Chapter 144: The Race Against Time

XENOIS

I stood at the edge of the path, staring down at a scene that seemed to defile everything that I thought I knew about reality.

My son - Riley, who I'd been told was dead or dying somewhere in these woods - was lying on the rocks below, alive and breathing. Beside him knelt Thorne and a woman I didn't recognize, her hands still glowing with residual magical energy that made the hair on my arms stand on end.

My legs gave out completely, and I found myself sliding down the rocky slope without any regard for the cuts and bruises I was...