The next morning day Hireth started their magic training with an introduction to runes and spells.

“Runes are the great equalizers of magic.” She drew one in the sand. “It allows for any magic—with one exception—to run through a certain set of instructions.”

“That one exception is your black magic?” Eric asked.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Because it’s anti-magic. Now, I can manipulate it, and with a good amount of convincing, it will still work, but… sometimes it has odd consequences, like making a light green instead of white.”

“Okay, then what’s the difference between a rune and a spell?” Illius asked.

“Spells are a spoken set of instructions,” Hireth explained, “like a verbal rune, in a way. But they aren’t as universal—they’re tied to the specific magic someone yields and the language they speak.”

“Kaz used an invisibility spell on us before,” Eric said.

“Hmm.” Hireth thought for a moment. “My guess is it was an illusion spell, but yes, he is a spellmaster. To be fair, it helps that some of his spells were passed down in his family.”

“I thought magic wasn’t genetic,” Eric said.

“It’s… complicated.” The witch shrugged. “Two blue magic users might not have a child with blue magic—it seems mostly random.”

“But…?” Eric pushed her.

“But therians are far more common in Parthenian and Akagnian bloodlines than Seratian or Arpecnian.”

“What about Patrian?”

“Patrian counts as Akagnian,” Hireth said, “but anyway, I digress. The point is, you can play around with spells and potentially discover some, but they’re hard to create, and most end up as closely guarded secrets. Runes, on the other hand, are public and visible. And that’s what we’re working on today.”

Yesterday, Illius had struggled to control the vibrations within him, but today it seemed like Hireth had expected him to master it. She pushed him to align the magic perfectly and run it through runes to create shields and structures. The lightning within him writhed under his pull, dancing out of the way, striking everywhere but where he wanted it.

When he finally created a shield, Hireth smashed it to pieces with her scythes. His chest burned as he yanked on his magic, sending a bolt for the witch in retaliation, only for her to smack it into the sand.

“Focus!” she shouted, sending one of her scythes for him.

His barely summoned shield shattered, and the scythe ripped into his arm.

“Ow!” He grabbed onto the wound, falling onto the sand.

“What on earth are you doing here?” Kaz walked into the arena. Illius hadn’t even heard him come in. Eric rushed from the side of the arena for Illius, spinning healing runes and pushing his magic through it.

“Training,” Hireth told the Seratian, her black magic dissipating.

“You can’t expect anyone to form magic constructs after only using it a few times,” Kaz told her.

“And yet,” the witch told him, “Illius can.”

Kaz grumbled at her, “Just because he can doesn’t mean he should. You of all people should be more careful with magic like this. What are you even hoping to accomplish? He can drain his magic now.”

Illius winced as Eric’s magic pulled his skin back together.

“Did I hurt you?” Eric asked.

He shook his head, focusing on Hireth and Kaz. She refused to answer, merely looking away.

“You’re training them to fight, aren’t you?” the Seratian accused her.

“Defend themselves,” she corrected.

“Oh, was that what I saw there?” Kaz gestured. “Defense? They’re refugees, Hireth! Not your dragon warriors!”

“And what happens if The Awakened shows up again? Hmm?” Hireth argued. “We sit there and die? I don’t fucking think so.”

“You run,” Kaz said. “Why do you think you’re hiding down here? This isn’t some… vigilante school, so you can take the fight to them.”

“If you think that they are going to let us walk across that border without a fight, you’re nuts.”

“If everything goes to plan—”

“Nothing has ever gone to fucking plan!” Hireth exclaimed. “I have plans and backup plans and backup plans for when those ultimately fail, because nothing in my goddamn life has ever gone according to plan! I am trying to give them a fighting chance!”

Kaz took a deep breath. “You can’t defeat him, Hireth. The most you can do is buy time.”

“I can’t.” She jerked her head toward Illius. “But he can.”

Illius glanced up at Hireth to see her gaze leveled at him. There’s no way. He couldn’t defeat The Awakened—he couldn’t even hold up a shield.

“He’s a boy,” Kaz protested.

“Don’t you dare.” She glared at the Seratian. “All my life, I’ve been just a girl. People doubted me and what I could do at every turn. I won’t do that, and I won’t let you do that, to him. He has more raw potential than anyone else in the world, as far as I’m aware, and he’s good at working with his magic, even with it being the fucking chaos element.”

“I’m not saying he can’t,” Kaz clarified. “I’m saying he shouldn’t have to.”

Hireth gave a little ironic laugh. “That isn’t going to change an iota of reality.” She brushed past Kaz to fawn over Illius’ arm. “You okay?”

Illius nodded.

“He makes a good point.” Hireth glanced back at Kaz. “Is this what you want? I’m not forcing you to do anything, right?”

Illius had already made up his mind. The second he’d released that lightning bolt to save Eric, he knew everything had changed. He glanced at Eric’s hand, which lingered on his arm, not pulling away until the last drop of blood had disappeared.

“This is what I want,” Illius told her. “Teach me how to control it.” He arose, and Eric backed away.

“Out, Kaz.” Hireth motioned toward the entrance, “Or you’re gonna get fried.”

The Seratian headed for the entrance. “Fine, but I’m in charge of morale, and you’re required to take certain amounts of time to… pursue other things.”

Hireth shot him a tired look. “Fine. I agree to your terms. Now scoot.”