Whatever the reasoning for this madness, she has to get through this. At least that was what Seiren told herself, focusing on the face of Zor Jarsdel in her mind's eye as she followed Kommora Haigh, weaving through the destroyed buildings. Benover was a mess. The protective shield her mother wielded had fallen, probably from Rowan, Ashworth, and Portendorfer's combined efforts. Stray magic and artillery pelted the area, throwing clouds of dust and hurling rubble and shards of glass onto the ground, although most of the monsters she'd created remained on the city peripheries. The sickening, suffocating scent of smoke and death reeked, making her eyes water and breathing difficult.

Seiren touched the base of her throat. How she missed Madeleine. There was so much going on it was impossible to make sense of what was happening. But Kommora promised to get her to Jarsdel. That was all that mattered.

Kommora took her down a side street and suddenly the imposing view of the imperial palace disappeared behind brick walls.

"We're not going to the palace?" Seiren said.

"Apparently not." Kommora frowned, the rune still glowing in her hand. There was no light trail from it. The design was more complicated than the ones Seiren worked with. "It's heading to the complex beneath the outside palace."

"Complex?"

Kommora grimaced, descending the stone steps. The wall above them blew out. They crouched, covering their heads. Dust and chunks of rock rained on them. The vibrations from the impact made Seiren's teeth rattle.

"It's in case Benover ever got invaded and the king can escape. The layout is top secret, but it shouldn't be anything my trackers can't solve." Kommora straightened. Her lips curled. "There was a lot of investment against foreign invasion but not much magical defence. The king's mages' confidence in their ability is their downfall."

"How do you know all this?"

Kommora gave her a lazy flick of the eye. "I designed the bloody thing, Nithercott. At least, until your mother took over. The national security system, the borders at Acrise and Ebbsfleet, the mages tracking system -- they were all my creations. That mage's tattoo on your shoulder? I made it."

Seiren touched her shoulder subconsciously.

"But that means the king's mages know exactly where we all are."

"You give me too much credit. All the mages are here already. You missed the summons, what with being arrested for treason and all your jaunts."

"Every mage is in Benover?" Seiren's mouth ran dry. Maura had mentioned this. Pollin tried to fry us all. "But why?"

"Urgent summons. Karis Bonneville tried to incinerate everyone. They want to add to the death toll."

"But they can't do chaos magic."

"No, but they can do organic."

Seiren stared.

"It doesn't get taught any more beyond 'it's dangerous and forbidden', but organic magic is catalysed by life and death, just like chaos magic. It was partly for this reason Pollin banned it shortly after Harred created it."

"My mother created organic magic?"

"Looks like you still have a lot to learn."

"But -- organic magic killed Loren." Her breath hitched in her throat. Kommora stiffened ever so slightly. "I was there. She--"

"It's horrific magic. It severs the magic from the soul, even those who cannot wield magic. The soul becomes unstable and disintegrates slowly and painfully, and then the body follows hours after."

They ducked into a tunnel. The temperature dropped, raising the hairs on Seiren's arms and the back of her neck. Their footsteps echoed, hollow, in the cavern. Drips of water accentuated the creepiness of the place.

"So that's what happened to Loren?" Seiren's stomach twisted. "Why would Mother create such terrible magic?!"

"I suspect it's because she wants power."

"At the expense of everyone dying?! No." Seiren shook her head in disbelief, feeling a little lightheaded. "No. That's not her. That's barbaric. Nothing could be more important than human life."

"I'm glad one Harred feels that way. She's been dabbling in this for about twenty years." Kommora stopped, hearing footsteps ahead. She unfurled a rune, ready to attack.

Without warning, she whipped round to Seiren. Up close, her eyes were pools of liquid darkness, depthless. Her streaks of whitening hair were prominent in the semi-darkness.

"I want you to understand very clearly, Nithercott. This is not a revenge mission. This is a mission to save the country. If we fail, every shopkeeper, husband, child, are dead."

"I understand that."

"This means if the chance arises to stop them and to exact your revenge at the same time, stopping them comes first. You can do whatever the hell you want with the revenge later. People will die. The entire country of Karma will fall if the king's mages succeed in harvesting everyone's life energy for themselves. Don't let your shitty sentimentality cost us the mission."

Seiren nodded. She'd expected as much, but her blood ran cold at Kommora's words. She thought of the soldiers she'd crossed paths with, the Acrisians she'd saved, the children at Bicknor Infirmary... she might have created the monsters outside, but she could redeem herself. She could still save them all.

Nobody repents. Portendorfer's cackle sounded in her mind. They just make do and try to justify their means for making more mistakes, in hopes one of those mistakes rectify the first mess!

No, he was wrong. There was redemption. Rowan had told her about what happened in Ebbsfleet two years ago and then in Acrise. He'd never foregone his teammates since. He'd saved her butt on multiple occasions, supported her endeavours, caught her when she teetered on the precipice of losing herself. But Portendorfer, addicted to power with no hint of conscience, would never understand. He'd long fallen over that precipice. And Seiren couldn't help but feel if she hadn't met Rowan, she would end up just like Portendorfer.

