Jax’s chest heaved as he fought for his breath. Each one felt like a knife to the ribs, and he wished more for the hundredth time in a matter of five minutes that Janai’s healing hands were here.

Her body is still warm, Jax thought. What are you going to do without her?

Pushing the thoughts of cracked ribs out of his mind, Jax got his hands and feet below him and pushed up with all his might. His arms shook with the effort, and a strangled groan of pain lurched out of his throat without his permission. Greatest wizard in Shrouded Glade, huh? He thought shrewdly. Reduced to this after an invasion.

“Amnerys!”

Bay was limping toward him, one of her arms cradled against her chest. “Amnerys,” she repeated breathlessly, calling him by the only name she knew him by. “Have you seen any of the others?”

All around them, the troops were slowly coming to - those that had survived the explosion. Some were dead; some were crying over the dead, or in shock, or too injured to realize what was going on.

“We should find Maddox and Janai,” Bay told him.

“Janai’s gone,” Jax said, too gruffly.

Bay’s eyes shot wide. She studied each body on the ground around them. “When- when-?”

“She won’t be here,” Jax continued. “She rushed in and helped Gus deliver the final blow. She’s gone.”

“So that magic surge I felt? I thought-“

“That it was just the conflicting magicks? Yeah, what we all felt was probably nothing near as powerful as what you did.” Jax had studied the Warden’s magicks all his life. Probably knew more about them and the Wardens did, except for the rift in the spirit when the incarnates were born this last time around. “I’m betting that as she let her magic go, let it unite in you.”

Bay stared at him in silence. A single tear dripped from her eye. “I don’t want to be the only Warden now, Jax,” she said tearfully.

It was heartbreaking to see the fierce girl cry.

“Especially without her and Maddox.” Bay collapsed against him, and his ribs screamed in pain. He could feel her shaking against him, so instead he held her close. He felt tears gathering in his eyes. The magic in Bay was all he had left of his beloved Janai, the one who had given him a second chance when no one else had.

“We need to look for Maddox,” Jax said finally, pushing her off his ribs and looking her seriously in the eye. “We need to find him. We need to get our strong together so we can bury our dead and treat our injured. Can you help me do that? Warden?”

Bay sniffed hard, wiped furiously at her tears, and they streaked ash across her face. She nodded determinedly. “Yes,” she said. “Yes. It’s what Janai would want.”

The battle may be over, Jax thought, but the realm still needed its heroes.