Ambling through the forest, Leudora inhaled a familiar scent of Balkan pines and stared into the breach in the Veil. Dim moonlight caressed dark treetops and climbed the mountains, leaving silvery trails behind. Leudora suppressed a prickling sensation in her lungs and drove further, ignoring the needles that kept sticking to her high boots. It was an unexpectedly warm autumn in the Dalmatian hinterland, and Leudora's white skirt was the only spot of light apart from the windows of the village shining in the distance. She scowled inwardly at the woods: "Beautiful countryside. Who could ever suspect Domagoj Drašković of such sentimentality? Hopefully, I will survive long enough to escape with their Gliders. Noble self-sacrifice is not my preferred option."

Leudora did not turn around when she heard the rustling of leaves behind her. The energy of the Veil vibrated, announcing the arrival of the gravity-switchers: she could feel their heartbeats, hear extracts of their careless thoughts, sense their growing anxiety. She herself was not nervous. Only disappointed.

"Very pleased to see you, Basilisk." A young man's voice greeted her with cheerful arrogance.

"You have assembled quite a team to greet me," she said, still standing with her back to him, "I'm flattered." She turned around swiftly, her long skirt sweeping the damp ground. In her hands, Leudora was clutching a square wooden box with the star heart inside. Her lips curled slightly as she watched her enemies exchange spiteful glances and grit their teeth. They had not yet realized they were the prey and she was the hunter.

"Take the meteorite!" Someone shouted from the shadows. A tall blonde woman appeared in front of her, braceters sparkling on her wrists. Leudora raised an eyebrow, her dark-grey eyes focusing on the square face of the woman.

"Is my uncle free?"

The woman scoffed dismissively and called a young boy.

"Josip!"

The boy nodded, offering her a light projector and stepping aside. Leudora frowned, feeling an unpleasant knot in her throat. She had not expected the Lovrens to bring a child with them. She lifted her chin just in time to see the flickering figure of Tomislav Drašković himself.

"Galbur is set free," he snarled, nodding to the boy. "Josip, you can claim the meteorite. The Basilisk surely feels her uncle is safe and sound."

The light particles dissolved in the air with the fading sounds of his last words: "Galbur is set free." He did not lie. Leudora closed her eyes, trying to ignore the predators surrounding her: the Veil fell heavy upon her, opening hidden paths and deepening her senses. Svetozar was walking beyond the Veil. And so was Szemere and Professor Asenova. They were alive. Deep in her mind, she smiled at them, asking for their forgiveness. Then she let go. With a careless gesture she handed the box to Josip, shooting him a challenging glance.

The sound of charging weapons sent waves of cold through her body. Leudora froze, feeling their re-modulated braceters aim at her from all sides. Someone yelled from behind, showering her with insults that she did not bother to remember. She laughed – frantically like a madman walking a fine line over a dark abyss. Then she flew up through the sharp pine branches, obeying a violent gravity twist and calling out to the energy she had been keeping inside her body her whole life. Giddy and terrified, Leudora let her curse slip away from the grab of her mind.

Winds rose, bending treetops and breaking trunks, lightning struck without a single drop of rain, and Leudora landed back on the ground accompanied by the sound of cracking wood. The lightning ravaged the forest, feeding on her willpower and energy, taking control over her body. A sphere of shimmering electricity enveloped Leudora, lifting her up. Within her sheath, Leudora twisted, almost blinded by the bright pulsating lights.

"Come to me," she whispered hoarsely, "take your curse back. I have the part of you that you are missing. Two lives in one body..."

Electric sparks spread through the forest pushing Leudora into the bushes. A sharp branch cut her skin so deeply that she yelped, suddenly conscious of all the energy fueling her body. Her blood welled up brightly on her shoulder, but Leudora ignored it. Her enemies attacked while she directed bolts of lightning at them with a frenzied grin plastered on her graceful lips.

The last flash of electricity came out of nowhere, striking the gravity-switchers, creating an energy well so powerful that Leudora could hear skulls crack like ripe melons in the darkness. Someone's blood landed on her pale cheeks, warm and strangely familiar. When she collapsed to the ground all she heard were the screams of her enemies. Forcing her eyes to open, Leudora gazed into the night sky, watching the lightning set the trees ablaze. She felt her consciousness falter and fade away, replacing reason with destruction and frenzy. Her enemies were probably all dead. Leudora smelled blood, cinder and ash, knowing that the lightning left scorched land and raging fires behind. Then she passed out.

