Contents
Chapter 45
Overview
Aris follows her bond to Raker to a cloud-shrouded well of magic and resolves to face the gods, even at the cost of her life. In the radiant maze she reunites with Zane, who has claimed a chalice and plans to save his homeland. Zane reveals Cadoc also drank and survived, raising the stakes outside. Aris sends Zane home and steps toward the arch, prepared for the endgame.
Summary
Riding her returned dragon, Aris follows the Astral Queen’s warning-guided bond to Raker, feeling the tether like a rope pulling her across the world. Consumed by anger and betrayal over being left, she hardens her resolve to confront the gods without fearing death.
As the dragon cleaves through a storm into a sea of dazzling magic, Aris encounters a maze of radiant paths and illusions leading to a silver-light arch—the well’s entrance. She prepares to go in, reflecting on the dragon’s unnamed bond when a wordless thought touches her mind.
A Helmhawk descends beside them: Zane arrives, newly bonded and alive. He reveals he reached the well a week earlier, secured a silver chalice brimming with magic, and has been navigating the labyrinth for more. Aris shares that Kira is dead, killed by Cadoc, which sobers Zane.
Zane then reports seeing Cadoc at the well only hours before, drinking from a chalice and screaming as his dragon carried him away—yet Cadoc lived. The revelation suggests Cadoc may now be sustained by the well’s power, heightening the danger he poses elsewhere.
Resolved, Aris urges Zane to leave and use his chalice to save his mountain and people. After a final embrace, Zane departs on his Helmhawk. Aris asks her dragon to wait, acknowledges she may not return, and turns to the arch, intent on ending her journey—even if it kills her.
Who Appears
- ArisProtagonist; tracks Raker to the well of magic, confronts betrayal, resolves to enter and likely die.
- ZaneAlly who bonded a Helmhawk; secured a magic chalice to save his mountain; reports Cadoc drank and lived.
- Aris’s dragonSilent, newly rejoined companion; carries Aris to the well; shares a faint, name-hinting, mind-to-mind connection.
- CadocAntagonist; previously killed Kira. Reported to have drunk from the well’s chalice and survived.
- RakerAris’s bonded counterpart; his and Aris’s blades tether them, guiding her to the well.