At first, Liam felt something shift inside him. He was not fully sure what it was, but he felt it move. Very subtle, but unmistakable.

After the shift, the cold was gone. In fact, his body began to feel warmer. He was not certain he was reading it right, but nothing else had changed.

He kept his eyes closed. He did not want the wind and rain to break his concentration.

Then a second shift happened. His Water began to flow more naturally, like breathing. Drawing the rainwater in, mixing it with his own, holding it under his control, all of it became easier. His reach expanded.

After holding it for a while, Liam began to command the Water to withdraw. To recede. To disappear.

That was when the resistance hit hardest.

His Water pushed back against him. As if saying, we do not want to disappear. We still want to play.

Liam frowned. He considered forcing it, but he knew that would not work. He remembered what Sonia had said about the danger of a failed attempt. He changed his approach.

He remembered something Theo had once said. That magic was nothing more than communication with nature.

"We ask for nature’s permission. We do not force nature to follow us."

So Liam took a breath and stopped leading. He followed instead. He let himself move with the Water he was holding, feeling the full scale of what he had gathered. It was massive. If he forced it, the storm would not stop. It would become a tsunami.

He danced with it instead. Letting it move, going where it wanted to go, guiding rather than commanding.

After a while of this, something inside him snapped open.

And in his mind, he suddenly saw snow.

A few seconds later, he heard Sonia gasp sharply somewhere behind him.

Liam slowly opened his eyes.

The storm had stopped. Snow was falling.

He turned and looked out over the rooftop edge. Across the entire city of Solarys, as far as he could see, the storm was dissolving into slow, quiet snowfall.

Liam laughed in disbelief.

He looked down at the flooded streets below. They were white.

"It’s gone!" Sonia exclaimed. "The water’s gone!"

They looked at each other.

"I did it?" Liam said, still not quite believing it.

"I think you did it!" Sonia’s eyes were wide.

"I did it!" Liam smiled.

"You did it!" Sonia laughed.

But the happiness lasted only a few seconds before Liam remembered what had brought him up to the rooftop in the first place.

"I did it, Thea." He whispered. His voice had gone solemn.

They stood on the rooftop in silence for a while, just looking out at the city.

The snow fell quietly, unhurried. The howling wind was gone. The sky had settled into a murky gray, no dark clouds, no lightning, no thunder. The city had gone still.

The difference was deafening.

Then Liam headed back down.

Inside the elevator, his body swayed.

Sonia’s reflex kicked in and she moved to catch him, but Liam did not fall.

When the elevator doors opened at his floor, he stepped out unsteadily.

"Liam!"

He looked up. His parents and Claudia were at the nurse’s station, the nurse behind the desk looking confused.

"Mom?" Liam whispered.

Before Miranda could say anything, Liam’s world went dark.

The last thing he remembered was Linus taking one long step forward to catch him.

------------------------------

Something else happened when the snow began to fall. Something neither Liam nor Sonia would know about until later.

When the city went quiet, Theo went quiet too. He stopped struggling. He was still crying, but the fight had gone out of him. His body finally stilled.

Maeve and Julian both exhaled for what felt like the first time in hours.

But they were confused. They exchanged a glance.

It was Maeve who noticed first.

"Julian, look." She got up and went to the window. Julian followed.

They both stood there, stunned.

"Snow?" Julian said in disbelief. "How?"

Maeve was quiet for a moment.

"Liam." She said finally. "I think this is Liam’s doing."

They both shook their heads slowly, in quiet disbelief.

------------------------------

"So it really was Liam Monfort." Elder Loujt says.

"I know it is hard to believe. Even now, I still cannot quite believe it myself." Sonia nods and then shakes her head.

"But Elder Loujt, you are also Water. Can’t you sense it? I mean, if you read Liam’s mana signature and compare it to the snow, do they match?" Sonia asks.

Elder Loujt takes a slow breath and gets to his feet. He opens the balcony door and steps outside.

Sonia gets up and follows him.

"Can you sense anything?" She asks.

Elder Loujt turns to her. "The summoned storm did not disappear. It subsided. Turned into this snow. That is something I have never known to be possible. In everything I have learned, when a mage accidentally summons a natural disaster, it either dissipates completely or escalates completely."

"It never simply subsides."

"I have been trying to detect a mana signature in it, but it is so faint it is barely there at all. I cannot tell at this point whether it belongs to Thea or to Liam." Sonia says. It has been bothering her for days.

"And you say this snow has been falling for four days, Your Highness?" Elder Loujt asks.

Sonia nods. "Today is the fifth day."

"And it has not been affecting people the way the storm did?" He asks.

Sonia nods again. "No, it has not. It feels like any other snowy day. Just at the wrong time of year, and lasting far too long."

A few flakes of snow drift onto Elder Loujt’s open palm. He closes his hand over them and opens it again. The snow has melted, leaving his palm wet.

"It behaves exactly like normal snow. And I detect no corruption magic in it whatsoever." He looks at Sonia.

"Does that mean Liam also somehow purified the corruption?" Sonia’s jaw nearly drops.

Elder Loujt chuckles. "It may well be. It makes me want to meet this young Monfort and see for myself what makes him tick."

He wipes his palm clean and guides Sonia back inside the hotel room, closing the balcony door behind them.

"Speaking of the Monforts. You met all of them, Your Highness?"

Sonia nods. "Yes. It was Linus Monfort who caught Liam when he collapsed. Miranda Monfort and Claudia Monfort were standing behind him, frozen in horror."

"What was your first impression of them?"

Sonia shrugs. "Like any parents and a sister who were terrified for someone they love."

Elder Loujt nods and begins to pace slowly.

"What are you thinking?" Sonia asks.

Elder Loujt gestures toward the snow beyond the window. "This is clearly not natural and it still needs to be resolved. Even without corruption magic, it does not belong here. We have a duty to protect the natural order by correcting it."

He looks at Sonia. "And if Liam Monfort cannot do it, I will."

------------------------------

Dr. Maria Bennett was heading toward her office when her phone began going off with notifications.

"Urgh. What now?!" She groaned.

She pulled out her phone, read the screen, and broke into a full run toward the ER.

Being the Chief of Staff of Solarys General Hospital and an active surgeon, her stamina had to be good. She spent more time inside the hospital than she did at home.

The ER doors burst open as she pushed through them.

"Talk to me." She commanded. She was not the on-call ER doctor or the head of the department, but given who was coming in, she needed to be there regardless.

She could hardly believe it when she had read the notification.

Liam Monfort was en route to the ER.

Dr. Bennett scanned the personnel gathered around her, all of them waiting for her briefing.

"Alright, listen up. You all know the drill. Heck, you know it better than I do. It’s nothing new. Just another VIP patient coming in. And we treat him exactly the way we treat anyone else who comes through that door."

She paused a beat.

"That said, a little extra effort wouldn’t hurt. Because Liam Monfort is not just any VIP. He is a Monfort. This hospital has a Monfort Wing. That should mean something to every single one of you. We are fortunate that Mr. Linus Monfort has never once abused his influence here. So let’s give his son the treatment he deserves. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Doctor!"

Everyone spread out, moving to their positions.

Dr. Bennett turned to the ER doctor on duty. "Have we informed Mr. Linus yet?"

Dr. Joseph "Red" Go shook his head. "I didn’t want to do anything without consulting you first, Dr. B. You have the best relationship with Mr. Linus out of anyone on staff. You’ll be our point of contact with him."

Dr. Bennett nodded. "Agreed. We don’t reach out to him until we know more about his son’s condition. Now. What do we know so far?"