Forged Destiny [Book 6: Ch. 14, Ch. 15]

It was the sound which alerted her, a sound like steam pouring from a boiling pot. A hissing that heralded something far hotter than even her brightest flames burning on contact with naked air. Cinder turned, eyes growing wide as she watched the man – the boy – place one hand down onto the ground and push himself up onto one knee.

Steam poured from him. It obscured him. His skin shimmered and sweat ran down exposed flesh. The gaping wound in his chest, the one she had imposed, was gone. So, too, was the sword. In its place, an expanse of pulsing silver remained. Living metal.

"How?" Cinder asked. "How are you still alive?"

There was no answer. The Revenant reached down and picked up its sword once more, pale, glowing eyes flickering through the steam. Cinder's eyes narrowed. In the end, it would not matter. Though he might stand, and though his wounds might somehow have healed, he would still fall. He had no choice, for she had no choice.

It was their destiny. He was still just a Blacksmi-

No.

Her eyes must have betrayed her, for the alternative was not possible. Cinder shook her head and took a step back, summoning once more a sword of fire. The haze of steam that poured from him, as if he had come fresh from the forge himself, obscured the air around and above him, the heat causing the air to flicker and warp before her eyes.

And yet, as the haze dissipated, the illusion did not. The words above his head which donated his name and his Class continued to do so, but before her eyes they… flickered. Shimmered.

Changed.

"Impossible," Cinder whispered.

JAUNE

SWORDMASTER

—Forged Destiny [Book 6: Ch. 14]



Ducking low, I surged towards the fires, eyes flashing once as I shifted in a way I instinctively knew how. The words above my head changed – my perception of the world changed – and suddenly I was returned, a Blacksmith once more. My left hand touched my armour a second later and the heat was back, roaring to life as my armour turned bright red. All of it happened in the space of a few seconds and yet Cinder did not see it, her view obstructed by her own attack. I powered through it, emerging from the other side with an angry roar. Cinder backpedalled, panicked, and summoned her swords once more.

My mind clicked. New information, new strength, rushed into me. When our blades clashed, I was a Swordmaster once again.

—Forged Destiny [Book 6: Ch. 15]