It all happens in the blink of an eye. One moment I am standing at the foot of the steps watching Sister Evangeline reaching for the Shield, her hand lingering above the face of it. The next, she is engulfed by a bright, blinding light that fills the chamber. Fills my vision, edge to edge. I feel the heat of it against my face. My soul.

In the wake of it, the hall echoes to the sound of raised voices. My vision clears one blink at a time to reveal Sister Evangeline lying on the stone floor in front of me, thrown backwards by the force of the blast. She is completely still, save for the smoke coiling from her armour plates. There is no fire now. No flame. Sister Evangeline is glowing like old coals, the light ­fading by the moment.

I look around, expecting to see the Conduit but seeing only those we brought with us. Canoness Elivia is shouting orders, her Sisters raising their boltguns and blades. Sister Ashava is limping towards the steps. Towards Sister Evan­geline. Castanne and Silvera are prostrated before the stairs and before the Battle Sister’s body, still weeping.

Zoric is down on one knee, shaking his head as if he’s trying to clear it. Yumia has hold of his arm, trying to drag him back to his feet.

‘Where is the Conduit, lord?’ she asks over the noise.

I blink, my ears ringing and unease building in my chest.

‘I don’t know,’ I tell her.

Yumia’s eyes go wide, but before she can answer me, another voice cuts in. An impossible voice.

‘The end,’ Sofika says. ‘This is the end.’

I turn and look at Sofika with my heart in my throat. My dream-taker is awake, though she shouldn’t be. She can’t possibly be. Her mountain-sky eyes are wide, her pupils like pinpricks in amongst all of that blue.

‘He draws near,’ she says, as blood tracks slowly from her nose.

A sensation overcomes me, like fingertips trailing up my spine. It’s not just threat, it’s more than that. Anticipation. I turn to see a thin line of golden fire manifesting in the air at the top of the steps, where the pedestal used to be. It loops around to connect with itself, to consume itself, until it becomes a circle. A doorway. A gate. Through it steps a single figure, haloed by light so bright that my eyes stream just from looking. My heart swells in my chest, and I smile. A real smile. A wide one. Wide as the mountain sky.

I look around and see that everyone else in the room is on their knees, frozen in place. Everyone but me and Sofika. I reach out and take hold of her hand. Hers is paper-thin and cold. Barely more than bones. But not for much longer.