Ellen was bored.

Managing Jessie's impending freak-out—which had mostly been explaining the situation, delaying her panic, and distracting her—had become routine over the last two hours. And while she was ready for her own C-Rank trial, she couldn't start it with Kade gone. That'd send his sister into a conniption fit for sure.

So, instead of working on herself, she was texting. Or, more accurately, trying not to text and failing.

Bob: There's still room on the team. I could shuffle people around or buy out the mage. Don't forget, I raised you. I made you who you are. You owe me this.

Bob: The team needs a leader. You could be that leader.

Bob: Two years. That's all they need. In two years, you could retire from delving and run the Traynor delving guild. A cushy job, no pressure or danger, and all the power we've ever wanted.

Bob: Eleanor, please think it over. We've worked hard for this.

Ellen: I have. The answer is still no.

"Who are you talking to?" Jessie asked.

Ellen shrugged. "No one."

"Doesn't look like no one to me. Your eyebrow's all wrinkly."

"How's school?" Ellen countered.

"Oh, you know, school's the usual. What I'm learning doesn't feel important compared to what you and Kade are doing, but he keeps saying it is, and he won't let me drop out. He made our dad some stupid promise that he'd take care of me, and he's sticking to it. But yeah, school's fine. No friends. The kids my age don't get me."

"And Stephen?"

"He's fine."

That was short. "Are things okay?"

"Yes. They're fine. He's been riding the bus to therapy with me, that's all. But last week, I met a delver on the bus while you were in that Eldritch City world. He's an archer, big scar across his face that won't heal—which is kinda weird. I tried to get him hooked up with a healer or to a hospital, but he just shrugged it off. Stephen doesn't like him at all, but he's got interesting stories. I actually got him signed up in the GC system. He's not from around here," Jessie said. "Stephen's annoyed because talking to Caleb interrupts our bus time, though."

Ellen was just bored enough to listen as Jessie complained about all the awkward high school romance crap she'd been lucky enough to miss out on. That was one nice thing about Bob's idea of a good education; her father hadn't put her in any positions where she'd go pining after some boy.

She adjusted her place on the couch and went back to staring at the place where the S-Rank portal had swallowed Kade. He'd be back soon. Hopefully. Jessie needed him.

And, though Ellen would never say it out loud, she was worried about him, too.

Everything stopped.

That was impossible. You couldn't stop a consolidation trial. Ranking up couldn't be interrupted. That was written in every book on the subject I'd pored over at the GC's libraries. The system wouldn't allow it, a delver's core wouldn't have the stability to withstand a full stop, and so on.

And yet, Eugene—the God of Thunder, really—had done it.

He'd frozen my trial.

"Kid, before you keep going, are you sure you're ready for this? Your core's coming apart. If you stop here, you'll need weeks for it to recover before you can progress again. If you don't and you fail, it could be months."

"And if I succeed?" I gasped.

"I make no promises."

No promises. That was good enough for me. It'd have to be. I buckled down, refocused on the light that kept brightening behind the fading gray clouds. Something continued to move behind them—something long, serpentine, and grossly bright. The bulbs in my old apartment had been the same color—old incandescents. So had the ones in Jeff's beaten-down room.

"Fine." The God of Thunder almost sounded like he was smiling. "It's time for you to learn the Second Law of the Godray."

The sunlight redoubled behind the cloud, but somehow, the center of it only grew darker as the God of Thunder continued to talk. "The First Law was?"

"There is always another storm," I choked out through gritted teeth as the pressure on me redoubled, too. I remembered the God of Thunder saying that himself, just before he appeared to push my D-Rank trial to the edge of failure. This time, he didn't have to. I was doing that on my own.

Focus was hard. Almost impossible. Memories of my friends and my father—both the one I'd called Dad and shadowy, half-formed images of the one who'd disappeared from my life when I was a toddler—flooded my mind. I couldn't lock down on the Law right in front of me, no matter how hard I pushed.

"There is always another storm, Kade Noelstra. You must become that storm now. You have no choice."

He was right. I had to do something. Anything. I pushed Jeff out of my head—and Ellen, Yasmin, and both my fathers. Mom, too. She'd vanished before Dad had died. None of them mattered. I was doing this for one person, and one person only. Not Jessie—she needed me, but I wasn't pushing myself this hard for her. No. This was for me. I was the storm. I could withstand it and absorb it.

