soft, soothing cadence. As much as he, of all people, understood the need for prayer, surely they would want to enjoy a lovely day like this?

The Elder approached the group, his hands folded before him. They all faced the path to the Portal device. A curious choice of location, he thought. He stepped before them and raised his arms. He was about to address them when he heard running feet and a shout behind him.

"Energy surge in the Portal! Get back! Get--"

In the next breath, the shouter, the praying Cohorts, the warrior guards, and the Elder were consumed in the light of a thousand suns.

The flash was silent at first, a brilliant burst of blinding light and heat. In an instant, the trees, gardens, and the thatch roofs of the slave quarters across the former Overlord Manor combusted into bright red flame. The stone archway at the entrance to the circle was charred black in the space of half a breath. The milky skylights of the Healer office dripped molten to the floor.

The flames were snuffed out in the next instant. A blast of wind mightier than any hurricane spread out in a murderous roar, toppling trees like matchsticks. What had not been burned was blasted apart. The wind reached the southwest corner of the Manor, a place Amanda and Sirinna had called home for so long. Its charred husk groaned and crashed to the beach behind it, bits swept up by the waves and carried out to sea.

The wind suddenly reversed and howled back towards the site of the explosion as the fireball rose into the sky. It gathered the detritus of its terrible destruction and boiled up into a column of red-black whose top spread out into a mushroom-shape.

As the cloud rose and the fireball cooled, Rolas and Hurus, who had taken refuge in the furthest reaches of the Manor just outside the worst of the destruction, now ventured forth and looked on in both horror and awe.

The Oceanus Mages had been correct. No one on Narlass had units of measurement for this sort of power and destruction. Earth did, but they would have been equally meaningless to them; without the proper context, the phrase "five kilotons" would have sounded like so much nonsense.

Katla staggered back from the Portal device, the crystal falling from her tired fingers and shattering on impact with the ground. It didn't matter; the deed was done. The breach had been sealed, but the remaining energies were circling back to the Portal device.

Lightning still cracked and danced overhead, but this relief valve had reached its limit. Streaks of blue-white ripped through the gold. Soon the device would reach its limit as well, and the remaining energy would be released, wiping out this Portal as it had the others.

Katla started towards the open escape Portal, and fear gripped her so hard that it held her in place. The Portal which had seemed so stable and sure before now rippled and flickered. Forks of dangerous feedback energy cracked across its surface. Within, the sides of the tunnel were milky and wavering.

Katla tried to run and pitched forward to the ground, as her feet had gone numb from the energy leakage of the device. She stumbled forward in desperate lunges as the destabilizing Portal device behind her let off loud bangs as containment spells failed. With each spell that broke, the Portal back to the Guild Hall destabilized further.

Finally, as she was about to pour every ounce of her waning strength into a final sprint to the Portal, it sizzled, collapsed, and vanished.

Katla let out an anguished shriek and collapsed to the ground. She clamped her hands over her ears as the Portal device roared, its energies now nearly completely consumed by blinding blue-white.

"I'm sorry, Uroddus," Katla whimpered as tears dripped from her eyes.

Uroddus stood stone still, staring at the now deactivated Portal within the Guild Hall. He had not moved since it had collapsed, and the assembled Mages made not a sound.

Finally, Q'kollan stepped forward. "I am sorry, Guildmaster," he said in a soft voice, which sounded loud in the stark silence. "We could not hold it open any longer, there was just too much interference. Even if we had, it would not have been safe to ..."

Uroddus raised a single hand, his gaze still frozen on the spent Portal. He took a deep breath and let it go, which rattled slightly as it passed his lips. He marched out of the room, affording no one so much as a glance, ignoring all outstretched hands of support.

Q'kollan sighed in the Guildmaster's wake. Mage Ganno stepped up to him. "Master Q'kollan? We should tell him Katla was successful. We're getting reports of large explosions all over--"

"Later. Let him grieve first."

Ganno went pale. "Surely you don't think ... I-I mean she ..."

He fell silent, staring at the others, who would not return his gaze. He swallowed and turned away.

Jollis had returned to his makeshift encampment behind the low ridge, but he had no intention of staying there.

The others were gone. Without the Farview pearl to Iridus, their only contact was Kyllos, who had immediately opened a Portal and retrieved them safely. Jollis imagined Kyllos would go through the motions of contacting Iridus, as he would be forced to play the role, but in hopes it was already too late.

