When he opened his eyes, a universe of stars swirled deep within his pupils. He could already feel the power of many Wandbearers building within him. He hoped he would be able to handle it. “On the count of three.”

The wand-bearing warriors were emitting a constant energy flow—all but Henry. His power fluctuated wildly. It came at Coralis in raging torrents, threatening to engulf him one moment, then winding down to a trickle the next.

Coralis struggled to harness and modulate the energy. He told them to touch their wands to the tunnel walls.

“Focus!” he commanded, bringing them to a heightened state they didn’t know was possible.

“Now!”

Markhor opened the door. Immediately the crystals began to glow.

Dai She shouted, “And evil shall reign!” With one hand he took his personal wand and touched the crystal pillar next to him. With the other hand, he touched the Corsini Wand to the map. He sent a stream of energy outward, an invisible streak of lightning that connected pillar to pillar up the tunnel until it reached the one at the entrance.

The moon had reached its perigee at the precise moment that it could no longer contain the centuries of evil it had accumulated. To the untrained eyes of billions of people around the world … nothing happened.

But within the diabolical mind of Dai She, a flood of evil coursed outward and latched on to every single thread of moonlight. For just a second, the moon darkened as if a cloud passed before it. A single second was all it took for the moon to return to its original luster.

A meteoric pulse of energy rocketed toward the Earth at the speed of light and collided headlong into Dai She’s snare. The first crystal pillar nearly exploded, but it held fast and allowed the energy to pass, streaking down the tunnel and into Dai She.

The Wand Master strained and bucked as he began to glow, his eyes the color of crimson fire, his body red, purple, and black.

Markhor edged away from the opening. For the first time, fear etched his brow. He crept along the wall, steering clear of the crystals. He knew he had to escape from the tunnel before Dai She released the energy but could not tear his eyes away. To witness destruction on this scale was simultaneously horrifying and thrilling.

And he wanted to witness it as himself. He allowed the glamour of his facade to dissipate, revealing himself as Malachai.

Dai She saw the shimmer at the outer edge of his peripheral vision. Through red-stained eyes, he imagined it was his father and not the sniveling Markhor who was about to witness his greatest achievement. When he felt his body was about to burst, he concentrated on the map and unleashed the power into the giant crystals all around him.

The map began to buckle … and the Earth along with it.

Chapter Thirty-Five