Sera's POV
I land in a place that shouldn't exist.
The ground beneath me is made of silver mist. The sky above cycles through day and night every few seconds. In the distance, mountains rise and fall like breathing creatures.
Welcome to the In between, the Witness says, appearing beside me. Where time has no meaning and reality bends to will. This is where you'll train.
How do I get back to my friends? I demand. They need me now!
For them, no time has passed yet. For you, training begins immediately. She gestures, and the mist solidifies into a training ground. First lesson: control. You have power but no discipline. That's dangerous.
I don't have time for lessons! My mother is
Your mother has been For saken for twenty-three years. One more night won't matter. The Witness's voice turns hard. But if you face her without training, she'll turn you Forsaken too. Then everyone dies.
The words hit like ice water. She's right. I need this.
What do I have to do?
Survive. The Witness snaps her fingers.
The ground drops away. I'm falling through silver mist that suddenly feels like knives cutting my skin. I scream and reach for my power
Nothing happens.
Your power is locked, the Witness's voice echoes around me. Find it. Unlock it. Or fall forever.
Panic floods through me. I'm falling and falling and my power won't work and I'm going to die
No. Stop. Think.
I close my eyes and search inside myself for that seed of divine power the Witness mentioned. It's there, buried deep, wrapped in layers of fear and doubt.
I tear through those layers. I refuse to be afraid. I refuse to doubt.
The power ignites.
Silver light erupts from my body. I stop falling and hover in the mist.
Good, the Witness says, appearing in front of me. First lesson complete. You found your power under pressure. Now let's see if you can use it.
She attacks me.
No warning. Just a blast of pure energy that sends me flying backward. I crash into solid mist and gasp in pain.
Fight back! she commands.
I throw silver light at her. She deflects it easily.
Weak. Again.
I attack. She blocks.
Predictable. Again.
Attack. Block. Attack. Block.
She's toying with me. Each time I try, she counters effortlessly.
You're thinking like a mortal, she says. Limited. Small. You have the power of a Guardian now. Stop fighting like you're helpless.
I am helpless against you!
Then you'll die. She hits me with another blast that feels like being crushed by a mountain.
I collapse, coughing blood onto the silver mist. Everything hurts.
Get up, the Witness says coldly.
I can't.
Then your friends will become Forsaken. Your mother will destroy the world. And freedom will turn into chaos eternal. Get. Up.
I think of Cassian's face as the portal closed. I love you.
I think of Lyra, always believing in me.
I think of Kael, who protected me even when poisoned.
I think of my father, who finally chose me.
I get up.
This time when I attack, I don't think about what's possible. I just believe. I imagine my power as something limitless, and suddenly it is.
The silver light explodes from me in a wave so powerful it pushes the Witness back.
Her eyes widen. Yes. Like that.
We train for what feels like weeks. She teaches me to shape my power into shields, weapons, even healing energy. She teaches me to see the threads that connect all living things. She teaches me to move faster than thought.
And she teaches me the truth about the Forsaken.
They're not pure evil, she explains during a rest. They're suffering. Your mother has been conscious inside her Forsaken body for twenty-three years, watching herself hurt people, unable to stop. That's their curse awareness without control.
Can I save her? I ask desperately.
Perhaps. If you can sever the Forsaken connection without killing her. But it's never been done. The Witness looks at me seriously. And if you hesitate, if you choose to save her over stopping her, she'll turn you. Then you'll both be monsters.
What would you do?
I would end her suffering. The Witness's voice is gentle but firm. Sometimes the kindest thing is to let go.
I don't want to accept that. But I know she might be right.
The training continues. I learn to fight multiple opponents at once. I learn to shield dozens of people simultaneously. I learn to channel so much power it feels like I might explode then I learn to control that feeling.
Finally, the Witness says: You're ready. Time to return.
How long has it been?
For you? Thirty days. For them she opens a portal showing the cave where I left my friends, about thirty seconds.
I see through the portal: the boulder has just started to crack. The Forsaken haven't broken through yet.
I can still save them.
One last warning, the Witness says. Your mother will know you've become stronger. She'll try to break you emotionally first. She'll use your love against you.
I'll be ready.
Will you? The Witness looks sad. When she speaks with your mother's voice, remembers your mother's memories, cries your mother's tears will you be strong enough to do what's necessary?
I don't answer. I can't.
I step through the portal.
I land back in the cave just as the boulder shatters completely.
My friends spin around in shock. For them, I just disappeared and reappeared instantly.
Sera! Cassian gasps. How
No time! I shout. Get behind me!
The Forsaken pour through the broken entrance. Hundreds of them, twisted and gray and reaching with grasping hands.
And leading them is my mother.
She looks like the paintings I've seen. Beautiful once. Now her skin is gray stone, her eyes empty voids. But when she sees me, something flickers in those voids. Recognition.
Sera, she says in a voice like breaking glass. My baby girl. You're so beautiful.
My heart clenches. Mom?
I've waited so long to see you. To hold you. She reaches out. Come to me. Let me embrace you like I couldn't when you were small.
Every instinct screams at me to run to her. This is my mother. The woman who sacrificed herself trying to free me from prophecy.
Don't, the Witness's voice echoes in my memory. It's a trap.
I raise my hands, silver light blazing. Stay back.
Sera, what are you doing? Cassian asks behind me.
That's my mother, I whisper. The Forsaken leader. She's my mother.
Shock ripples through everyone.
My mother smiles a terrible, broken smile. He told you. The god's assassin told you my secret. She looks at Nyx with hatred. You always ruin everything.
I'm sorry, Nyx says quietly. For what I did to you. For all of it.
Sorry? My mother laughs, and it sounds like screaming. You turned me into this! You stole twenty-three years of my life!
I was following orders
And now I follow different orders. From the Chaos. Her empty eyes lock onto me. It whispers to me, daughter. It tells me secrets. It says if I turn you Forsaken, if I corrupt the one who freed the universe, the Chaos will have a vessel. It will pour into you and reshape reality into eternal suffering.
Ice floods my veins. The Chaos wants to possess me?
And I'm going to help it. My mother's smile widens. Because then we'll be together forever. Monster mother and monster daughter. United in pain.
She rushes at me faster than anything should move.
I blast her with silver light.
She walks through it like it's nothing.
Your power can't hurt me, baby, she says sweetly. A mother is immune to her child's magic. Didn't the Witness teach you that?
She didn't. Oh gods, she didn't.
My mother's stone-cold hands grab my face.
And I feel the Forsaken curse trying to pour into me, trying to turn my skin gray, trying to steal my consciousness and trap me in my own body.
I'm being converted.
And I can't stop it.