"I am." I left it at that.

A roaring cyclone suddenly came crashing down upon us, shattering the windows and splintering wooden posts as the regular soldiers entered first.

"I'm really starting to hate wind-wielders," Clane growled, barely managing to summon a spark of flame before the cyclone extinguished them.

"Raila!" Xylin shouted, thrusting his hand towards me, knocking a dagger out of the air. I spun on reflex, knowing that a second one always followed. It lodged itself into a wooden post on the ceiling as the roaring cyclone escalated and the broken shards of glass began rising up around us.

Nikolei shouted an order at Xylin, but over the roaring and chaos of flying projectiles, I couldn't hear a word. Xylin, however, could.

It was Clane who tackled me to the ground, keeping out of reach of my blades, just as Xylin folded his hands like he was trying to contain an invisible ball. Nikolei shouted again and Xylin thrust his hands forward with a defiant roar, forming an invisible, solid shield around the colossal hurricane—containing it, shaping it. I watched a bit transfixed, wind ripping at my hair, as he pushed that whirling storm towards the approaching soldiers. At the last possible second, Nikolei stepped up beside Xylin and raised his hands.

Thunder boomed above as a blazing arc of lightning shot into the house and connected with Nikolei's hands, blue and white streaks running up his arms. And when he clapped his outstretched hands, sending that burst of raw electricity towards the swirling storm—merging them together, the sound of it connecting with the terrifying mass sounded like a cursed earthquake. The ground literally shook as Xylin and Nikolei both gave one last battle-cry before Xylin swept his hands forward. The soldiers didn't even have time to raise their weapons before lightning and the debris in the center of that storm shredded them to bloody ribbons.

Xylin and Nikolei, perhaps still lingering too deep in their well of powers, stared at the blood and bodies...and grinned. It was perhaps the most unnerving thing ever, and if I hadn't believed them to be on my side, I would have run—because that, what they had just done—combining two powers together into one to create that...

Clane silently pushed himself off of me and helped me up, both of us staring at the wreckage and bodies.

"All yours, partner!" Kalinier suddenly shouted as the next wave of soldiers entered, this time with powers. The regular soldiers had been mere pawns—to make us drain our own powers before facing us.

I rolled my eyes and silently cursed him as I stepped forward, swords in hand, "My name is Raila Halythern. Leave now and you will be spared."

A wicked looking arrow made from the glass on the floor flying for me with blinding precision was my answer. I knocked it aside with my blade, hearing it shatter on the ground, "You had your chance," I growled before my friends and I unleashed ourselves upon them.

I had never felt so gleeful and terrified at the same moment. Sometimes I found myself using my swords in close combat, and sometimes I was willing arms and legs from moving before I rammed my swords through their armour. But ten powered people against seven powered people—we were outmatched, our powers depleted to nothing but fading embers.

My friends and I refused to surrender as wave after wave of powers clashed against each other until the entire house reeked of magic. Gnarled roots, streams of brilliant blue-gold flames, and blinding lightning streaked past me. Every time I took down one soldier, another would appear and push their comrade back to give them time to heal from their wounds. I could see Kalinier disappearing from view sometimes, no doubt reappearing somewhere else, but that didn't work on Renithyn's powered soldiers. I shouted Kalinier's name as a soldier gifted with strength threw him into the farthest wall. He crashed right through it in a tumble of wood, unconscious. Molten rage coursed through my veins at the sight of his limp body and bleeding forehead. One team member down.

There were still six powered soldiers left. Good. I wanted revenge.

"Raila!" Kanin shouted my name, thick roots breaking from the surface to wrap around me. Caged, restrained—I sliced them away from me, roaring a challenge at the grinning soldiers and raising my hands. My mother shouted my name—a plea, but I didn't care. These soldiers had wounded Kalinier, and they were going to pay.

I reached down into that core within myself, delving deeper and deeper. Kalinier's prostrate form filled up my mind, I couldn't think—couldn't breathe. I was distinctly aware of the soldier's raising their own hands while I simply stood there. My friends and mother tried running for me, to fight or pull me back I didn't know. I froze them in place with half a thought. These soldiers were mine to take—there. I grinned in triumph as I felt my powers fill my veins, coursing through me as if I had become a goddess in my rightful place. I delved deeper until I thought I was basking in it. Tear them apart, my mind whispered.

I raised my hands higher. Yes, they deserve this—

"Raila stop!"

My powers roared with outrage as I snapped back to myself then, looking down. Screaming filled my ears as I stared at the powered soldiers. Fire, ice, wind, glass—they were all swirling around the soldiers—them trying to break free from my grasp. I held tight and dug in deeper.

A hand latched onto my wrist to turn me around, then they were on my face, gripping me to keep me rooted in this reality. No! I wanted to release the dampener on my powers, let it consume this world. So many lives I could take...that's what a renderer would do. That's what a renderer would do...I'm more than just a renderer.

