Words slapped against Astrid's cheeks like fists.

Davina forced herself to fit the prophecy.

Even murdered her own meuredre.

That's when it all went wrong.

Looking back, Astrid should have realized some of what Serah had claimed as truth was actually true when Matthias failed to show up at dawn to escort her to the second task. As Captain of the Guard, her mother would have expected him to capture at least one of the fae intruders. But he hadn't. Which needled a nasty thought into Astrid's head: Would Davina get so angry that she would actually kill Matthias?

She had killed her own mother, after all.

Allegedly, she hissed at her brain, but it didn't stop the what-ifs from ripping through her brain.

Instead of Matthias, Savon, one of her own Icicles, greeted Astrid with a smile that seemed too-forced and failed to calm Astrid's spiraling worries.

"Did you sleep?" Savon asked.

"Not a wink." Astrid tucked the end of her braid into a knot on top of her head. She turned from the mirror to appraise the tense sentinel and sighed. "You may as well tell me. Is Matthias dead?"

"What? No! Whatever made you think that?"

Oh, nothing. Just a rambling Scribe whose mangled tongue I helped heal. Astrid shook her head. "What is it, then? You are especially twitchy this morning."

She was sure Savon grimaced. "It's rather exciting, is all. I'm meant to take you to the precipice."

"The precipice?" Astrid frowned. She clenched the cuff around her arm. "The second task is taking place on my mother's rock face?"

Astrid went to her window, pulling the heavy curtain aside, and looked out. From her room, she could see out into Halorium. Icicles dripped from the rooftops of Halorian Square's portico, and beyond the fortress walls, the more meager village homes dotted the snow covered landscapes, smoke puffing from their chimneys. Hoards of spectators lined the guard posts, trying to make their way into the fortress in hopes of viewing the task. Astrid scoffed at them. If they really had wanted to see something worthy, they should have forced their way into Treason's Tower last night to hear the Scribe's tale.

Surprisingly, the sun shone brightly overhead. It caused the layer of snow that had accumulated overnight to sparkle. She supposed the fact that the second task was meant to take place on her mother's treasured precipice was rather poetic. Especially considering it was the same place this whole nonsense started when Davina had made her royal proclamation about magic reawakening. She remembered standing on the balcony, being revealed as her mother's heir, and the sight of the dizzying, steep drop off the side of Mount Halum.

If this was to be a challenge of her control over Air, she would most likely splatter to her death.

Would my mother even care?

Astrid curled her shaking fingers into fists, clasping them tightly beneath her heavy cloak.

"We should get going, Your Highness."

She allowed Savon to lead the way through the fortress. "So, where is Matthias?"

Savon offered her a meager shrug. "Rumors say Captain Soiree had a moonlight stroll with that girl last night."

"Girl?"

"Yes. The one who moves with the grace of an elvish niche."

Astrid coughed, choking on the damp air. "You mean that husky lapdog of a girl, Abel?"

Savon nodded, and Astrid's brow furrowed. "Elvish niche?"

Her Icicle shook her head. "I remember those from Galandreal. The Elves could live for centuries, as akin to the forest as you are to the fortress." Her cheeks flushed. "Forgotten memories, I suppose. It's a bit wild, no?"

"A bit."

Savon was at least a decade older than Astrid herself. Was it possible she had actually known elves from the ancient tree city prior to the Purge? A tree city that her mother had sucked into her Monverta?

Blasted Scribes!

Besides, Astrid knew what was in her mother's Monverta, and it wasn't an elf.

The sun blinded her when she and Savon exited the fortress and stepped outside onto a wide, snow-covered plateau. Astrid spun and looked up, knowing what she would find; the cliff's face towered above her. Now, built into the side of the mountain were viewing platforms that glittered like ice. They began to fill up with spectators who filed in from unseen passageways tunneled inside Mount Halum for the occasion.