Jollis had not bothered to splint his arm, for soon it would not matter; he intended to die when the final Portal exploded. He felt he had done the right thing, but he bore the permanent stain of blood on his hands. He had to atone for consigning many of his own people to death, as well as those he had killed in the past under the misguided belief he was following the right path.

Jollis emerged from behind the ridge and sprinted past the clearing and towards the Portal device. This was the only way the burden upon his heart would be lifted. He would be purified in the fires of the Portal's destruction, and his soul laid bare for final judgment. He felt a sense of excitement, as he would learn what the gods really thought of his actions.

And he would meet the goddess.

The Inonni had no concept of "hell." They did not believe anyone deserved eternal torment regardless of his crimes. But all sins must be atoned, either here or in the afterlife. Such atonement can take a very long time as to be the virtual equivalent of eternity. Yet it was worth it if he could gaze upon the visage of the goddess and be told his intentions had been just.

Jollis' ears were ringing by the time he reached the edge of the Oceanus Mage camp. The roar of the bloated energies of the Portal device would not cease until they were released. He tried to look upon it, but it glowed with the brightness of the sun. He thought it a thing of beauty, a purifying light, a ...

His eyes saw movement and darted to the side, where a young woman lay prone some distance from the Portal device. With a moan and a shudder, she rolled onto her back as he ran to her, her cheeks shiny with tears. As he crouched beside her, her eyes flew open, and she bolted to a seated position with a loud gasp.

"Y-you!" Katla croaked. "N-no, just ... get away from me!"

"I wish only to see if you are all right," Jollis said, having to raise his voice above the din.

"You and your people have done enough!" Katla screamed.

Jollis smiled. "Apparently, my reputation precedes me."

"Shut up. I don't want to hear it! Just l-let me die in peace. Just leave me alone!"

Jollis had wished the same for himself. Yet if he did so when he knew he was capable of providing possible shelter to another, he would have stained his soul with yet more death. "Believe what you wish about my people and I. I will do nothing to change your mind. But if you desire a chance to speak of the blow you have landed against your enemy, you will follow me."

Katla's eyes widened. She let out a cry and shivered when the Portal device let off another great bang as cracks spidered across its crystal lattice. "Wh-why should I trust you? How do I know you're not just leading me to a Portal so you can capture me and--"

"A distinct lack of Portals in the vicinity indicates your Guild Hall is unable to open one because of the interference. While Inonni Portal technology is advanced, it also cannot penetrate this interference. I do not guarantee safety, I only offer a possibility. I will not force you in any way. As I have a broken arm, I cannot carry you. Follow, or follow not."

Jollis stood and started away. Katla hesitated, her eyes darting to the Portal device once more before she bolted to her feet and jogged after him. Once Jollis saw she was following, he gestured and started to run.

"This way!" Jollis shouted as they passed through the former Inonni camp and approached the low ridge. "Behind here! You go first."

Katla came around the side and hesitated.

"You must lie face-down," Jollis said.

"But ... but why are you doing this? Why--?"

The ground shook as the roar from the Portal device became a rolling thunder. Jollis seized her arm, ignoring the searing pain in his own, and threw her to the ground. She started to push herself back up, spitting mud and dirt, when Jollis fell atop her.

The forest erupted in a blinding concussion of light.

When the light faded, everything glowed in a maelstrom of flame, charred embers already falling to the ground around them. The back of Jollis' shirt was charred black, the skin beneath seared and blistering.

The next moment, his hearing vanished. He felt rather than heard the pull of the howling wind blasting skin laid raw by the thermal pulse. He felt the ground shake as trees fell in quick succession.

Slowly, his hearing returned, but all he could hear was the roar of a tidal wave of destruction. The air seemed to grow suddenly still, but within less than a breath it was sucked back towards the rising fireball. His sides and face were smacked and cut by debris as they were dragged along the ground. Katla had turned her face away from it, but he cradled her head to protect her cranium from the most serious blows.

The wind fell. What flames had not been snuffed out by the shock wave now leapt into the burning sky. Wood crackled and spat, and the air smelled of charred wood and flesh. Jollis let out a ragged sigh; he would live after all. Perhaps his atonement was to be paid here on Narlass.

The thought shattered what little willpower remained. Pain ripped and screamed through his body. He was barely aware of Katla stirring under him when he passed out.

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