Lightning split the heavens as the Sable Winds descended.
They came like wraiths on the gale—arcs of steel and stormlight—sweeping through the air with surgical precision. The lead rider drew a blade that shimmered like a sliver of thunder, and with a single motion, she cut the sky itself.
Aran met the strike midair, flame wreathing his arm. The clash birthed a shockwave that sent dust and rock exploding from the cliff's edge.
"Elira!" he called. "Ground support!"
She was already moving. Her staff spun, inscribing sigils of deflection into the air. With a thrust, she bent the wind sideways, hurling two riders from their streamlines. One crashed hard into a tree, lightning arcing from her armor.
Vaerin leapt into the fight with the speed of a shadowblade, cutting down a rider before the man could fully draw his weapon. "Storms or no storms," he muttered, "they still bleed."
Above them, Aran danced with the wind captain.
Each strike was a test of control—her tempest against his flame, prophecy against promise. She spoke between blows:
"You are not meant to choose! The fire obeys fate!"
"I don't obey anyone," Aran snapped—and his flame turned blue.
He seized the storm around them, not to destroy it—but to bend it. His fire licked through the currents like wildfire through tall grass, disrupting the riders' formation.
The wind howled in protest.
The captain faltered, and Aran disarmed her midair. He hovered, her blade in one hand, fire brimming at his fingertips.
"Tell your Oracle," he said, "if she wants me, she comes herself."
He let her fall—not to her death, but gently, her descent slowed by his flame-woven will.
The Sable Winds retreated, scattered and leaderless.
The storm passed.
Aran descended, the earth cracking slightly beneath his boots as he landed beside Elira and Vaerin.
"You're bleeding," Elira said softly.
"Not my blood," Aran answered. "Theirs."
Vaerin nodded. "So what now?"
Aran looked north, where the skies still churned.
"Now we finish what we started. We go to Aethra. And I speak to the Oracle myself."