Ethan could feel it—every tremor of energy rippling through the air like the shudder of a world on the brink.
The sheer force unleashed by the clash ahead was enough to obliterate anything caught in its path.
He didn't dare get closer.
All he could do was watch from a safe distance, heart pounding, knowing that stepping into that storm meant certain death.
Time blurred. Seconds, minutes—he couldn't tell how long he stood there, eyes locked on the battle raging above.
Then, finally, a shift.
Kaelira and the Earthmother had been locked in a brutal stalemate, but now the tide was turning.
It was clear: the Earthmother couldn't command the strange celestial energy overhead the way Kaelira could. That gap in control was costing her—badly.
Kaelira wasn't just powerful. She was cunning.
Somehow, she'd found a way to not only absorb the energy from the sky, but to siphon the Earthmother's own power—ripping it from her body and twisting it into her own.
