The light was unbearable—pure, relentless, burning like the heart of a star. They all shielded their eyes, stumbling and cursing, thrown into a chaos of brightness and deafening silence. Not a soul among them could see a thing. Not Von with his warrior instincts. Not Jason with his quick reflexes. Not Sophia, whose eyes were usually the sharpest of them all. Everything was swallowed in white.
They groaned as they picked themselves off the stone floor, the ground still hot and quivering beneath their boots. Debris lay scattered around them—chunks of the courtyard cracked and thrown wide, smoke hissing from fractures. Sera leaned on Jason, her legs unsteady. Marcus still had one arm protectively around Mariel, whose eyes were squinting against the brilliance, half-dazed.
Only one was missing.
"Liam?" Sophia called out weakly, staggering forward with her arm outstretched, blinking rapidly as the light began to dim.
