Earlier, I had thought it was odd that dark, angry clouds had seemingly moved in overnight. They had been rolling up above us for hours now, seemingly portending an oncoming storm.

  And perhaps they had. Just…not the storm we had been expecting.

  Flashing more and more above us were unending fingers of what seemed to be magenta lightning. They pulsed in impossibly vast lines stretching far off behind the horizon to the north, writhing uncontrollably within the clouds like great serpents questing for their next kill. Jerking my head to the side, I could see that they passed all the way over Blutstein and continued on to the south, vanishing far over the horizon. Disturbingly, there was no accompanying thunder with the spectacle of the tainted lightning. No sound reached us from the heavens above. However, every second they began to pulse across the with increasing speed, and as they did…

  I noticed something.

  The Aetherial density within the air was starting to rise. The air was beginning to become almost heavy with the press of Aether all around me, to the extent that it weighed heavier with each passing moment. Simply standing still, I felt like I was within a heavy fog, bent on choking the air from my lungs. It was to the point that I could see some of the refugees standing in the yard begin to gasp for air. To my alarm, some of the weakest and youngest among them slumped to their knees, unable to withstand the pressure upon their backs.

  My mind immediately flashed to Aveline, and panic crawled up my spine. She should be home by now, so I immediately contacted who I could.

  “Fade!” I called out wildly down the length of our bond. “Are you okay?! Is Aveline-”

  “We’re fine!” I heard his reply, cutting my alarm, It felt…muffled somehow. It was like he was trying to speak to me through a wall of foam; the ‘sound’ was so faint. Was it the Aether density? Was that causing this? “I got Lina and Rachel inside as soon as this started! That seemed to help, but I’m not sure for how long! Somehow, being inside muffles it!”

  That was news to me. Helpful news, at that.

  “EVERYONE!” I shouted, my voice loud enough to cut through the sounds of panic in the yard. “GET INSIDE THE BASTION NOW! IT’LL LESSEN THE PRESSURE!”

  Some people heard me, but not everyone. Those who did sprinted for the relative safety of the fortress, but they were few and far between. There was just too much panic as the very world started to press down upon them, almost like gravity itself was increasing. I cursed and reached for my Mana so I could cast the single voice amplification Spell I knew. Luckily…

  I had someone with me who was much louder than I was.

  Off to my side, Bleddyn swung his arms wide and abruptly smashed his massive palms together. Rather than a clapping sound, a loud, sharp peal of thunder echoed out from between his hands. The sound was jarring enough to cut through the panic.

  Bleddyn didn’t waste his chance. “GET INTO THE BLOODY BUILDING NOW!” He roared, his very voice echoing with the same thunder he’d produced.

  That got everyone moving. A mad rush ensued for the wide-open doors of the Bastion, as people streamed from the row houses we had so painstakingly constructed. Those who could barely move started to crawl that way, but luckily, there were still Order members out here dedicated enough to our mission to help them.

  I could only hope that Bait was helping settle them, as the Bastion began to fill up. But it was as I was bodily picking up a coughing little boy from the dirt that it happened.

  Whatever this was reached its peak.

  The foul bolts of lightning staining the heavens abruptly froze in place within the dark clouds. They lined the sky like bars of an immense prison, glaring down at the world with a mocking magenta light.

  And the Aetherial pressure in the air doubled.

  Now it was strong enough to weigh down on me. I almost buckled at the burden now bearing down on my shoulders.

  But Bleddyn and I were the only ones who were still standing. Everyone else outside the doors of the Bastion was now either driven to their knees or lying flat in the dirt. Wheezing moans and coughs filled the air as depressed lungs struggled to deal with the pressure.

  I pushed myself as hard as I could to take another step, as faint rattling breaths reached me from the boy in my arms. I screamed in exertion, desperately trying to get him inside before his fragile, Unawakened body began to shut down from sheer Aetherial density.

  And then…

  Unexpected salvation reached us.

  Far, far above me, a piercing crimson light flared into being, and the entirety of the Aetherial pressure…

  Vanished.

  I abruptly sucked in an enormous breath of air, staggering in place from lack of pressure. The world had returned to how it had been before this phenomenon had begun. The little boy in my arms immediately began to wail and sob with lungs that could finally breathe again. Almost absentmindedly, I wrapped him in a hug as everyone around me began to recover from the strange, frightening ordeal we had all been subjected to. They huddled together in frightened packs upon staggering to their feet, shooting terrified looks to the sky above.

  “What…what happened?” I heard Bleddyn whisper, standing off to my right.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I shook my head. “It just…stopped. There was a light above us, and-”

  It was when I looked up that I saw it. While the vile lightning still stained the sky, it wasn’t the only thing up there anymore.

  I had found what had saved us.

  Kyronkar. The crimson light from earlier had come from Kyronkar.

