The mask rested in Sonder's hands.
For one impossible moment, she wished it could be simpler.
That she could simply place it upon Vell's face and let it pour its strength into him.
That it could all be over.
She looked at him.
She could not risk it.
His body was frail, barely clinging to life.
The Yellow Mage had preserved it, but nothing more.
And the darkness woven through the mask was inseparable from its power.
If even a fraction of that darkness reached Vell in his condition...
She did not know what would happen.
Nothing good.
She raised the mask and hesitated for just a moment.
If it touched her face, there would be no going back.
Then her hesitation vanished.
With quiet, unwavering resolve, Sonder placed Endrith's mask upon her face.
Thunder crashed.
Power struck Sonder like an unending ocean pouring from the heavens.
In an infinitesimal instant, an immeasurable torrent forced itself through every part of her being.
Vast beyond comprehension.
Something so far beyond anything she had ever felt, seen, or imagined that she could not describe it.
She felt as though she could do anything.
Lift mountains.
Divide the sea.
Remake the earth with a careless thought.
If she snapped her fingers, reality would bend to her will.
Every thought carried absolute certainty.
Every question already had an answer.
Immediately behind it waited darkness.
Not pain.
Not madness.
Countless voices without words.
A feeling of hopelessness so profound it defied description.
And beneath it all, the certainty that every problem possessed a simple solution if one held enough power.
She felt it searching every corner of her mind.
Waiting for the smallest invitation.
Sonder clenched her hands.
There was only one thought.
Only one name.
Vell.
She held on to it with everything she was.
With tremendous effort, she raised her hands.
They trembled violently.
The mask wanted everything.
Not merely her magic, but her entire being.
Every instinct she possessed was dragged away from the single purpose she had chosen.
The air around her distorted.
Then it began to crack, as though reality itself were tearing apart.
The Yellow Mage watched.
Then he acted.
He had underestimated how much power the mask contained.
He had known it was vast beyond measure.
Even so, Sonder had drawn far more of it than he had expected.
His own magic surged forward.
Compared to the abyss Sonder now held, it was almost nothing.
But it was gentle by nature.
It soothed.
It strengthened.
He laid one hand upon Sonder's shoulder and poured every ounce of clarity he could summon into her weary mind.
For the briefest instant, the pressure eased.
Then everything below his elbow vanished.
His robe.
His wrappings.
His flesh.
Gone.
There was no blood.
"Do it now!"
His missing arm was of little concern compared to what Sonder was facing.
Even so, he did not stop.
Even as his own strength failed.
Even as blood seeped through the wrappings covering his face.
He held on with everything he had left.
Strengthening.
Nourishing.
Restoring.
To Sonder, only one thing remained.
One man lying motionless upon the bed.
Sonder reached toward Vell.
With everything.
Every thread of mana that coursed through her.
Every fragment of strength the mask had forced into her.
Every miracle it offered.
She seized it all.
Life.
Vitality.
Power.
Will.
She took hold of the immeasurable torrent and, with a cry that was half determination and half agony, forced it away from herself.
Into Vell.