To the people of the Upper City, it was a gross hole. To Elara, it was a door to freedom. She fell to her knees. She grabbed the rusted iron bars of the grate. She pulled with all her strength. Her muscles screamed. Her fingers bled. The grate was heavy, but fear gave her strength. With a loud scrape, the iron grate lifted. "In the alley!" a guard shouted. Footsteps pounded closer. Elara threw the heavy books and folders down into the dark hole. Then, without looking back at the beautiful, lying city, she jumped in feet first. She slid down a steep, slimy metal pipe. It was totally dark. She bumped her elbows and knees on the hard iron. She slid fast, going deep, deep down under the earth. Away from the light. Away from the sun. With a loud splash, Elara shot out of the pipe. She landed in a pool of cold, dirty water. She gasped and sat up. The water smelled like rust and old dirt. She wiped the dirty water from her eyes. She felt around in the dark until her hands found the l

"It is not glass," Elara said. She reached into her pocket. She pulled out a small, flat piece of metal. It was a golden coin. "When a High Mage builds a Ward, they do not build a wall. They build a song." "A song?" Drogo asked. "Yes," Elara nodded. "They use magic to make a vibration in the air. A frequency. Think of a bell. When you hit a heavy iron bell, it makes a low, slow sound. Bong. Bong. That is what Void energy is like. It is heavy. It is slow." Drogo listened carefully. His logical mind liked patterns. "And the Light?" "The Light is like a tiny silver bell," Elara said. "It rings very, very fast. Ding-ding-ding-ding. The frequency is incredibly high. The magic vibrates so fast that it creates a solid barrier. When your slow, heavy Void energy hits the fast, high Light energy, the Light just pushes it away. The two songs hate each other. They cannot mix." Elara picked up a small stone from the ground. She threw the stone into the perfectly still lake. Plop. Tiny rippl

The giant machine was dead. The Sun-Eater Vanguard lay in pieces on the wet, rocky shore of the underground lake. Its six long metal legs were broken. Its bright white armor was crushed. The giant, burning crystal in its chest was smashed into tiny, dark pieces. Drogo Payne, the Abyssal King, stood over the broken machine. His heavy black foot rested on the metal head of the beast. Black smoke rose from his giant fists. He had not used a song or a trick to beat the machine. He had used the raw, crushing weight of gravity. He had flattened the Emperor’s toy like a bug. The cavern was quiet again. The water in the dark lake stopped boiling. Vesper, the dark Shadow-Walker, sat on the ground. Her arm was burned, but she was already healing. The shadows in the room wrapped around her skin, fixing the golden burns. Elara stood a few feet away. She hugged her arms across her chest. She was shivering. She was not shivering from the cold air. She was shivering from the emptiness inside h

Zzzzt. A tiny spark flew into the air, but there was no fire. There was no burning smell. Pip gasped. His hand slid right into the solid wall of light. It felt like pushing his hand through thick, warm honey. It was hard to move, but it did not hurt him. The magic of the Holy Ward was totally confused. It felt Pip’s fast-vibrating magic and thought, This is one of us. This is Light. Pip pushed his whole body forward. He squeezed through the glowing dome like a needle sliding through a piece of silk. He was inside the shield. He was standing right in front of the golden doors. The two guards were standing outside the shield, looking the wrong way. They had no idea a Shadow-Walker was right behind them. Pip did not waste time. He used his dark magic to melt the lock on the golden doors. The heavy doors swung open silently. Pip stepped into the Vault of Dawn. The room was full of treasure. There were piles of gold coins, glowing white gems, and holy weapons. Pip ignored them all. H

They did not fall. Drogo used his gravity magic to pull them toward the high wall of the Academy. They landed silently on a narrow stone ledge, right next to the giant glowing dome of the Holy Ward. Drogo set Elara down. She let out a shaky breath. "You are very fast for a giant stone King," she whispered. "Listen to the wall," Drogo commanded. He pointed at the buzzing golden light. Elara closed her eyes. She leaned close to the Holy Ward. She did not touch it, but she listened to the sound of the magic. "It is different from the bank vault," Elara said softly. "It is deeper. But it is still very fast. It sounds like a thousand tiny hammers hitting glass. Tink-tink-tink-tink. Very, very fast." Drogo closed his silver eyes. He focused his mind on the heavy, dark Abyssal Core inside his chest. “Faster,” Drogo thought. He forced his slow, natural Void energy to speed up. The silver lines on his black skin began to blink wildly. A high, sharp squeal filled his ears. His dark mag