Blue flames billowed from his body.
They erupted outward with intensity that exceeded anything he had summoned before, expanding across the Lands of Stone in every direction. The crimson-blue ground that already held his blood responded eagerly, amplifying the sacred fire as it spread.
A mile radius.
The flames covered more than a mile radius around them, transforming the barren plains into a sea of blue-gold radiance that seemed to reach toward the sky itself.
And even on the distant wall of the tribe, the flames found their target.
Grandmother Essun stood there with a cackling gaze, her gnarled hands gripping her staff as blue fire wrapped around her ancient body. She didn't flinch. She didn't retreat. She laughed with joy that seemed to shake years from her bent frame.
But on that mile radius, the blue flames blazed with purpose.
It looked like an ancient ritual.