"Good." With that, Kommora pulled out a gun and slapped the rune on, activating it. The violet magic infused into the weapon. She stood out, aimed -- and fired.

There was a clatter and a crash. Seiren took out a red rune, following Kommora closely. Before she took two steps, Kommora shoved her out of the way. A whistling noise pierced the air. Seiren almost crashed face-first into the wall but just about managed to raise her hands in time to catch herself. The impact jarred her wrists. Her head spun from the noise. The slimy surface beneath her fingers made her shudder.

Kommora leapt forward with agility unexpected given her age. She threw a rune forward; it glowed red, criss-crossing in a pattern Seiren hadn't seen before. The resulting boom from it shook the entire place, but the power was finely concentrated at the target, who threw up an invisible vibrating wall that shattered the red surge on impact. The rune still glowed. A second pulse followed. A delayed action. The enemy threw out two bouts of flash magic. One shot by Kommora, missing by a hair; the other came straight for Seiren, much faster than she'd anticipated. She fumbled her rune and it slipped out of her fingers. She cursed, the barely-visible pulse tearing in her direction. She thought of Portendorfer. The image of the Hannan that night -- no, she knew now that was Zor Jarsdel -- came into mind, filling her with fury. She slammed her hands together. The tingling, burning soar of magic rushed down her arms. Sparks jumped from the end of her fingers. Not quite knowing how she was meant to utilise it, she gathered a handful of flash magic and hurled it forward.

It hit the oncoming flash magic with a shower of sparks that bathed the slimy tunnel in bouts of red and gold -- and did nothing to impede its progress. Kommora shouted her name, but she was too far away. Seiren shielded her head. It wouldn't do anything, she knew. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact.

There was a shout from far away and a bang so close to Seiren's ear that she went deaf briefly on one side. She reeled, her world spinning. A small shower of water splashed over her. Through blurred vision, she saw Kommora stalk over to the fallen Jarsdel. Jarsdel threw his arm at her. Kommora leapt back, a violet rune glowing before her. Seiren had never seen runes being used in combat; the permanence of the desired effect and the time taken to create each one put rune magic at too great a disadvantage compared to burst and flash, but Kommora's reaction was fluid and her hands glowed a mixture of violet and red. The tunnel became alive in a kaleidoscope of rune lights, punctuated by bangs and sizzles as she deflected Jarsdel's flash magic. Seiren picked up her chalk and paper and sketched a violet rune before setting it on the ground.

With a snap of her fingers, the ground rippled and formed a set of throwing knives similar to Ashworth's, but with a blunter end. She wrapped blue runes around the handles and rushed in. Two knives landed at Jarsdel's feet, but he reacted almost at once, dashing the papers to threads before she could activate them. And yet he ignored her completely, choosing to continue his onslaught of flash magic at Kommora. Pulse after pulse of sound waves emanated from each gesture, but Kommora managed to throw rune after rune in the air and breaking the impulses before they hit her, sketching with frightening precision despite being on the move. The violet runes changed the air particles before her, negating the sound waves. When Jarsdel was recovering, she would send flames and explosions in his direction. Jarsdel blasted most of them out of the way. His reactions were slowing, but there was no denying the superiority in flash combat.

"Nithercott -- cover me!" Kommora yelled. Seiren skidded in and threw the knives at Jarsdel. He rebuffed them before they struck, shredding the blank rune papers. Seiren snapped her fingers, activating a series of red and orange runes she'd laid before her. He grimaced, the orange light bathing his dark skin. His features weren't scarred, unlike typical Hannans'. But those pale eyes and prominent features she knew well. He knocked her runes out of the air as he had Kommora's. With a shout, Seiren threw up a light rune, hoping to blind him to buy time, but he shredded that, too. They were metres apart. His eyes flashed; Seiren crossed her arms before her head and braced to be hit.

Except the attack never came. He stood, gasping and drenched in sweat, magic on the tips of his fingers. The cloud of dust he'd summoned fell to the ground, hitting the small puddles with a sizzle. Seiren's eyes widened. From the fight so far, she'd guessed he was able to manipulate air particles to produce sound waves, and yet he'd summoned corrosive dust just now, also via flash magic. Having more than one fixed specialty of flash magic was unheard of. Just what was this man?

A rush of violet-red light soared past her. Seiren flinched. Jarsdel ducked out of the way. The magic struck the wall behind him, turning the surface to sludge.

It happened so quickly. One moment, Jarsdel threw his hand out and another shockwave blasted from him towards Kommora. The next, a vice-like grip clamped over Seiren's arm and her shoulder was almost jerked out of her socket, yanking her directly in line with Jarsdel's attack.

Jarsdel's pale eyes widened in alarm. He pulled back the flash and failed. The sound waves struck Seiren head-on. The world went silent. Blood pounded in her head. Seiren crashed onto the floor in a heap, dazed. The world spun and bile burnt the back of her throat. Someone tugged her in one direction. Words made no sense, becoming a distant rumble.

She'd felt this before. She was twelve years old again. Her hands rested on the stair's wooden banister. 

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