As the world reassembled, I hit my knees in a piss-stained alley, retching bile onto the cobblestones.

My head throbbed, stomach twisted, and the air reeked of rot and damp stone.

Veyne barely stumbled.

She pulled her hood lower "You get used to it."

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, swallowing against the nausea.

"Where are we?"

"Not far enough" Something in her voice sharpened.

She grabbed my wrist without warning, and the world tore away again.

We hit a rooftop, hard.

My palms scraped against rough tile as I gasped, vision swimming.

I rolled onto my back, chest heaving, while Veyne crouched low, scanning the alley below.

My body felt weightless, like I'd been unraveled and put back together wrong.

Footsteps rang out below.

Two figures stepped out from the shadows, moving with a practiced, predatory ease.

Veyne swore under her breath.

"Trackers."

A moment later, she added "A conjurer and an augmentor."

My pulse pounded.

Below, the augmentor cracked his knuckles, and the stone beneath his boots trembled in response.

He was built like a fortress, his sheer presence making the space around him seem smaller.

Beside him, the conjurer knelt, fingers sweeping through the air in slow, practiced motions.

A ripple passed through the alley, distorting the air like a mirage.

His head snapped up and I heard Veyne curse under her breath.

The augmentor launched himself on the wall with terrifying speed.

I barely had time to react before he was on the rooftop with us, swinging a fist that could shatter stone.

Veyne shifted aside with fluid precision, while I stumbled back, heart hammering.

She didn't wait.

She thrust out a hand, and fire roared up between them, a short-lived wall of heat and light.

The augmentor stepped back, narrowing his stance, watching the flames die down before moving again.

The conjurer below raised his hands, and a gust of force slammed into me, sending me skidding across the rooftop.

I caught myself on a loose brick, my vision reeling.

I gritted my teeth, pushing myself up as the tiles cracked beneath me.

"This isn't going well."

Veyne raised her hand, and the air thickened, heat rippling outward as fire coiled around her fingers.

The conjurer below flicked his fingers, trying to counter her spell, but something was wrong.

His magic sputtered, the ripple in the air collapsing before it reached us.

His eyes widened in confusion... then in fear.

He barely had time to scream.

The augmentor threw himself at Veyne, but she wove away.

I saw her wrist move again and heat swelled up in the air, a sudden burst of embers and smoke.

The rooftop swirled with ash, obscuring his vision.

When he emerged from the haze, his coat was smoldering, his snarl deepening into a growl of frustration.

I gritted my teeth and I forced my body to move.

Flamed burst from my palms, licking up my arms before surging forward.

The heat seared through the air between us, forcing the augmentor back a step.

I stepped forward... only for the fire to sputter and die out in an instant.

Cold dread sunk into my gut.

Veyne's head snapped toward me, her eyes narrowing in alarm "What the hell was that?"

The augmentor gritted his teeth, shaking off the embers clinging to his coat.

His sleeves were burned through in places, skin raw beneath the scorched fabric.

Veyne exhaled, shifting her stance.

The air around her shimmered, heat curling off her skin like sunbaked stone.

The rooftop trembled beneath us.

Not from magic. Just weight, movement... stress.

This fight was pushing the limits of what the structure could take.

The augmentor noticed it too, his eyes flickered to the cracked tiles beneath him, the dust drifting from beneath his boots.

I didn't give him time to think about it.

I lunged, not at him, but toward Veyne. "Move!"

She didn't hesitate. The moment I reached her, she grabbed my arm, her grip iron-tight.

The air warped... and we were gone.

I hit solid ground with a gasp, my vision spinning. Not a rooftop. A street.

Somewhere lower, away from the collapsing building.

I wheezed, bracing myself against a nearby wall "That... sucked."

Veyne straightened, slower this time, one hand briefly pressed to her ribs.

"You're getting used to it."

I looked her over.

"Yeah," I said, dry. "You look great, by the way. Totally not about to kneel over."

She shot me a look, then exhaled. "It's draining. That's all."

A thick cloud of dust had swallowed the street with debris scattered in every direction.

Veyne barely spared it a glance. "The should take care of him."

Her gaze flicked to me, unreadable. "What happened back there?"

I blinked. "Back where?"

"The conjurer," she said. "His spell died mid-cast. That's... not normal."

I shook my head. "I thought you did something."

She snorted. "If I could do that, we wouldn't be running."

Her gaze cut back to me. "But yours burned out too."

I looked down. My hands were scorched, fingers twitching.

No heat, just ash flaking off my skin. "I'm lucky if it even lights."

She stared. "What?"

"I can't hold them. Not for long."

Veyne's brow twitched. "Since when?"

“Since they locked me up,” I said. “Or maybe before. I don’t know.”

She paused. Like she was doing the math.

“Useful,” she muttered. “Half a mage and a death sentence.”

“Glad to be here,” I said.