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Sandry, blindly continuing her work, heard a shattering smash in the distance. "What was that?" she murmered, her mind muddled by exhaustion.
Tris squinted, thinking hard. "It sounds...like onyx when i dropped Niko's seeing stone on the pavement...the crystals?"
The water in the air shimmered, and disappeared.
"What the...?" Briar yelped.
Sandry smiled weakly. "The power in the stones must have worn out," she commented quietly. "And what a severe difference it makes!" Placing her hand on the shield, it disappeared within her palm. "Isn't it wonderful?" she breathed, before slumping down onto the damp grass.
Briar gasped as she landed with a small thump. "Sandry?" She murmured something, eyelids closing. She fought the reflex, but her eyelids proved too heavy and her lashes shut over her tired, bright blue eyes.
~~~~~~~~
Shaking the girl, Daja groaned. "We...we're losing her, Briar. She's slipping away." He didn't even think this time, as he had four years ago. This time he dived into the dark space behind her eyes, grabbing her by the hand as she tumbled into the irreversible tunnel. She cried out, clinging to him, as the weak thread of their combined power stretched and nearly snapped.
"Tris? Daja?" he called desperately, but even the last of their magic would not lift them from the pit. It sagged and both mages slipped deeper into the pit. "Help," Sandry whispered.
And a surge of bronze fire, strange and different, coursed through the shimmering rope, strengthening the tie, though by no means raising the two more than a few feet. Kethan, hands on Daja's shoulder, had his eyes shut tightly.
Sandry cried aloud with realization. "Tris, a whirlwind! Dump some of me, you, Daja, Briar, and Kethan into it, maybe..." She could feel her Circle friends' lives begin to spiral after them into death, and they could not afford to lose the battle this time.
Jamming the multicolored fire into the spinning vortex, Tris smashed it within her palm. Left in her hand was a five-colored thread, yet it was still weakening fast. "What do we do now?" she shrieked.
Something hot appeared in Daja's hand. "What the...?" It was that stupid lump of glowing coal. "How did you get here?" she addressed the white rock. Actually, it wasn't the first time one of her creations returned, with some strange osmosis, offering her its power. "Well, be useful!" Wrapping the thread of their magic around the coal, it pulsed and lent its power to the tired mages.
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