The Rise of Magicks (chronicles of the One, #3)

The third and final installment of the Chronicles of The One trilogy is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a devastating plague called the Doom killed billions and caused the collapse of civilization. Dormant magickal powers awakened in some survivors, dividing the population into magickals (called the Uncanny) and non-magickals. The magickals split between those who follow the light and those who embrace the dark. Fallon Swift, a young woman prophesied since birth as The One, has spent years raising an army from her base in New Hope, a rebuilt community in the eastern United States, to fight against forces that hunt, enslave, and execute magickals.

The novel opens with Fallon, not yet 20, leading her largest rescue operation against a containment center in Virginia holding over 600 people, including children. Her father Simon, a non-magickal former soldier, fights beside her. The mission frees 332 prisoners and a newborn, though her brother Colin takes a bullet. Back in New Hope, Fallon visits the wounded and comforts survivors of years of imprisonment and torture.

Fallon soon devises a bold plan: simultaneous attacks on three enemy bases. The Purity Warriors (PWs), an anti-magickal faction that runs containment camps and executes magickals, operate an outpost in Utah where executions are imminent, a secondary base near Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, and a heavily fortified stronghold in Arlington, Virginia. She coordinates with leaders from every allied base, including her former teacher Mallick, a centuries-old sorcerer, and Duncan MacLeod, a powerful magickal who commands troops at a distant base. Duncan, the son of Katie, one of New Hope's founders, left the community two years earlier after losing his close friend Denzel at the hands of Petra, Fallon's dark cousin. Despite their separation, Fallon and Duncan share an intense bond rooted in their shared ancestry as descendants of the Tuatha de Danann, an ancient magickal bloodline.

All three attacks succeed. Utah falls with zero casualties under Duncan and Mallick. South Carolina is taken with eight losses. Arlington proves the bloodiest, costing 63 lives, but Fallon defeats a powerful Dark Uncanny who serves Petra, and Colin raises the fivefold standard, the emblem of Fallon's cause, over the captured base. Using the compound's communications equipment, Fallon broadcasts a message to the world declaring the victories and warning all who serve the dark.

Over the following months, Fallon establishes additional bases surrounding Washington, D.C., building toward her ultimate goal: toppling the government of James Hargrove, a self-appointed president who runs containment camps where magickals are tortured and forcibly impregnated. Using a spell to pass through her crystal, Fallon infiltrates the White House with Tonia, Duncan's twin sister and lead archer, and Hannah, another of Katie's children, to plant magickal listening devices. Through these, she learns Hargrove has given his scientists two months to create a sterilization serum or he will exterminate over 200 prisoners held beneath the White House.

On January 2nd, the anniversary of the Doom's first death and the date of Fallon's conception, over 10,000 troops attack D.C. at dawn. The battle rages until dusk, killing more than 4,000 on both sides. Fallon and Duncan storm the White House containment center, freeing prisoners including infants locked in containers. They capture Hargrove in his bunker, and Arlys Reid, New Hope's chronicler, broadcasts footage of the atrocities.

In the aftermath, Fallon and Duncan come together as lovers for the first time. Their union produces a burst of light so intense it causes a tree of life to bloom outside. They plan the relocation of thousands of prisoners of war to remote, habitable islands where captives can build self-sustaining lives. Fallon also heals Colin's left arm, severed in battle, by binding it with enchanted leather. She negotiates an alliance with Vivienne, a flame-red dragon shifter who rules Quebec, gaining thousands of additional troops.

Meanwhile, Fallon discovers that her aunt Allegra and cousin Petra return every January to the MacLeod ancestral land in Scotland to sacrifice young people on a dark altar near the ancient stone circle, the site of the shield whose breaking unleashed the Doom. During a nighttime attack on New Hope, the captured leader of the PWs is revealed to be Allegra in disguise; she and her late husband Eric killed the real leader years ago and impersonated him to control his cult. When Allegra attacks Fallon's mother Lana with fire, Fallon deflects the flames, which engulf and destroy Allegra.

The war escalates as Fallon leads the weeks-long battle to reclaim New York, with forces from every base converging on the city. At the moment of victory in Central Park, Petra appears on the black dragon and murders Mick, Fallon's childhood friend and elf commander, with a bolt through the heart.

Shattered by grief, Fallon leaves New Hope alone for five weeks. She wanders from Everest to the Australian outback, initially seeking emptiness but gradually rediscovering beauty and resilience. In Wales, at the stone cottage where Mallick was born, her faith is restored and her wings manifest for the first time. She returns home, reconciles with Duncan, and they pledge their future together with a gold ring etched with the fivefold symbol. Over the summer, her forces sweep across the continent in a campaign called the Summer of Light, driving enemies from the South and liberating Los Angeles in a climactic three-day battle.

Tormented by nightly psychic attacks from the dark source, Fallon performs a ritual calling on the gods. The spirit of Max Fallon, her birth father, appears and tells her the final battle must occur on her birthday, the night of storms when she was born. Fallon visits Vivienne and learns the only way to kill a shifter dragon: strike through the left eye, sever the head, and burn it.

At midnight on her birthday, Fallon, Duncan, and Tonia flash to the Scottish stone circle with their three spirit animals. They cast a circle with their joined blood and open the dark pit at the center of the stones. After fighting off waves of Dark Uncannys, Fallon enters the dead woods and confronts the dark source at the sacrificial altar. It tries to seduce her into surrendering her light, but she drives her sword through the altar and shatters it. The source escapes in weakened form and enters Petra, who attacks on the black dragon.

The dragon's tail strikes Tonia from the sky, critically injuring her. Lana and Hannah flash in from New Hope. Hannah, feeling her sister's need through a glowing protective pendant, draws Tonia's bow while the injured Tonia aims from the ground. Their arrow strikes the dragon's left eye. Fallon cleaves its head. Duncan burns it. Petra, carrying the dark source's last remnants, is driven into the pit and destroyed. The three seal the shield with their combined blood and purify the ground. The dead woods burst back to life as the crows vanish.

On New Year's Eve, the community gathers in celebration. Katie gives each of her three children pendants crafted from her late husband Tony's wedding ring and the earrings given to her by Austin, a man who briefly stood as a father figure to the children. As midnight strikes, Duncan and Fallon kiss, pledging to build a life together in New Hope. The light shimmers, settles, and holds.