LOGINLyra The healer stood in the middle of us, his hands folded behind his back. His eyes moved slowly from one face to another, studying us.“So everyone,” he began, voice steady and controlled, “now that we are all here, we need to assign responsibilities.”His tone wasn’t loud, but it carried authority. “We need to decide what each and every one of you has to do in order to get Damien.”At the mention of Damien’s name, something cold slid down my spine. The healer didn’t hesitate.“First of all,” he continued, “we need someone who will lure him out.”The word lure hung in the air like a trap waiting to snap.“Which one of you,” he asked, looking directly at us, “is willing to lure Damien out of his place so that we can catch him… and kill him?”Silence swallowed the room. Nick’s jaw tightened. His fingers curled slightly at his sides. Rixa’s expression didn’t change, but I noticed the slight shift of her shoulders, alert.I didn’t think, I just moved. My hand went up.Nick turned to m
LyraI couldn't believe my esys…He was right in front of me breathing and alive, he was so close enough that I could see the faint shadows under his eyes, the way his chest rose slower than usual, like his body was still catching up with itself.My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might bruise my ribs.“Honey…” The word slipped out before I could stop it. My voice trembled. “Is it really you?”I stared at him like if I blinked too long, he would disappear.“Is this really you?” I whispered again, my throat tight.Because this didn’t feel real, not after everything, not after the healer’s warning, not after being told I was dangerous to him. Toxic. A walking threat to the person I loved most.Nick’s mouth curved slightly, soft and tired but real. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “It’s me.”My chest ached. I hadn’t expected to see him. I wasn’t prepared. I thought I would have more time to become strong enough before standing this close to him again, and now he was here, and all I cou
LyraMy head was still spinning. Jay stood a few feet away like he hadn’t once broken my heart in the most dramatic teenage way possible. Rixa stood beside him, arms folded, looking like she had just stepped out of a war meeting instead of what I thought was a kidnapping.I pointed at Rixa, my voice sharp with disbelief.“Where did you find them?”My eyes snapped to the healer. “I thought she was kidnapped by Damien and his men. So what is she doing here? How is she here with you?”The words rushed out fast, tripping over each other. Because this didn’t make sense.For days, I had trained with the image of Rixa being trapped somewhere dark, probably hurt. And now she was standing here like she just came from a walk.The healer didn’t look offended by my tone. He didn’t look rushed either. He stepped forward calmly, hands clasped behind his back.“I saved Rixa,” he said.Just like that, I blinked.“You… what?”“I saved her because I knew she would be a huge part of this progress. Of al
LyraThe next few days didn’t blur, they burned.Morning bled into afternoon, afternoon into night, and I stayed in the clearing like it was the only place left on earth. I trained until my muscles shook, until my throat felt scraped raw from shouting, until the ground carried marks of where my power had hit.Again and a gain.I stopped counting after the second day.Food became optional. Sleep became background noise. The healer would place something near the edge of the clearing sometimes, bread, fruit or water.Sometimes I remembered to touch it. Most times I didn’t and the strangest part? I didn’t feel empty.I should have been dizzy, weak and starving, Instead, I felt full.Full of anger, full of grief that It felt like I had eaten.It felt like strength lived inside my bones.Even when my arms trembled, even when my legs almost gave out, the fire kept answering me. Every time I thought I couldn’t lift my fists again, I thought of Damien’s face and something inside me snapped upr
LyraMy fingers twitched at my sides. Heat pulsed faintly beneath my skin, like embers refusing to die. I lifted my chin and looked at him.He didn’t look impressed. He didn’t look worried either. Just steady. Watching me the way a storm watches the sea before it decides to move.“Well,” he said evenly, “right now, look at me and do what I ask you to do.”My throat tightened. I forced my gaze to stay on his face. The lines around his mouth. The calm in his eyes. The controlled posture.Then I let it shift. I imagined Damien. And it made my blood boil, my jaw locked.The air changed. It felt like something inside my chest snapped into place and before my brain could second-guess it, my body moved.I stepped forward and threw everything I had into one punch. There was no hesitation. The impact wasn’t loud. It was heavy. The kind of force that presses against your ears and makes the world blink for a second.And then— He flew.His body lifted off the ground like I had grabbed him and t
LyraMy chest was heaving. The air around me still shimmered from the heat that had erupted from my palms, and I could feel it lingering on my skin, crawling up my arms in faint, crackling waves.My hair stuck to my forehead, damp with sweat, and my entire body was trembling.I couldn’t stop myself. “Wow! I did it! I actually did it!” My voice cracked somewhere between a shout and a laugh. I spun around, arms raised, almost dancing in disbelief. “I… I did it!”Then I noticed him. The healer—no, not the old man I thought I knew, stood there, jaw tight, arms crossed, eyes boring into mine with a look so serious it grounded me immediately. My stomach twisted. “Uh… sorry?” I muttered. My heart was still racing. I hadn’t even realized I’d been shouting.“You shouldn’t get excited,” he said calmly, like he was discussing the weather. “You can’t summon your power by cheering for yourself.”I froze, blinking rapidly. “Wait… what? I… but I just summoned it!”“Yes,” he said, slowly uncrossing