"Raila! Listen to me!"

"Xylin?" I croaked. I was losing control, my powers—they wanted to be unleashed, used to their full extent. I yanked myself back from that dangerous ledge again.

"Raila," Xylin whispered. And I realized then, the powered soldiers were long dead, their azure blue cloaks tangled around their corpses. Their eyes open and unseeing. Ice was strewn across the floor around the soldiers, as were scorch marks on the ground—and glass, and twisted metal. I had overpowered all six soldiers. By myself. A renderer indeed.

"Raila," Xylin said again, running a hand down my face gently, "Stay with me in this world, don't succumb to the temptation. You're stronger than this. It's your power, you command it. Fight."

With a muffled scream, I yanked my hands back down as if fighting against invisible bonds. My powers, mine. Xylin let out a breath of relief as the power recently filling my veins—my very core, ebbed away. I would have to use them again, "Xylin?"

"Raila." He cupped the back of my neck and kissed me then. I responded immediately, twining my arms around his neck.

Finally pulling back: "I'm sorry, Raila. I'm so sorry."

"Xylin?"

"If I hadn't made you do the Beckoning, none of this would be happening. I can't—I can't have you scare me like that again."

I dragged the back of my hand down his face, "Xylin, I'm alive right now because of you, not just in prison, but just now. You pulled me back from the edge—I was this close to letting go and consuming all of you—"

"Raila, oh Raila." He drew me towards him, "I know you. Even if your powers took control, you would never be able to hurt any of us."

"But I did!" I pulled back, "I—" My gaze fell on Kalinier's unconscious body, a very concerned-looking Nikolei hovering above him.

"He's alright, Raila." My mother said. I whipped my eyes to her and narrowed them to angry slits. Xylin put a hand on my arm.

I walked up to Nikolei and knelt down beside him, "Kal? Kal?"

A groan slipped from him. My mouth broke into a grin as his green eyes fluttered open, "Owww."

I snorted, "Petty thief." That got him awake.

He bolted upright, "Hey! Did you just call me a petty thief?"

I let out a laugh and threw my arms around him, both of us falling to the ground in a tangle of limbs, laughing with glee, "We're not dead!" He proclaimed.

"Obviously," Nikolei said.

"Oh shush, Lightning Boy," Kalinier teased.

"Do not call me Lightning Boy."

"Okay, Lightning Boy." Nikolei threw his hands up.

"Yeah, he's fine," Kyra stated.

Clane stepped forward and stared at me with an unreadable expression in his eyes. No embers sparked, "Raila that was...what you did—"

"Impressed, Brokivere?" I asked.

He let out a breathless laugh, "I should be. It's my first time seeing a renderer in action."

The mood immediately changed. I disentangled myself from Kalinier as my mother approached with a shaking Robin in tow, "How long have you known?" She asked.

"Since..." I was being honest with myself today, "A while ago." She merely nodded. I studied her further, her cache of throwing knives were mostly bloody or bent in half from the soldier able to manipulate metal.

"Are you alright?"

Mother let out a laugh of disbelief, "I didn't get to stretch first, so I'm still a bit stiff."

"Mother."

"Yes, Raila?"

"I didn't know you had a sense of humour."

"Alright young woman, now you've done it." I let out a laugh and walked over to Robin. She didn't back away.

"I knew you were going to be victorious," She muttered against my chest as I knelt down to embrace her.

"Did you now? Well why didn't you say so."

She shrugged, "I had a flash during your fight. I saw you using your powers. I saw the soldiers dead at your feet."

My mother came over and pried Robin's fingers off of my sleeve, "That's enough talk about death, Robin dear."

I rose and stalked towards where my swords lay, swooping down and picking them up in one fluid motion. I inspected them for nicks before sheathing them at my sides, "We should go. Now."

"Monganmier?" My mother asked.

"Yes," Kyra confirmed, raking a hand through her red hair, now slightly longer than she normally kept it.

I sighed, "We can't leave the soldiers here like this. Our neighbours will know something is amiss if we don't answer the door." Kalinier snickered. "What?"

"Nothing," he answered, "I just find it amusing that you care about what your neighbours think about you. Didn't you steal from them, like, three times each?"

"What?" My mother exclaimed.

I dragged a hand down my face. "Thank you Kal for that. My point is, we have to make it look like an accident. Renithyn's soldiers would have done the same to cover up their real reason of being here. If we're lucky enough, Renithyn will think his soldiers accomplished their mission."

"I can put the house up in flames. People will think it started in the kitchen." It was Clane who said it. Kalinier gave me a look, knowing all too well how much this house meant to me. My father had walked these halls--but, it had to be done.

"Do it." I growled. Clane hesitated. "Do it," I faced my mother and sister, "Take what you need, we're leaving now."