The next morning, Elaris was alive with movement.
Ariya stood at the edge of a crystal balcony, looking down at the cloud sea far below. Her trial was over, but a new weight rested on her shoulders. She was now a Shadowbound—part of a world she barely understood.
"You didn't sleep," Kiran said, stepping beside her.
"I saw her again… in my dreams," Ariya murmured. "My mother. But she wasn't twisted this time. She looked… sad."
"Dreams are dangerous for people like us," Kiran said. "Especially when your magic listens to your heart."
A gust of wind swept past them. It carried something more than air—a whisper.
Ariya turned sharply. "Did you hear that?"
Kiran looked around. "What?"
"I heard my name… in the wind."
Before he could answer, a Guardian ran up the stairs, breathless. "Kiran, Lady Vaela requests both of you. Now."
---
They arrived in the observatory, a room filled with floating maps, glowing sigils, and enchanted screens tracking Void activity across the world.
Vaela pointed at a swirling black mark over the region of Shala Crater.
"A rift opened two hours ago," she said. "No natural cause. Something forced it."
Kiran frowned. "A summoning?"
"Or a prison being broken."
Ariya stepped forward. "Let us go."
Vaela raised a brow. "That's not your mission."
"It's calling me," Ariya said firmly. "I felt it. The wind. It spoke."
"Magic can lure," Vaela warned. "Or trap."
"I don't care. If it's part of the Void, I need to see it."
There was silence. Then Kiran spoke.
"I'll go with her."
Vaela studied them both. "Fine. But if you don't return in two days, I'll assume you're lost—and burn the region down myself."
---
They left Elaris by shard-runner, sailing through the sky at high speed.
As they approached Shala Crater, the skies darkened. Black lightning cracked across distant clouds. The land below was jagged, broken—scarred by something ancient and wrong.
Suddenly, a massive winged beast swooped out from the clouds, crashing into their path.
The shard-runner spun wildly.
Ariya reached for her power, her shadow tendrils wrapping around the controls. Kiran drew his blade.
The creature circled, eyes glowing red, body twisted by Void corruption.
"Looks like we're not landing peacefully," Kiran said.
Ariya's voice was steady. "Then we fight in the sky."