She awoke amid smoke and pain. Every breath hurt her lungs, yet she was shocked to see that the red and blue flames subdued, as if it was her energy that had truly fed them. Terror crept into Leudora's heart when she realized that with the forest grove all the gliders of the gravity-switchers must have been gone. She was trapped and powerless. She had hoped for a quick death or a daring escape, but got neither of the two.

Carefully she propped herself on her elbows first. Then she tried to stand, but her legs did not obey, buckling beneath her frame. It took Leudora almost two minutes to make her way through blood and ash to a half-burnt tree trunk. Without thinking, she leaned forward to grab a braceter from the ground. Powerless, she fell to her knees.

When she tried to rise again, a pair of crazed brown eyes found her gaze. Leudora stared at the boy in silence, watching him tremble like a tiny rod swept by a hurricane. Was he the sole survivor of this madness? The boy straightened his back, closed his eyes and swallowed his breath, preparing to meet his death with all the dignity that he could muster. Leudora tossed the braceter away. The boy opened his eyes in deep amazement and swayed to the side.

"Leave..." Her lips barely moved.

"W...why?"

"Leave," Leudora repeated.

"I was sent to watch them kill you..."

"I know," she squeezed out a faint smile, "Don't you have anything better to do with your life?" "Why?" he asked again.

"Because you still can." She paused, feeling the blood drop from her shoulder. "Josip, is it?"

"Y...yes."

"Get out of here, Josip."

And he ran, limping, stumbling over the branches and rolling on the ground. Leudora watched him disappear in the darkness and almost laughed. Leaning on the burnt tree trunk, she avoided looking at her injured shoulder and the pieces of her torn black shirt sticking to the wound. She almost managed to stand on her own, when she felt cold steel pressed to her throat. Leudora's lips curled: she had predicted almost everything. Almost.

"You know where to cut," she said, her voice hoarse and weak, "Do it."

Why was he waiting?

"There is no energy left in you." His scimitar slid down her body. It was then that Leudora realized he was using the metal to see if it would transmit electricity.

"It seems so." Her lips twisted, but she did not move.

"You do not control the lightning. It controls you instead. I have assumed that much," the Dalmatian Serpent stepped away.

"It does control me," Leudora turned around and met his eyes - mere slits of glittering green ice. She wondered if he was now asking himself whether a curse like hers should have existed in the first place. She chuckled bitterly, seizing the edges of Dragomir's weapon with her hands. He did not flinch and did not stop her.

"We are both smart enough to understand the consequences of my actions." She swallowed her blood, staring at the mask of detachment that he wore with unsurpassed grace. "I can't fight you, Guardian Drašković. I don't stand a chance against you in my current condition. And this crime is not something any war trial will understand or ignore. Finish it now. All the glory will be yours to claim."

He looked at her with faint disdain, his icy glance tracing the line of her jaw and collarbone.

"If I intended to kill you, you would have been dead by now. I never hesitate, Lady Galbur," he paused, measuring her from head to toe, "My aim is to stop this war, not to perpetuate it. You are more useful to me alive."

"Maybe so. But you must realize I won't follow your orders, Guardian Drašković."

The Serpent drew close so swiftly that she shuddered involuntarily, pressing her back into the tree trunk. The distance between them decreased, the scent of sandal and mint reaching Leudora's nostrils. Her frozen body desperately craved the feverish heat that he radiated, but she forced herself to look away and straighten her back under his calculating gaze.

"You will follow my orders," he stated dispassionately, his breath caressing Leudora's hair. "You will do exactly as I say and follow my instructions as long as I consider it necessary."

"You are overstepping," she warned him, arching an eyebrow. For once, his expression mirrored hers.

"You should have realized by now that I have the upper hand, Lady Galbur. If you do not do as I say, I will force you. You have no energy left to resist me. Considering the pitiful condition of your body, you cannot oppose me either physically or mentally. We both know that. I can break your will and your body effortlessly if I deem it necessary."

Leudora tried to step aside, but the Serpent clutched her shoulders tightly, preventing her from moving. She scowled, her eyes blazing fire.

"You are persistent, I'll give you that. But I won't stay incapacitated forever."

"I would not need that, my lady."

"Remarkable generosity from your side." She stiffened when Drašković let go of her injured shoulder, his palm bearing the stains of her blood. He too must have caught the distant rumblings that shook the Veil. Without hesitation, he pushed Leudora forward, sending spears of pain through her whole body.

"We must leave. Now."