Emma dreamed of drowning.
She was back in the lake, sinking into darkness, but this time the water wasn't welcoming. It pressed against her lungs, filled her mouth and nose. Above her, she could see light—a figure standing on the surface, reaching down. But no matter how hard she swam, she couldn't reach them.
Then the figure spoke, and it was her father's voice.
*You're not ready yet. You need to understand what you're fighting for.*
Emma woke with a gasp, her heart pounding. Pale morning light filtered through the window. For a moment, she couldn't remember where she was, couldn't separate dream from reality.
A knock at the door pulled her fully awake.
"Emma?" Kael's voice, uncertain. "Are you all right? I heard you cry out."
She stumbled to the door and opened it to find him standing there, looking considerably better than yesterday. The exhaustion had faded from his face, replaced by a healthy color. He'd cleaned up—his dark hair was damp, combed back from his face, and he wore fresh clothes someone must have lent him. A simple shirt and trousers that fit well enough to show he was lean but muscular from months of travel and fighting.
Emma realized she was staring and felt heat rise to her cheeks.
"I'm fine," she said quickly. "Just a nightmare. What are you doing up so early?"
"Couldn't sleep. Spent too many months sleeping with one eye open, I guess." He hesitated. "I was actually hoping to talk to you. If you have time."
Something in his tone made Emma alert. "What's wrong?"
"Not wrong, exactly. But... there's something you should know. About why I was really traveling to the capital." He glanced down the hallway. "Can we walk? I think better when I'm moving."
Emma nodded, quickly throwing on a cloak over her nightgown. The water-dress shimmered into existence beneath it, sensing her need. Together, they slipped out of the village as the sun was just beginning to paint the eastern sky pink and gold.
They walked toward the lake in comfortable silence at first. The morning air was cool and fresh, carrying the scent of water and growing things. Birds were beginning their dawn songs. It should have been peaceful.
But Emma could feel tension radiating from Kael.
"So," she finally said as they reached the shoreline. "What's this about?"
Kael picked up a smooth stone and skipped it across the water. One, two, three skips before it sank. "I wasn't entirely honest yesterday. About who I am."
Emma's hand instinctively moved to her side, where a weapon would be if she carried one. "Should I be worried?"
"No! No, nothing like that." He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "I'm not working for the Shadow King or anything. It's just... my family. My history. It's complicated."
"Everything in this kingdom seems complicated," Emma said, relaxing slightly but staying alert. "Try me."
Kael took a deep breath. "My full name is Kael Greystone. Aldric Greystone was my grandfather."
The world seemed to tilt. Emma stared at him, her mind racing. "The Shadow King is your grandfather."
"Was. Is. I don't know how to think of him anymore." Kael's voice was rough with old pain. "My father was Aldric's son—born before the corruption, before everything went wrong. When Aldric began his dark work, my father tried to stop him. They fought, and my father barely escaped with his life. He changed our name, hid us away in a small village in the eastern mountains. Tried to give me a normal life."
"Tried?"
"Three years ago, when Aldric declared himself the Shadow King, he sent creatures to find my father. To either force him to join or eliminate him as a threat." Kael's hands clenched. "My father refused. He died defending our village. My mother died beside him. I was sixteen. I ran."
Emma's chest tightened with empathy. She knew what it was like to lose a parent, to have your world shattered. "I'm sorry."
"I've been running and fighting ever since. Trying to find a way to stop him, to make up for the fact that his blood runs in my veins." Kael finally looked at her, and his eyes were full of anguish. "That's why I was going to the capital. I thought maybe Prince Aldren's mages could help me use my connection to my grandfather against him somehow. But then I got infected with the corruption, and I realized that maybe I'm just destined to become like him anyway."
"You're not," Emma said firmly. "You're nothing like him."
"How can you know that? You've known me less than a day."
"Because he kills to extend his own life and power. You were ready to die alone rather than risk infecting others. That's not the same person, Kael."
