Sera's POV
Dawn comes too fast.
I stand at the edge of Sanctuary, staring at the Spine of the World the mountain range that's killed every explorer who tried to cross it. Somewhere beyond those peaks is the First Temple and the real source of the gods' power.
I'm going there without any magic.
Second thoughts? Kael appears beside me, carrying a pack of supplies.
About a hundred of them. I adjust my own pack. It's heavy with food, water, rope, and weapons I barely know how to use. What if I'm wrong? What if there's no temple? What if we all die for nothing?
Then we die free. Kael looks at the mountains. Better than living as slaves.
Footsteps crunch behind us. Cassian walks up, also packed for travel. He's wearing simple clothes now, not his royal finery. He looks younger somehow. More real.
Ready? he asks me.
I want to say no. Want to say I'm terrified and have no idea what I'm doing. Instead, I nod.
Lyra joins us next, then Nyx, then my father who still can't quite meet my eyes but is trying. Five people willing to cross deadly mountains because I asked them to.
The weight of that responsibility sits heavy on my chest.
Wait! A voice calls out.
We turn. A young woman runs toward us I recognize her. Mira, one of the people I freed from her prophecy yesterday. Behind her are ten more people, all carrying packs.
We're coming too, Mira says firmly.
This journey could kill you, I warn.
Our prophecies said we'd live long, boring lives. She grins. Now that we're free, we'd rather live short, exciting ones. With you.
More people emerge from the village. Twenty. Thirty. Fifty.
Looks like you've got an army, Kael says, sounding impressed.
My throat tightens with emotion. These people are choosing to risk everything for a chance at permanent freedom. Because I showed them it was possible.
Then let's not waste it, I say.
We march north toward the mountains.
The first day is almost easy. We follow old trader paths through forests, making good time. People laugh and talk. It feels like an adventure, not a death march.
But on the second day, we reach the base of the mountains, and everything changes.
The peaks rise above us like jagged teeth trying to bite the sky. Snow covers the upper slopes even in summer. Wind howls through the passes, carrying a cold that cuts through our clothes.
There's a reason no one crosses these mountains, Nyx says quietly. They're protected. The gods made sure of it.
Protected how? Cassian asks.
As if answering, a roar echoes from higher up the mountain. Something big. Something hungry.
That's how, Nyx says grimly.
We climb anyway. The path if you can call it that is barely wide enough for one person. On our left is solid rock. On our right is a drop that goes down forever.
Three hours in, we lose our first person.
A man named Erik steps on loose stone. It crumbles under his weight. He falls, screaming.
Kael lunges and catches his hand, but Erik's pack drags him down. His fingers slip.
He's gone before anyone can save him.
We're all silent after that. The adventure feeling dies. This is real. People are going to die.
We should turn back, my father says shakily. This is madness.
We keep going, I say, even though my hands are shaking. Erik chose to be here. We honor that by finishing what we started.
We climb higher.
That night, we camp on a narrow ledge. No fires the wind would blow them out. We huddle together for warmth, eating cold rations.
Cassian sits beside me, our shoulders touching. Do you remember the day we met?
I do. I was fourteen, new to the archives, and I'd dropped a pile of books. Cassian then just a seventeen-year-old prince visiting the temple helped me pick them up. He asked what I was reading.
No one had ever asked me that before.
You quoted my favourite passage from memory, I say softly. I thought you were showing off.
I was trying to impress you. He smiles. Did it work?
Maybe. I lean my head on his shoulder. I kept every letter you wrote me, you know. Even in prison, I kept them.
His arm wraps around me. When we get through this, when the gods are really gone, I'm going to write you a thousand more.
That's a lot of letters.
You're worth a million.
I close my eyes, letting myself have this one moment of peace.
Then Nyx's voice cuts through the darkness: Something's coming.
Everyone scrambles up, weapons drawn.
From the darkness above us comes a sound like metal scraping stone. Then glowing red eyes appear dozens of them.
Stone serpents, Nyx breathes. The gods' guardians.
Massive snake-like creatures made of living rock slither down the mountainside toward us. Their scales glint like knives. Their mouths open, showing teeth like sword blades.
How do we fight rock? Lyra asks, terrified.
We don't, Kael says. We run.
But there's nowhere to run. The path only goes forward or back, and serpents are coming from both directions.
We're trapped on a ledge thousands of feet in the air with monsters closing in.
Sera! Cassian shouts. Can you do anything?
I don't have power anymore, remember?
You broke prophecies without touching them once! Try!
I don't know what he means, but I'm desperate. I close my eyes and reach for... something. Anything.
And I feel it. A tiny spark of silver light still inside me. Not much. Just a fragment of what I had before.
The lead serpent lunges at us, jaws open wide.
I throw out my hand
A burst of silver light explodes from my palm, hitting the serpent square in the face. It recoils, hissing.
I thought you gave up your power! Nyx stares at me.
I thought I did too!
The serpents circle us, angrier now. More of them pour down the mountain twenty, thirty, too many to count.
Whatever you're going to do, Kael says, sword ready, do it fast!
I gather the tiny spark of power inside me. It's not enough to fight all these creatures. Not even close.
But maybe I don't need to fight them.
I think about what the voice said when I was transforming: I broke the chains. I freed people from prophecy.
These creatures are bound too bound by the gods to guard this mountain forever.
What if I could free them?
I reach out with my remaining power toward the nearest serpent. I can see ita thin golden thread connecting the creature to the gods' will.
I touch the thread.
It snaps.
The serpent freezes. Its red eyes fade to normal stone-gray. It looks confused, like it's waking up from a long sleep.
Then it turns and slithers away, disappearing into the darkness.
Do the others! Cassian urges.
I try. I break another thread. Then another. But each one drains me. My vision blurs. My legs shake.
There are too many. I can't free them all.
A serpent strikes at Lyra. Kael pushes her aside and takes the bite instead. The creature's teeth sink into his shoulder. He screams.
No! I lunge forward
And something inside me breaks open. Not power. Something else.
The remaining spark of silver light explodes outward, bigger than before. It touches every serpent at once, shattering all their binding threads simultaneously.
The creatures freeze. Their eyes clear. And one by one, they slither away, finally free after centuries of slavery.
We won.
But the effort has destroyed me. I collapse, completely empty. My body won't move.
Sera! Multiple voices shout at once.
Cassian catches me before I hit the stone. Stay with me. Please stay with me.
I'm okay, I whisper. Just... tired.
Kael's bleeding badly from his shoulder. Lyra's trying to bandage it with strips of cloth.
We've lost one person. Another is badly wounded. And I just used up the last bit of power I had.
We still have three more days of climbing before we reach the temple.
If we even make it that far.
Nyx looks up at the mountain peaks, his expression grim. The serpents were just the first test. The gods have worse things waiting for us.
How much worse? my father asks weakly.
Before Nyx can answer, the ground beneath us starts shaking. Not an earthquake something else.
The entire mountain is moving.
Cracks appear in the stone around us. The ledge we're standing on starts to crumble.
It's alive, Nyx whispers in horror. The whole mountain is alive. And we just woke it up.
The ledge breaks apart.
We're all falling, screaming, grabbing for anything
I catch a jutting rock with one hand. Cassian catches my other hand. Below him dangles Lyra, holding his ankle. Below her is Kael despite his injured shoulder. Below him is my father.
We're a human chain hanging from a rock that's slowly pulling loose from the living mountain.
I can't hold on! my father screams.
Don't let go! I shout back, but my fingers are slipping.
The rock breaks free.
We fall into darkness.