Swallowing, Nikolai searched deeper into the earth.
Yes! That’s it. Reach.
He reached. And Nikolai found the seething, surging maelstrom, waiting for him.
It has a name. It’s the core energy. The realms were created from it.
You were born to wield it.
It was powerful, all consuming. Nikolai flinched away from it. He hadn’t controlled it before, and he couldn’t hope to control it now. It was as likely to kill Lucas as save him.
You were created to do this. Try again.
Lying in his arms, Lucas gave a spastic, gasping breath.
“Lucas.” The single word was filled with horror and fear as the woman clutched the young man’s hand.
Nikolai gritted his teeth and dipped into the maelstrom. Just a skim of the surface, but it flooded him with its white-hot power, threatening to burst through him. He couldn’t hold it back, could barely point it to where it needed to go.
Don’t control it. Channel it through you.
He stopped trying to grab hold, and instead, let it pass through him, and into Lucas.
The young man went into immediate spasm, his body lifting and writhing as Nikolai struggled to hold on to him. The power wanted destruction, not creation. Nikolai let enough of it bleed off that it didn’t fry Lucas, and instead strove to channel it so that it boosted the vivid green and blue energy of life.
It fought him, dancing through Lucas and backlashing into Nikolai and the woman. She cried out as her hair radiated outward, but her hand remained clamped to Lucas’s.
Lucas’s life essence was strong, now. The young man would live.
But the core energy wasn’t done, and Nikolai fought to disengage before it fried them all. As before, it was reluctant to let him go. It continued to flood into him, and its power threatened to rip him apart from within.
No. He had to shut it down, or it would destroy everyone and everything.
It is yours, you were meant to do this—
The voice cut off as somethingelseintervened. Something powerful, or rather several someones, that sliced through the connection he’d made, cutting it like a machete severs a vine. Their combined presences reached for him, and he panicked, retreating even as he shoved at them, pushing them violently away.
Heart pounding, Nikolai slumped alongside Lucas. Whatever, or rather, whoever, had blocked him was filled with intent. They were aware, and they were looking for him.
They are your people.
The voice was faint, as though it were whispering, afraid to be overheard. But Nikolai’s mind riveted on the concept. Ngubi had told him he needed to stay away from his people.
He had to run.
The need was all consuming, even though he ached all over, scorched from the inside out.
You no longer have to run from them. Let them find you.
No. Panic filled Nikolai, and he pushed the voice aside. He had to run.
When he rose, the woman also scrambled to her feet, her eyes wide. “Is he okay?”
Lucas was unconscious, but breathing evenly. Many of his wounds had healed; only the deepest remained. Nikolai looked down at the battered body. “He will live. But I have to leave this place.”
The eyes that assessed him were stunning, a deep red-brown with gold radiating outward like sunrays. It reminded him of an amber ring his teacher had once worn. The thought of leaving her, after finding her, made his heart ache.
“Where are you going to go?” she asked.