The clouds darkened in direct contrast to the light welling behind them. I stared at their blackest centers—the only places where the sunlight wouldn't scorch my eyes. It was shadowy and black as night. And then, slowly, the light increased. It pushed harder and harder until even the last pinprick of darkness collapsed. I squeezed my eyes shut against it.

"The Second Law is?"

The light. And the shadow. The shadow was supposed to be consumed by the light. That was the Law of the Godray. The thickest cloud cannot withstand the light. But…

It was pushing back.

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The black core of the clouds redoubled its strength, then did it again and again until I could open my eyes. I did, staring into the churning, thrashing shadow as it fought against the light pouring in from every side.

"Interesting," the God of Thunder said.

I didn't have time to figure out what was so interesting. My core shook and rattled inside of me. I focused every scrap of my being on the shadow. The Second Law of the Godray was all around me, but that wasn't the Law I needed to learn.

The shadow grew blacker and blacker.

And it clicked.

The sunlight had been brightest before the shadow grew in strength. It had been brightest before the blackest cloud.

"This is a deviation," the God of Thunder boomed, "But it's also interesting. I'll allow it."

Law Learned: First Law of the Stormlight

The storm breaks apart. Sunlight pours down. And the storm returns, stronger than ever. Its shadow blots out the light, but in the moment before it redoubles, the sun's brightness is beautiful. This is the way of the Stormlight. By understanding the cracks within the cycle, you have taken a step from the Stormsteel Path: it's brightest before the darkest cloud.

Sunbeam Bond upgrades to Stormlight Bond: Your familiar grows in strength.

I collapsed as the God of Thunder's world re-formed around me. The ground below me was hard, firm, and unyielding. After so long in the void, I wanted nothing more than to lie there and recover. It felt better than any bed I'd ever fallen into at the end of a hard day.

My core throbbed. All five Laws were inside it now. There wasn't enough space within it for everything I'd learned; the cracks that had been forming since the third Law were only growing.

I pulled up my status. Or at least, I tried to.

But just like when I'd used the strange core to kick off my first skill merge, the system was going haywire. None of the numbers made sense, and half of the words were unreadable.

That left me with one option—and only one.

If I didn't attempt my C-Rank consolidation now, this wouldn't be survivable. Not if I wanted to remain a delver. Definitely not if I wanted to help Jeff.

So, before the God of Thunder could react, I pushed myself into a lotus position and started the process.

I reached inside—or tried to. The pressure coming from my core was unbelievable. Overwhelming. Wind and water, lightning and thunder, and bright lights and shadows: all of them pushed to be free. The spell inscriptions surrounding it were straining and bending, but of the four, Ariette's Zephyr was holding up the best. I touched it mentally.

Mana erupted outward like a volcano. It shredded through me, ripping at my veins and mana channels. Then, an instant later, it was gone, and I had to squeeze down on what was left of my core to stop the five new Laws from escaping.

The Second Law of Stormsteel was that no shelter could withstand the storm. It was right. My core couldn't withstand the God of Thunder's attempt to break it with Stormbreak, and it couldn't resist the pressure mounting inside of it. Something had to change. I couldn't redirect the energy inside it into armor, either.

Chaos is predictable—the Second Law of the Thunderhead. There were rules for what was happening inside my core. And I understood them. The churning storm needed to be compressed. Tightened. Solidified. But to do that, I'd have to catch the chaos.

Then there was the Second Law of the Clouded Eye. Deception begets aggression. I focused in on the storm—but not on the part I needed to conquer. A different part of it. It was like fighting. Most of the time, my eyes were locked on the target I wanted. But sometimes, I'd strike somewhere completely different. A trick. A fraction of a fraction of a second. But that would be enough to buy a hit.

The Second Law of the Sirocco stated that patience conquers strength. I fought my core for a long time. My grip on it slipped. The cracks widened. I could have panicked. Fought harder. Pushed with more force. I had more to give. But that wasn't the solution. The solution was to wait. To fight just hard enough, and to work methodically. To be patient in the face of core-breaking force.

And finally, the anomaly. The First Law of the Stormlight—it's brightest before the darkest cloud. My core's cracks had met by the time I slowly forced it back together. Light poured from the shattered spaces—blinding white light. If I let go for a second, it would fracture completely. But then, slowly, the white lines faded, and the sunlight pouring from within them disappeared.

