Many long centuries had passed since Shan had last prayed to the gods for anything, but when Goram's hammer swung, his mind went completely blank, void of every thought but one.

Gods help me.

Elvia ~ Navahele

Though no sound emerged from Hawksheart's mirror, Shannisorran v'En Celay's scream still rocked the rooted heart of Grandfather Sentinel, and every observing Fey warrior flinched and whispered a prayer for mercy.

Ellysetta's fingernails dug deep enough into Rain's wrist to draw blood.

"Setah, Hawksheart!" Rain bit out. "Stop that scorching mirror. Ellysetta has seen enough."

The Elf king nodded, but before he could do as Rain ordered, the Eld hammer swung again, and Shannisorran v'En Celay's head was flung back, his face twisted in a rictus of unimaginable pain.

Ellysetta's body began to shake like it did when one of her seizures began, only this time, she did not fall convulsing to the floor. This time—and far more alarmingly—her power gathered. Her eyes went tairen-bright, the pupils disappearing, and her silvery Fey luminescence became a dazzling light as she called forth the awesome entirety of her magic.

"Krekk," Rain muttered. "Ellysetta! Scorch it, Elf, stop that flaming thing!" He sent a blast of Water and Air to do it himself, but instead of obeying his command, the power he summoned spilled out of his body in shining flows .. . and poured into Ellysetta's.

Similar streams of power flowed into her from Gaelen and Bel and the rest of her quintet. Even Hawksheart's Elvish magic swirled towards her in sparkling golden rivers. She was siphoning their power, drawing it into herself, and as she did, her glow grew brighter and fiercer until Rain's eyes burned from the blinding light.

«Ellysetta!» he cried. «Parei, shei'tani! Stop!»

But she didn't.

All around the small chamber, the sturdy, smooth grain of Grandfather's heartwood groaned and creaked in protest as the wood bowed inward, towards Ellysetta, as if—not content to drain only Hawksheart and the Fey—she was summoning every scrap of life and power stored in the great tree's ancient form as well.

In the mirror's shimmering veil, Rain saw the Eld hammer strike again, saw Shannisorran v'En Celay's body convulse in agony.

A roar of pure, unfettered Rage shook the Sentinel's heartwood chamber. Power flashed with concussive force, knocking Ellysetta's quintet and the Elf king to the ground. Rain, who was standing closest to her, found himself lifted off his feet and flung across the room to slam hard against the Sentinel's smooth walls. He struggled to raise himself on his elbows, only to fall back again as his head spun and darkness crowded the edges of his vision.

Dimly, he saw Hawksheart crawling towards Ellysetta on hands and knees and heard him screaming, "Anio! Do not touch the water!" as Ellysetta—the only one in the room still standing—plunged her hands into the mirror's veil.

Eld ~ Boura Fell

Shan's breath came in shallow pants, and in his pain-dazed mind, set afire by the screaming torment of shattered nerves, he chanted with dogged determination.

Pain is life. Pain is life. Pain is life.

He focused on the words, using them as a shield against the blinding agony, taking each word and adding it as a mental brick in the wall against his pain. If he built the wall high enough, strong enough, he could endure.

Goram drew back his hammer again. Shan closed his eyes against the oncoming blow, and his chant picked up desperate speed. Pain is life. Pain is life. Pain is life.

The hammer landed with a loud crack of shattering bone. Agony exploded in Shan's right knee, and the fragile wall against the pain exploded with it. Shan's scream ripped from his throat.

Please, gods, then let me die.

He nearly wept. Goram had barely begun, and already Shan was breaking. In spirit as well as in body. For months now he'd been tortured on a near-daily basis—these last weeks with a relentless ferocity that made the last thousand years of torment seem a hard day of training at the academy by comparison. Thanks to Elfeya, he'd survived all those previous tortures, but this time, she was not there to steal away the pain or anchor him to Light and life.

The lure to give in, to simply let his life fade was so tempting. But it wasn't what she wanted. And that meant he had to endure. Without her here to help him, he had to be strong enough for them both.

He swung limply from his chains, breathless and dazed, his numbed mind groping for the words to begin again. This time, he whispered them aloud. "Pain is life." Elfeya, I love you. The first brick settled in place. "Pain is life." There is no price I would not pay, no torment I would not suffer for you. The next locked neatly into place beside the first.

"Pain is life." You are the. sun that shines Light upon my soul. Another brick joined the rest. "Pain is life." Because you live, my life has purpose. And another.

Goram swung his gods-cursed hammer once more.

Shan closed his eyes so he wouldn't see it. "Pain is—"

The bones in his left hip shattered inside his skin. Blinding agony engulfed him. His dazed mind howled and groped for the word. Pain is ... is ... is—

—Rage.

It came from nowhere and filled him in an instant. Violent fury. Bloodlust. Savage, vengeful ferocity so vast it made the earth tremble.

Goram fell to his knees, and his master staggered back against the rough, carved-out walls of the cell. Maur's hood fell back, revealing the rotting ruins of his face—the skin drooping like melted tallow, patched with oozing sores where his flesh had begun to putrefy.