He studied her face, searching for something. "You really believe that?"
"I do." Emma surprised herself by taking his hand. The skin was smooth and unscarred now, all evidence of the corruption gone. "The fact that you're worried about becoming like him proves you won't. Evil doesn't worry about being evil."
Kael's fingers tightened around hers. "Thank you. For believing in me. For saving me. For—" He broke off, looking suddenly young and uncertain. "No one's been kind to me in a long time. Not since they see the name Greystone and assume I'm corrupted by association."
"Well, I'm not from here, remember? So I get to make my own judgments." Emma smiled. "Besides, I'm apparently the Lake Fairy. Being annoyingly optimistic about people is part of the job."
That earned her a real laugh. The sound made something warm bloom in Emma's chest.
They stood there for a moment, hands still clasped, the sunrise painting the lake in shades of amber and rose. It felt significant somehow, this moment of connection. Like something was beginning that neither of them had planned for.
Then Finn's voice shattered the peace.
"Emma! Kael! Come quick!"
They turned to see the boy running toward them, his face pale with fear. Behind him, other villagers were emerging from their homes, pointing at the sky.
Emma looked up and felt her blood turn to ice.
The sky to the north was darkening. Not with storm clouds, but with wings. Dozens of them. Hundreds. Shadow-creatures filled the air like a plague of locusts, blotting out the rising sun.
And they were heading straight for Last Light.
---
The village erupted into controlled chaos. Gareth was already organizing the defense, shouting orders to get the children and elderly into the stone buildings. Marcus was distributing weapons—mostly farming tools and hunting bows, but anything was better than nothing.
Emma ran to the village square, to the blessed well. She could feel it pulsing with her magic, ready to respond. But one well, one source of blessed water, against that many creatures?
"We can't fight them all," Mara said, appearing at her side. Elder Thorne was with her, leaning heavily on their walking stick.
"The well will help," the elder said. "But you're right. There are too many. This is a coordinated attack, not a random raid."
"He knows I'm here," Emma said, the realization hitting her like a physical blow. "The Shadow King. He knows the Lake Fairy has awakened, and he's testing my strength."
"Or trying to eliminate you before you become a real threat," Kael said grimly. He'd drawn his sword, and Emma noticed that the blade had strange markings etched into it—runes or symbols she didn't recognize. "Either way, we need a plan."
Emma's mind raced. The creatures were maybe ten minutes away at their current speed. The blessed well could destroy any that got close, but it had limited range. She could fight with water, but she'd exhaust herself long before she destroyed them all.
Unless...
"The lake," Emma said suddenly. "I'm connected to the entire lake, not just the well. What if I could make the whole thing a weapon?"
"You've never tried to control that much water at once," Mara warned. "It could burn you out, or worse."
"Do we have a better option?"
Silence answered her question.
"Then I'm doing it." Emma turned to Kael. "Can you defend me while I'm working? I'll be vulnerable."
"With my life," he said without hesitation.
Something passed between them in that moment—trust, connection, a promise neither fully understood yet. Emma nodded and ran toward the lake's edge.
The creatures were closer now. She could hear their shrieks, see the details of their twisted forms. Some were the serpentine ones she'd fought before. Others were new—winged horrors with too many heads, shadowy wolves that ran through the air itself, things without names that defied description.
Emma waded into the lake until the water reached her waist. She could feel every villager's eyes on her, feel their hope and fear. The weight of it should have crushed her.
Instead, she let it fuel her.
*I am the Lake Fairy,* Emma thought, closing her eyes and reaching out with every ounce of her awareness. *Born from story and starlight, from water and will. This lake is mine, and I will not let it be corrupted.*
The lake responded.
It was like nothing she'd experienced before. Every drop, every current, every life within the water—she felt it all. The vastness threatened to overwhelm her consciousness, to drown her in sensation. But Emma held on, remembering Elder Thorne's lessons. She didn't need to control every drop individually. She just needed to direct the lake's will.
