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The green luxin wall opposite him was pitted and chipped to a depth of a hand It had infuriated him at first His brother had made the blue chamber thinner, and the blue drafter in Dazen had expected every chamber to have exactly the sareen eaker than blue, so of course he’d ical The blue in hiets with arithreen luxin He didn’t know, of course, if he’d picked the correct wall The ball shape of his chamber prohibited that If his brother had irrationally et unlucky and pick the thickest wall

That infuriated hi He’d wasted at least a day in a weak stupor trying to figure out if there was soht one Hours wasted in calculation when action was required

It was a warning sign of how deep the blue had sunk into hile As he would overcoathering his will Every projectile he fired hurt hiainst the wall But Dazen couldn’t yield, couldn’t shoot weakly Shooting weakly meant that he’d wasted the days it took to draft the blue he needed The wall could give anytiive to this very shot

Or, of course, it could take another twenty, and at any time, Gavin could co Pain is an obstacle on the road to freedom I cannot be stopped I will not be stopped I will have eance and my freedom, and those who have done this will treht arathered his power Old scars ripped open on his palh his skin

Dazen screalorious will Athe False Prism’s War, he’d been hit in the chest with a war hammer once It had cracked his shield and a rib With his weakened body, this orse He passed out

But when he opened his eyes, he saw his victory The green luxin was broken A few fibrous tendrils held on, but it was broken He could see darkness beyond His prison was broken

With a caler version of himself, he drank so-empty stomach would revolt

Then, only then, did he draft a tiny thread of green It was light, it was life, it was power and connectedness and well-being and strength

Only then did he allow himself a moment of triumph He had done it He had done it He really was unstoppable He was a god

He stood, grinning, legs treh to allow hireen luxin with his bare hands, opened the hole enough to peer through To crawl through, once he gained a little h the hole, he drafted so the darkness in weak green light The green egg in which he’d been ireater cha itself It wouldn’t have h All of them were equal

For one stupidwhich side to attack But then that passed That day of vacillation was gone, it couldn’t be called back, and it was illogical to fret over it, to waste more of the present on the past He pushed it away, and his smile came back

To one side of the cha with sharp shards of hellstone

Dazen laughed, low, quiet It was a laugh at finally, finally being underestimated

No, brother, that won’t work Not this tiood reat man, my friend"

"Not the same, are they?" Gavin asked There had been blood in his drea the water from the blue he couldn’t see to the red he ray In his incipient blindness, he’d traded blue beauty for blood, all unwillingly