“Awesome, don't touch him!” his mother screamed.Her warning came a heartbeat too late.The stranger standing at the center of the memory archive lunged toward Awesome, extending his fingers toward the young man's chest. Awesome twisted sideways, attempting to avoid the contact, but the stranger's fingertips brushed his shoulder and released a violent burst of golden energy that hurled him across the chamber.Awesome struck a floating crystal with enough force to shatter it. Thousands of fragments scattered around him, each one reflecting a different image of his face as they spun through the air.In one fragment, he saw himself as a frightened child crying beneath a hospital lamp. Another showed him standing outside the Global Academy of Higher Magic while students laughed at his inability to cast even the simplest spell. In a third reflection, he wore a crown of black fire and stood before a crowd of kneeling figures whose faces had been erased.Awesome pushed himself upright, winci