Caster and Lysane flew through the air. They crashed violently onto the hard, black stone floor of the subterranean cavern.They rolled across the dirt and the broken rocks. Caster hit a fallen pillar and stopped. Lysane slid to a halt a few feet away.For a long time, there was absolutely no sound.The cavern was completely silent. The heavy, grinding heartbeat of the Ash Warden was gone. The howling, freezing wind of the Ash Void was gone. The terrible, loud crashing of the falling Sage Tower above them had ended. It was just the quiet, empty silence of a deep basement.Caster lay on his back. He stared up at the cracked, broken stone ceiling. He did not move. He just took a breath.The air smelled like old dust and dry dirt. It did not smell like dark magic or burning bone. It was just normal, dirty air.He was alive. He was back in the physical world. He was just a human again. No floating. No inverted fire. No dark god living inside his head.Caster slowly turned his head to the

They began to climb again. Ten steps. Twenty steps. Fifty steps. The shaking grew worse. The walls of the tunnel were cracking. The loud noise of grinding stone echoed up the stairwell. The cavern at the bottom of the stairs had completely caved in. The destruction was crawling up the tunnel, chasing right behind them."Faster," Caster urged.They pushed their tired legs harder. They stumbled. Caster scraped his knee on a sharp rock. Lysane tripped and almost fell backward, but Caster grabbed her waist and hauled her up."I hear wind," Lysane gasped suddenly.Caster stopped and listened. She was right. Above the terrible noise of the breaking rocks, there was a faint, high-pitched whistling sound. It was the sound of wind blowing through a crack.They looked up. Far above them, they saw a tiny, thin line of gray light."The surface," Caster breathed. "We are almost there."They climbed with renewed, desperate energy. The promise of the sky pushed the pain out of their minds, They rea

Caster looked up at the bright blue sky. "The world is scarred," Caster said. "But scars heal. A broken bone can mend. For the first time in history, the earth has a chance to breathe. The people have a chance to rebuild without feeding their sins to a dark god."Lysane followed his gaze across the city. She saw the bird. She saw the green weed pushing through the rock. She understood."We gave them a blank page," Lysane whispered."Yes," Caster said. He smiled warmly. "We gave them a blank page. The people will have to build their own houses now. They will have to dig their own wells. They cannot rely on the blue Tower magic to do the work for them. It will be hard. It will be messy. But it will be real."Caster took a deep breath of the fresh, clean air."We won, Lysane," Caster declared quietly. The words felt incredibly good to say. "The monster is dead. The world belongs to the living again."Lysane smiled. She leaned her head against his shoulder. "We won."They stood there for

Lysane smiled. It was a beautiful, bright smile that made her look years younger, despite her snow-white hair."They are going to build a good world, Caster," Lysane promised him. "We are already organizing building crews. Toma the baker is showing the young mages how to mix mud and straw to build warm houses. Finn is teaching the other children how to plant seeds in the clean dirt. We are going to be fine.""I know you will be," Caster said. His gray eyes shone with immense pride. "Because you are here to guide them. They do not need a magical Master of Wards anymore, Lysane. They need a wise leader with a good heart. They need you."Lysane’s eyes filled with tears. She squeezed Caster’s scarred fingers tightly.It was a quiet, incredibly powerful moment between them. They were not just friends. They were two soldiers who had stood back-to-back at the absolute edge of oblivion. They had held the weight of the universe together. They had lost everything, but they had won the only thi

The city of Glassview was loud. It was a very rich, very shiny city. It sat fifty miles away from the ruined Sage Tower. It was built on high, green hills. The buildings were made of smooth, polished green glass and bright silver metal. Usually, the city was a place of music, money, and happy people. But today, Glassview was a city of pure terror.Caster Spellbound walked slowly down the crowded street. He wore a simple, rough brown cloak. He pulled the deep hood over his head to hide his face. He leaned heavily on his wooden walking stick. He looked like an ordinary, tired, poor old man. No one knew he was the greatest Archmage in history. No one knew he was the man who had just saved the world from a dark god. He stopped and looked at the center of the street.A giant, floating magical crystal hung in the air. It was a broadcast crystal. The High Council of Glassview used these crystals to share news with the people.Right now, the crystal was flashing with bright, angry red ligh