*Rise,* she commanded. *Protect.*
The lake began to glow.
It started at the point where Emma stood and spread outward in rippling waves of pale green light. The water's surface began to shift, to move with purpose. Tendrils rose into the air, dozens of them, then hundreds, like the lake was growing limbs.
On the shore, she heard gasps of awe.
The creatures were nearly upon them now. The first wave dove toward the village, claws extended, mouths open in silent screams.
Emma opened her eyes. They were glowing the same pale green as the water.
"Now," she whispered.
The lake exploded upward.
Walls of water rose fifty feet into the air, forming a dome over the entire village. The diving creatures slammed into it and shrieked as the blessed water burned them. Some dissolved immediately. Others tried to pull back, but Emma was faster. Whips of water lashed out, grabbing creatures from the sky and dragging them down into the lake's depths.
But there were so many. And Emma could feel the strain already, feel her strength being pulled in a thousand directions at once. Her nose began to bleed. Her vision blurred at the edges.
"Emma!" Kael's voice, distant and worried.
A creature broke through her defenses—a shadow-wolf that moved too fast for her to catch. It plummeted toward the village square, toward a group of children who'd frozen in fear.
Emma tried to redirect her attention, to send water after it, but she was stretched too thin. She couldn't maintain the dome and stop the wolf. She'd have to choose—protect the many or save the few.
Then Kael was there.
He moved with a speed and grace that spoke of serious training. His sword flashed, and the runes along its blade began to glow with a silver light. When he struck the shadow-wolf, the creature didn't just die—it exploded into harmless mist.
"The sword!" Elder Thorne's voice rang out. "It's been blessed with holy magic! Kael, defend the gaps in the Lady Fairy's shield!"
Kael didn't waste breath answering. He was already moving, his sword a blur of silver light, destroying any creature that managed to slip through Emma's defenses.
They fell into a rhythm—Emma controlling the vast majority of the battle from the water, Kael handling the few that broke through. It was like they'd been fighting together for years instead of minutes. When Emma's concentration wavered, when gaps appeared in her dome, Kael was there to fill them. When a creature got too close to Kael, water would lash out and drag it away.
But Emma was fading fast. The edges of her vision were going dark. Blood dripped from her nose and ears. She could feel her grip on the lake slipping.
*Just a little longer,* she thought desperately. *Please, just a little—*
Then, impossibly, she felt something else.
Another presence in the water. Not threatening—supporting. Someone was helping her hold the magic together.
Emma's eyes snapped open to see Elder Thorne standing at the water's edge, hands outstretched. The old person's eyes were glowing faintly, and Emma could feel their will joining with hers, their strength bolstering her fading reserves.
"I'm not powerful," Elder Thorne's voice echoed in Emma's mind somehow. "But I know water magic. I can help you hold this. Focus on the attack. I'll maintain the defense."
The relief was overwhelming. With Elder Thorne handling the dome, Emma could focus all her remaining strength on offense. She pulled hard on the lake, gathering water into massive forms—serpents of liquid that struck like battering rams, tidal waves that swept creatures from the sky, even a massive hand of water that reached up and simply crushed the largest creatures in its grip.
The tide of the battle turned.
The shadow-creatures began to retreat, their numbers too depleted to continue the assault. They fled back toward the mountains, leaving trails of dissolving darkness in their wake.
Emma held the magic for another minute, making sure the retreat wasn't a trick. Then, finally, she let go.
The water dome collapsed, splashing down harmlessly around the village. The glowing tendrils sank back into the lake. Emma's eyes stopped glowing, and the world snapped back into normal colors and sensations.
She swayed, her knees buckling.
Strong arms caught her before she fell. Kael had splashed into the water, and now he held her against his chest, keeping her upright.
"I've got you," he murmured. "You did it. You saved everyone."
Emma tried to respond, but exhaustion pulled her down into darkness. The last thing she felt was Kael's arms tightening around her, and the last thing she heard was his voice, soft and full of wonder.
"Incredible."