“No!” Ephyra shrieked, her voice echoing across the stone platform. Tears sprang to her eyes as she fell to her knees.

The god raised Beru’s arms, and the five great monoliths exploded. Chunks of rock flung out, and Ephyra felt someone pull her down to the ground.

“Pallas is dead!” Lazaros called out across the platform as the dust cleared. “You so-called Witnesses, tell me—to whom do you devote yourselves? To the betrayer who deemed himself a Prophet? Or to your all-powerful creator and god?”

The Witnesses stumbled forward.

“Our god will bring a glorious new era to the world!” Lazaros cried.

One by one, the Witnesses knelt, trembling, at Beru’s feet.

“YOU HAVE DONE ME A GREAT SERVICE,” the god said to Lazaros in a terrible voice that both was and wasn’t Beru’s. “YOU HAVE FREED ME FROM THE TYRANT PALLAS.” It turned and surveyed the others. “BUT THE REST OF YOU WHO NOW SWEAR YOURSELVES TO ME … YOU HAVE DEVOTED YOURSELF TO PALLAS AND FOR THAT, YOU MUST END.”

The god snapped Beru’s arms out. In a spray of blood, the Witnesses and Paladin collapsed, their throats slashed cleanly.

A sob shook Ephyra. “Beru,” she whispered. “Beru, fight it.”

The god turned and looked directly at Ephyra.

“AND THE REST OF YOU,” it said with contempt. “THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE PLOTTED TO DESTROY ME…”

The god raised a hand and pain suddenly erupted from Ephyra’s chest. She felt like she was being crushed by some unseen force. She heard the cries of the others—Hassan nearby, and Jude and Anton just ahead of her. Pain wracked her body, so acute Ephyra thought she might pass out.

And then it stopped. The god blinked, like it wasn’t sure what had happened, one hand still raised in the air. For the length of a heartbeat, nothing happened, and then the ground began to shake. The god’s gaze burned into Ephyra, and she was sure they were all about to die.

And then suddenly the god disappeared in a flash of bright light, along with Lazaros.

Ephyra just stared ahead, numb.

“Get up!” Illya pulled Ephyra to her feet, and it was like they were back in Behezda, beneath the falling ruins of the Red Gate, when Ephyra had first resurrected the god.

“We need to go, now,” Jude said tersely. “The caldera is going to cave in!”

“Help me with him!” shouted Khepri, hauling a bleeding Hassan against her side. Hector ducked to support Hassan’s other side.

Ephyra barely registered the others through the raining debris. She let herself be pulled back over the platform, through the gate, and underneath the arches as they crumbled behind them.

Ephyra’s feet carried her away. She glanced over her shoulder to see Khepri and Hector moving as fast as they could, Prince Hassan swaying between them, barely conscious.