The noise of the assembled crowd swarmed in her ears. Some cheered her name, waving silver and blue pieces of cloth to symbolize the Salvera reign. Intermixed with her own name, she heard Sebastian's come up as well. She suddenly felt ill. A girl on one of the platforms shouted her name, leaned over the railing, and dropped a piece of cloth. It fluttered down, and Astrid caught it, unfurling it. On the cloth, someone had scrawled a message:

We remember. Save us, Salveretta.

"Salveretta is a farce. A lie Davina constructed."

Astrid crumpled the cloth and fisted it.

A small, white tent had been erected across from where Astrid had exited the fortress. It blocked her view of what lay beyond it. When she looked to her left to question Savon, she saw an identical plateau adjacent to her own. It was close enough that she could just make out Sebastian's mop of dark hair.

Her smothered magic peeked awake at their proximity. That odd humming began to ring in her ears, the song she thought Sebastian had been singing the night before. As if sensing her, he turned his neck and spotted her. She raised a hand in solidarity before Savon ushered her through the flap of the tent.

She wished she could have spoken with him. What was he thinking after last night?

The tent was rather sparse, save for a cushioned bench upon which sat a folded set of thick, black clothes. It was her mother who took up the most space. Davina's blue eyes sharpened as Astrid stepped into the tent. It was a shock to see her there after the events of the prior night, but it was made even worse when she locked eyes with Zev as well.

Not to be unnecessarily dramatic, but she was certain her head was about to pop right off her neck

"Uncuff her."

Without a sound, Zev moved closer, lowering his gaze to the copper key in his hands. Astrid's fear, anger, and lingering questions twisted with each one of his halting steps. She tried not to shudder as he took her by the elbow, inserted the key, and sprung open Astrid's cuff. It dangled from her arm for a moment before Zev gathered it to his chest and backed away.

The rush of the elements was immediate. Astrid tried to breathe through the tumult of it as she met her mother's stare. "So, no good luck speech first?"

Her mother grinned, but it felt like a slap. "A true saviour should not need such trivial reassurances."

But all Astrid heard were Serah's words: "Davina fashioned herself into our saviour..."

"This task will test your ability against the element of Fire. You must retrieve one of two items placed within the flames. Make sure to act wisely, daughter."

Astrid shook off her cloak, hoping it would help clear her thoughts, and approached the outfit she was meant to put on. The clothing was stretchy and thick. Heavy. She wondered if it was flame retardant.

"What of Sebastian?" Astrid asked into the unbearable silence. "Will he be receiving this same royal treatment? Who's prepping him?"

Davina's eyes followed her every movement. It made Astrid's spine crawl. "You worry for him, but his well-being should not concern you. After all, he threatens what could be yours—" Her mother paused, and the silence wrapped around the hammering pulse at Astrid's neck—"Then again, you have always cared the most for those who hurt you, haven't you, daughter?"

Does that now include you, mother?

Queen Davina moved to the flap of the tent. Her gaze sparkled as she said, "Good luck, Astrid."

Astrid's heart pounded against her chest nearly as loudly as the drums that began to beat. The sound echoed against the surrounding hills and valleys. She growled to herself, ignoring Zev completely who stood in the corner with her cuff.

It was her mother's magnified voice, not Master Caius's as in the first task, that swept throughout the surrounding cliff platforms to inform the spectators of the second task. Astrid tried to block out the noise of it, the nerves and confusion that came along with hearing it. Lies. Lies. All Lies. She tried to breathe evenly through her nose, but her power rolled through her veins, heightening her adrenaline until she could barely keep even an eyelid still.

Just make it through this task, Salvera.

But she was lost in her own thoughts and couldn't find a way out.

So, it was with great relief when she finally heard Davina's voice declare, "Our saviours may prepare to exit their respected tents. They each have twenty minutes to combat the flames and emerge with a single item."

Astrid approached the other side of the tent where Zev stood, one brown hand on the flap to peel it apart for her.

"Master Caius, activate the beasts." 

O O O

A massive creature leered down at Sebastian.

This was his actual worst nightmare come to fruition.

