LOGINARAH
The pain was immediate and total. Acid seared through her armored flanks, every breath like inhaling boiling seawater. But now the panic wasn’t just hers—it belonged to the creature too, a fusion of instincts and desperation.
She flexed her raptorial claws, feeling alien tension coil in their joints. A plan surged into her mind: Move. Shock. Strike.
Instead of thrashing wildly, she let her limbs go slack. But her tail coiled tight, then snapped out i
GILDEONHe stopped dead.Seeing his father was the last thing he had expected when he stepped into the Dark Plane. For a second, his mind refused to take it in.“How?” he asked, the word rough in his throat. “Are you real?”Then the realization hit him. Back then, Daego had never truly returned from the Dark Plane. He and the thing that had worn his shape had only been sealed inside it.“I am, son.”That single word landed harder than any blow. Son. Daego smiled, and something in Gildeon’s chest gave way. For a moment, he was a child again.“Are you alive?”Daego shook his head once. “Not as a mortal lives in the breathing world,” he said. “I’m a spirit now. The plane took me in. I became part of it.”Gildeon’s mouth tightened. His lips trembled despite himself. “You know it’s me?”Daego ste
GILDEONHe didn’t wait to watch the situation turn worse. He shifted at once, flesh and bone cracking wide into his full dragon beast form, and went straight for Garud. He meant to kill it. Yonah’s dagger was in that thing’s body, and he would stop at nothing to take it.He hit Garud hard enough to shake the ruins.His jaws closed around the creature’s side with a wet, splintering crunch, and the force of it drove them both through the half-broken spine of the citadel. The air filled with the scream of shearing metal, the roar of breaking rock, and Garud’s shrill, furious cry as Gildeon dragged it through what little was still standing.Garud fought like a trapped beast. Its great wings beat once, twice, then the feathers changed. Each one hardened into steel with a ringing, murderous sound. A storm of them slammed into Gildeon’s hide. Some skidded off his scales. Some punched in between them. A few dro
ARAHEENHer mother had warned her about this. If Zephyr ever forced his way through the sigil, there was only one measure left. It would cost her. She had prayed she would never have to pay it.But right now, there was no other choice.She drew the sigil needle and cut it across the mark hidden on her forearm. The air around her turned sharp and bitter, cold rising fast enough to sting her lungs. Her Awakened core shuddered inside her, then broke loose in violent pulses. Ribbons of teal light tore out of her body in hard, whipping bursts and shot toward Zephyr. They wrapped him from throat to ankle, binding his arms, his chest, his legs, locking him in place like chains forged from raw will.Zephyr’s indigo eyes lit up. His face pulled tight with strain, every line in it hard and furious. Indigo fire bled across his skin as power surged off him in waves, battering against her restraints. He tried to tear through them by force.
ARAHEENThe girl could not have been older than six or seven.Her being here still made no sense to Araheen, though at this point the whole operation had become strange enough that she should have stopped expecting sense from it.“Where’s Zephyr?” she asked.“I can’t let you hurt him.”The child stood her ground when she said it. Small body. Steady eyes. No fear in the words.“Why?” Araheen asked. “Who is he to you?”The girl said nothing.Araheen stepped closer and crouched in front of her. “Little girl, I don’t know who you are, but Zephyr is dangerous,” she explained. “He means to hurt people. He means to tear apart the balance of the natural world. I’m here to stop him.”The girl tipped her head. “He isn’t a bad person.”“How can you say that?”“I know it.&
ARAHEENHer heart lurched the instant Zephyr went still and dropped.“It’s time,” she said quietly.The moment she urged her eagle mount downward, Feviel followed.Araheen caught sight of Gildeon diving too, a black shape cutting through smoke and open air. Below them, Zephyr still had enough strength left to bend the wind around himself, slowing the fall just enough to keep it from breaking him on impact. He hit the rubble-strewn courtyard hard, but not hard enough to die. When Araheen saw him clearly, he was on his knees, sitting back on his heels, arms hanging limp at his sides, head bowed so low the curtain of indigo hair hid most of his face.Gildeon landed in a violent crouch, clawed hand already lifting, ready to tear Zephyr apart. Araheen jumped from her mount before it had fully descended. Air rushed past her as she dropped the last few feet and caught Gildeon by his steaming arm. She stopped him just as
GILDEONAnother sphere. Then two. Then five.They burst from the fog at shifting angles—some high, some low, others vanishing and reappearing through warped currents of steam. Gildeon dodged what he could, hurling his bulk sideways through shattered towers and open sky, but even he couldn’t avoid them all.One struck his shoulder and locked every muscle along that side of his body into a savage convulsion.Another slammed into his ribs and drove white-hot agony through his spine.A third exploded against the membrane of his wing, jolting the entire limb hard enough to throw off his balance.Electricity crawled beneath his scales like living knives.He surged upward to escape the trap.The storm answered.Above him, the unnatural clouds split apart and speared lightning downward in a single blinding strike.It hit him across the back.The force drove throu
GILDEONInstinct told him to shift his hand back to normal, but when Arah’s eyes flicked to it without a hint of reaction, he knew it didn’t matter. Everything was out in the open now. There was no point in trying to hide it anymore.He couldn’t tear his gaze away as she approached. She met his bewild
ARAHDrusden turned to her and asked, “What did he say?”She frowned. “You didn’t hear it?”“He only communicates through the mind of whoever he chooses to speak to,” he said, his tone demanding. “So, what did he say?”Arah glanced back at the man in the dark coat and hat. “Just that he wants me,” she r
ARAHHe shoved her back into the shower, spinning her around before she could catch her breath. Her palms slapped against the cool tiles as water cascaded over her back, the chill biting into her skin.Gildeon was right behind her—heat, hard muscle, and raw powe
ARAH“Dammit!” She slammed her hands against the steel gate, the impact ringing out with a dull, metallic thud. Running her fingers through her hair, she fidgeted in place, pinching her lower lip, trying to figure out her next move. Her pride wouldn’t let her return to the witches’ block on her own.







