Tyler grabbed the folding woman, drawing her into his arms, and placed a palm against her basically bare chest, his fingers spread out as he began reciting a spell that filled his head and released itself from his tongue, sweat pouring from his forehead.The room had gotten increasingly hot from the moment he had stepped in and presently felt like a sauna, even as the molten lava that his blood continued to roil.Tyler was seeing from his eyes and yet, from another, like an out-of-body experience. Sights, sounds, and smells were coming at him from two levels. His body, and something else. Something deeper, larger, further from him.The Diviner’s chest began to heave as breath returned to her body. Tyler kept chanting his spell, his eyes, both levels, on the woman’s now fleshed-out face as her eyes regained their usual color.She fell into his arms, and Tyler sat, pulling her close as her heartbeat returned, banging hard against his palm.Tyler nodd

Tyler had had to take care of his problem himself, and he was unprepared.He was not a sorcerer; he didn’t know the type of magic required to do what was needed, and no one with the required skill was near enough to help.In desperation, he had done what he had been moved, by the same overwhelming magic, to do.His usual friends had called out to him, and he had known exactly how many of them he needed. The magic had filled his meridians, and his body had felt like it would explode when something, much deeper than any power he had ever felt, told him what to do next.His dream came to him, and the eyes of the man on the throne – it had been a throne the man with the blue eyes had been seated on, even though it was inside a mountain – had held his.This time, he had been the man, and the man had been him. The man was looking at him as he also faced himself. It was a bizarre experience. He was not dreaming this time. He was truly burning alive, from

Tally stared at the men, one after the other, taking them in slowly, patiently. Then, he turned to his little sister.From the beginning of his life with the Master, Tally had always considered all children gathered under the Master’s hand as his younger brothers and sisters, most especially given that he had been the Master's first charge; he had seen every new addition as under his care.He squatted down as her eyes filled.“What I tell you will never be a lie. You know this. Right, little one?” Tally murmured, taking her small hands in his.The girl cried silently as she nodded.“Do you want to hide it?” he asked patiently.She nodded forcefully, tears still spilling.He smiled sadly again.“Okay,” he whispered.She wiped her eyes. “Really, Uncle Tally?”“Really, really. I’ll check it this evening,” Tally replied kindly with a small smile.“Thank you, Uncle Tally!” she sang, jumping on his neck.H

Tyler stared at Tally as Raymond glanced nervously between the two.It had been an afternoon of one surprise after the other. First, Raymond had found that he could stand up from his chair without assistance.After waking up and feeling confused for a moment at the unfamiliar location, an elderly man, who introduced himself as Tyler’s uncle, entered the room seconds later to invite him to breakfast.Two helpers had supported his pre-breakfast wash-up, using full-on magic to get him out of bed and under the shower, keeping him up and using spells to soap and scrub his tired body, without ever invading his privacy.They had dressed him in a similar garb as he had worn the day before, loose, comfortable cotton clothes, and he had been wheeled down – floated down – a long flight of stairs. The scent of the food and coffee hit first, driving away half of his apprehension.The elderly man was already seated, and a place had been set for him.The young man with the brown eyes from the day be