He froze, half-crouched, as he gazed up at it. He had read somewhere that when confronted by a predator, a person should make himself as still and small as possible. Considering the immense size of this beast, Sebastian supposed he was already small enough and settled for not moving.

It was unlike any animal he had ever seen or read about.

It was a massive bird-like lizard, and Sebastian numbly realized he couldn't find a name for it. The terrifying creature reared back on its hind legs. Its underbelly was scaled like the armor of the Iced Guards, and its gleaming, white wings furled outwards and behind, as wide as one of the most ancient trees in Eilibir.

Against Sebastian's normally more logical and better judgment, he stepped closer. It watched him as he neared, head larger than Sebastian's entire torso with a strong jaw that, from a distance, seemed elegant but, up close, it actually looked misshapen. Sebastian stopped when the dragon moved. It was not as graceful as Sebastian would have imagined, and then he saw it.

This creature was held together by rivets, bolts, and other engineered mechanisms at its joints.

Any other time, Sebastian would have been fascinated with the engineering of it all, but it was in that moment that the creature's neck extended. Its maw wrenched open. Something about the threatening movement jolted a word to the forefront of his memory.

Dragon! Sebastian's brain screamed at him. It sounded like Abel's voice. It's a bloody dragon!

If that was a dragon, and if the stories Abel had liked to tell about them were true, then dragons could breathe out—

"Fire."

The dragon moved again. Its black eyes blinked open, its jaw unhinging wider. It reared its mechanized neck effortlessly, and Sebastian held his breath, following its movements. That was how he noticed the two things lying at the dragon's front feet. Twenty minutes to emerge with a single item.

What did he have to choose between?

The crowd screamed as flames poured from the dragon's jaw.

Since he already crouched, it was easy to drop into a roll. The heat from the fire singed his arm as he scrambled against the rocky plateau to stop himself from rolling right off the ledge of it. He was sure Astrid would have been able to accomplish it with much more grace. Sebastian peered over his shoulder. The dragon's fire wasn't burning out. Instead, the flames rose into a solid wall across the width of the plateau, blocking Sebastian from the dragon and the two items he was meant to reach. Sebastian rubbed his burned arm as he surveyed his options.

What kind of wild fire was this? Fire didn't just burn on stone, so either some type of accelerant had been placed on the plateau or this was a fire bred from magical means.

"Magic. Threads," he hissed at himself. "You're meant to use the elements."

What would help him douse the dragon's flames?

By the Scribes, he really despised fire.

Another excited roar erupted from the spectators, and since he hadn't done anything particularly surprising, he knew they reacted to whatever Astrid had done.

"She's on fire!"

Sebastian couldn't resist; he glanced from his dragon, who seemed content behind its wall of fire now, and turned towards Astrid's plateau. He gaped. She was, indeed, on fire. Or, at least her arm was. From her wrist to her shoulder, her skin rippled in flames as if they were a part of her. She twisted her burning hand back and forth experimentally before she shoved it straight into the flaming wall that mirrored his own.

She didn't even wince.

How had she done that? Could she really manipulate Fire's threads like that?

Could he?

Not unless he wished for a death sentence.

His dragon flexed its wings, and Sebastian jumped backwards, nearly ramming into the pole of the tent. By the Scribes, what if this monstrosity could actually fly? His gulp stuck in his threat.

Do something, Bash! Think!

What elemental threads could he manipulate that would get him through the flames and this torturous task?

"This is science," he muttered to himself. "Just science. Nothing more."

He knew there were four key elements for fire to exist: fuel, heat, oxygen, and a chemical reaction. To extinguish a fire, one of those elements would have to be removed. He sucked in a breath as the dragon reared its head again. More flames spewed out of its jaw, joining the wall of fire that still burned. Was he going to have to get rid of the dragon creature? It seemed impossibly large. Sebastian stared at it and stepped away from the pole of the tent. The dragon didn't appear to be able to extend its flame's reach. He took another hesitant step closer and exhaled slowly when the dragon didn't move.

Wait.

Oxygen!

Air was one of the seven elements.

