The Light of All That Falls (The Licanius Trilogy, #3)

by James Islington

El assured Tal’kamar that it was an awful but necessary step toward freeing the world—one that would force the Darecians to flee to Andarra and begin working on the time-travel device known as the Jha’vett.

Tal’kamar, upon hearing that the Jha’vett was complete, forged ahead of the Venerate’s army in order to sneak into Deilannis and travel back in time, believing that his doing so could end the war quickly and prevent further bloodshed. However, this only caused the Darecians, forewarned of his approach, to panic and attempt to use the Jha’vett themselves. The result was a dire miscalculation by the Darecians, their use of Shackles reacting with the Jha’vett to strip them of their natural resistance to kan, turning them into beings of nearly pure Essence. Only Tal’kamar’s decision to save them by sending them to Res Kartha allowed them to survive; effectively imprisoned there, they would eventually become known as the Lyth.

Dras knew little more than he’d already said: Ilin Illan would be completely scorched, leveled by fire, but there was no indication of how or why it would happen.

He took another calming breath, then hesitantly reached for kan once again. Fire scorched through his mind; he gritted his teeth, clawing desperately through the haze of red toward the dark energy that he knew lay just beyond. There was resistance, like being underwater and swimming for the surface.

Beautiful writing