Both were about to unleash an attack that would annihilate the entire battlefield. The sky was divided, one half a brilliant, burning sunlight, the other a dark, violent tempest.
Then, in a single, impossible moment, everything froze.
The charging soldiers, the whipping banners, the swirling clouds, the crackling lightning, the coalescing fire—all of it stopped, a frozen tableau of imminent destruction.
A single, soundless step was taken on the battlefield, and a piercing voice, full of an ancient and absolute authority, echoed not in their ears, but in their very souls.
"Stop this madness. Now."
...
Iris jolted awake.