Sebastian flexed his fingers, remembering the way Astrid had pressed his hand into her stomach the night before. It oddly steeled his determination. He shut his eyes and splayed out his fingers before him. From the spectator stands, he was sure he heard a few people laugh. Sebastian frowned but screwed his eyes tighter. A soft, thin breeze brushed against his extended fingers, the threads twisting between them. Sebastian imagined them as tangible, and it took the shape of Astrid's hand. Behind his eyelids, he saw her reach for him.

"Carissénas."

Wind brushed the hair from his eyes, and it turned into a whisper against his ear.

"Promised one."

And Sebastian was suddenly back in Treason's Tower, staring into the Scribe's deep eyes, and he couldn't breathe.

Air's threads wrapped around his neck, whispering a single word to him, and it kissed against his throat, pressing harder until it burst out of him in an eerie voice that was as familiar as it was foreign.

"Voíxili."

No!

But the Astrid of his mind beamed at him. There was something almost feral about it."Come to me," she said, but it wasn't Astrid's voice. It hissed like the words that had haunted him from the ruined Keep of the Queen. From her Monverta.

"Carissénas. You are mine."

Something in the air popped.

The open skies above him collapsed into a weight that fell upon Sebastian's shoulders. His ears rang under the weight of the noiseless void. No! His frantic blinks slowed, sluggish. Voixili.

Remove the air, said the strange voice in his head. Remove it to smother the fire.

Sebastian's ears popped again. He swore someone screamed. No, not just someone. It was him. Sebastian dropped to his knees, a hand at his throat as he gasped for air. His vision blurred, but he still saw a portion of the flaming wall flicker, lowering towards the rocky plateau before sparking out.

Sebastian grinned before the pressing silence morphed into complete panic.

He. Couldn't. Breathe!

Sebastian fell onto his elbows, his left arm sprawling across the ground with the tips of his fingers just outside the reach of the dying flames. Get up, he screamed at himself. Get up and stop this.

But he couldn't. He didn't know how. His brain couldn't send the messages to his corresponding limbs. His eyelids drooped. Head swimming, he whistled a short breath through his teeth.

Something punched him in the gut.

For a delirious second, he thought the dragon's massive metal leg had stomped on his stomach. Which, all things considered, would probably be a better way to go than dying as a human kabob. If his dizzying calculations were anything to go by, he estimated he only had about thirty seconds left before he passed out from lack of oxygen. Through the dazed pain, he peeled his eyes open. The dragon still perched on the lip of the plateau, motionless.

The feeling came again, a hand fisting into his navel and yanking at him.

His brain erupted in recognition.

Astrid!

The tightly wound spool of power that dwelled behind his intestines recoiled at the intrusion, but his thoughts opened to her immediately. He felt her magic hammer its way into his own, and the world rushed back over him in a wave that nearly swamped him.

His throat spasmed as he forced a breath down it. He coughed, hauling himself onto his hands and knees as he half-retched onto the rocks.

People screamed, voices issuing commands with words that were left still muddled through Sebastian's ringing ears.

"The Queen! Her Majesty! She's collapsed!"

"Stop the task!"

"The d'Aximos boy did it. I felt it!"

Sebastian allowed the frantic conversations to swirl around him as he forced his heart to stabilize into some semblance of normalcy. His eyes watered as he flopped backwards onto his heels, bracing himself with his shaking hands. He stared across the plateau.

There was a gap just large enough for him to run through the flames.

The dragon's wings twitched.

He had to make it through before the dragon released more fire.

Without another thought of the crowd, Queen Davina, or his near suffocation, Sebastian jumped to his feet. And stumbled. Fell again. Picked himself up. Forced his legs to carry his weight. He half-fell through the wall of flames and collapsed on the other side.

"Bash!"

He looked up at the sound of his name.

The queen's Monverta stared back at him.

- - -

And the second task has officially started! Ahhh we're getting so close to the climax and, with it, the answers Bash, Astrid, and Abel have been searching for...

Thank you for reading! If you've made it this far, here's a question for you to answer: Who is your favorite character so far and why?