I soldered the Stormsteel Core together around the raging typhoon inside of it. Lightning poured into the weak spots, melting them together. And, when I was sure I'd succeeded, I let the pressure off. Slowly.

The core shook. It vibrated with the barely-contained rage inside. But it held. And then it expanded through my body, covering my bones. The sensation was at once slick and sticky; I shivered in spite of my best efforts to contain it as cold Stormsteel spread through me.

Then I waited.

Law Consolidated: Law of the Shadowed Storm Rank Increased: Rank D to Rank C

Exposure. Predictability. Aggression. Patience. And burning light and unbreachable shadow. These are the lessons of the Law of the Shadowed Storm.

By learning them and holding them in the core of your being, Kade Noelstra, you have taken a step on the Stormsteel Path. Your strength grows.

Rank C Effects: 1. Your Mana and Stamina caps have increased. 2. Your skills' caps have increased.

Law Effects: 1. The number of Charges you may maintain at a time increases to five. You may maintain two of any one type. 2. Charges last longer when out of combat. 3. Certain skills have been modified to accommodate your deviation from the Stormsteel Path.

I pulled up my status.

User: Kade Noelstra C-Rank Stamina: 340/340, Mana: 440/440

Skills: 1. Stormsteel Core (D-10 to C-01, Unique, Merged, God-Touched) 2. Thunderbolt Forms (D-10 to C-01, Altered, Merged) 3. Mistwalk Forms (D-10 to C-01, Altered, Merged) 4. Cyclone Forms (D-10 to C-01, Altered, Merged) 5. Stormlight Bond (D-09 to C-01, Altered, Merged) 6. Energy Font (D-08) 7. Brendan's Hymnal (D-07)

Path: Stormsteel Path Laws: First Law of the Stormcore, Law of the Shadowed Storm

Core Instability Warning

I'd accomplished so much. But right now, none of it mattered except the C-Rank under my name. I'd done it.

Jeff and Ellen wouldn't be going alone.

But it had taken a toll on me. My eyes worked their way down to the last line. I focused on it.

Core Instability Warning:

Your growth has taxed your core, and additional attempts at growth will cause irreparable damage. This condition will fade with time and with a more measured approach to your progression.

It didn't hurt.

It wasn't comfortable. But it didn't hurt. And I understood Jeff better than I had before. The need to push as hard as he could—to reach C-Rank at any cost. Even the cost of his future progression. I understood that, because I'd taken that risk just now. If I hadn't been strong enough, it would have been the end. I would have been a burned-out husk of a delver.

"Yes, you would have," Eugene said. He was back in his human form. "I wanted to help you. But there are some challenges you have to face by yourself, kid. My continued presence would only have hurt you. You had to do it on your own, and I'm proud to call you one of the weakest of my Paragons."

"Thank you?" I asked hesitantly.

"Don't thank me. You have another job to do. When you get the chance, merge your last two skills. Then wait. An opportunity will arise for you to claim a new skill. I'd originally intended it to be one of my choice, but you've opened a new branch of the Path with your deviation."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean, Kade Noelstra, that it's time for you to return to your world. Your life continues outside of my tutelage, after all."

I nodded. Then I turned to the portal he was creating out of thin air.

"You and I will have more time together soon, kid," Eugene said. "I have so much to teach you, and if you want to learn it, you'll need to follow my path. But don't let yourself resist temptation too much—especially when it comes to the Laws of the Shadowed Storm."

"What's that supposed to mean, Eugene?" I asked.

The God of Thunder sighed. "Kade, you need to be on the lookout. The branch of the Stormsteel Path you've opened is one that, with a little help, can offer you power beyond my skills. In breadth, not depth. Obviously. You're a long way from being as strong as me. But more diverse? More interesting? Potentially. So, if someone offers you a shortcut on the path, don't dismiss it out of hand."

"Fine. Make sure I'm actually able to join you when you pull me out for your lessons, though. If you get my friends killed, I'll kill you myself," I said.

I expected Eugene to laugh like it was an empty threat. Instead, he nodded gravely. "Of that, I have no doubt. Goodbye, Kade Noelstra."

The portal finished opening, and I stepped through. Jessie and Ellen waited on the other side.

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