  The Zenith Crystal still shone with the bright light that had likely saved every person within the city. Not only that, but the body of the monument was glowing faintly as well. The green of the stone gigalith pulsed faintly with an emerald light, while the red inclusions within it fluctuated as well. Every few seconds that I watched the monument, a pulse of visible energy ran up and down the entire structure in a visible wave, terminating at the gargantuan crystal at the peak.

  Very obviously, the spectacle wasn't for show. For the first time since I had set foot on Vereden, I saw the physical form of Wards.

  Blutstein’s wards.

  They cascaded from the base of the Zenith crystal in shimmering, translucent emerald layers. Each and every one of them arced out in an almost delicate manner to touch down on the top of the walls that separated each layer of the city. Massive, and yet delicate seeming at the same time, the outermost layer formed a dome covering the entire tiered edifice that was humanity's Gem City. And then from there, the next layer fell upon the wall of the middle tier, and the final one landed on the high wall that surrounded Kyronkar itself.

  I…had been told that the wards of Blutstein were layered almost like an onion, months and months ago. But being told something was very different from seeing it.

  I was lucky that the Bastion had such an amazing view up the tiers. The sight of the tiers protected by the wards was mesmerizing.

  Beautiful, even. I...was almost reminded of a flower, if not one that was inverted.

  I didn’t get to enjoy the sight for long.

  A long, fearful, panicked howl rang out through the space of my mind. There was only one person it could have come from.

  Fade.

  “NO!” I heard him wail across the familiar bond, sounding more terrified than I thought he’d been capable of. “GONE! IT’S GONE GONEGONEGONEGONE! WHERE IS IT?! WHERE DID IT GO?!”

  I abruptly spun in place to stare in the approximate direction of the lighthouse. From here, I couldn’t see it, but the shadow of Horsaval loomed large through the gentle glow of the wards. “Fade?!” I called across the bond desperately. “What’s going on?! Are you alright?!”

  The only answer was silence.

  My heart stuttered in my chest as I feared the worst, and as I saw Bait stumble out of the open doors to the Bastion, I made a decision.

  No matter my responsibilities here, no matter how uncertain matters still were, and regardless of how much I might be needed…

  My family had to come first.

  I needed to see them.

  Across the distance between us, I know Bait saw the resolve that stole over me then. I saw my clone mouth a single word to me.

  ‘Go’.

  I reached for Vis Maledicta Exactoris and exploded to my full transformed height, uncaring at the renewed cries of fear all around me. Not every Order member had seen me like this, although the word had been spread that I had a transformation Skill. And there was no way that the refugees could know about this. Every time I transformed, I knew I cut an intimidating sight.

  Bleddyn certainly seemed to think so. He jerked away from my scaled form, skipping back a step. I couldn’t help but notice that his hands had instinctively curled into claws as he tensed.

  “Nate…?” He breathed, cautiously eyeing me.

  I had no time to explain. “He can explain,” I said curtly, nodding to Bait, standing in the wide open doors of the Bastion. His head jerked around to stare at my clone, and he blinked rapidly at the sight of him. I couldn’t help but notice that both Maria and Renauld had joined Bait at the door.

  But that was the last thing I saw, before I flexed my wings…

  And shot into the sky.

  Not as high as I typically would go, though. There was a roof, now, in the form of the wards. I didn’t want to find out what would happen to me if I ran into them. With my luck, I’d be fried as if I had run into an insect zapper from back on Terra.

  But that was only a side thought. I was much more focused on flapping as hard as I could to the lighthouse I could see in the distance. To my relief, it looked like the Zenith Crystal had recognized it as part of the wards, extended as they were by the Orcish Ward Stone. But it was a slight extension, it seemed. It was like the main thrust of the wards had touched down on the high outer walls of Blutstein and reached out like a grasping hand to envelope the bluff my home sat on. There was no way for me to fly there. The only way up to the lighthouse was from the ground, via what seemed like a passageway formed by the wards, connecting to the vast western trade gate of the city.

  I narrowed my eyes and grit my teeth.

  Alright then.

  I dived, swooping as low as I could, nearly skimming the long line of terrified merchants and wary soldiers on guard. Shouts of fear and panic run out from beneath me as I buzzed the masses, who no doubt thought a monster was inside the city. I think I might have even felt the point of a long spear scrape along the scales of my thigh, but I didn’t care. I just barely managed to clear the arch of the gate…

  And then I was through, narrowly climbing with only inches to spare on either side of me, as I ascended the ward-born tunnel that ascended the hill. The momentum from my dive was enough that I zoomed up onto the flat ground of the bluff in what felt like seconds. Touching down into a sprint, I immediately cancelled my transformation, shouting as I did so.

  “FADE! RACHEL! AVELINE!” I cried into the dead, heavy air of the cliff.

  My panic only grew when silence was my answer

  And then I burst through the door of my own home, uncaring that the inside lock immediately shattered into a million shards of steel. Instead, my eyes immediately darted around wildly, searching for any sign of my loved ones at all.

  The only thing I saw was a trio of abandoned lunch plates holding sandwiches. One on the floor.

  Two on the kitchen table.

  “AVELINE?!” I called out, desperation thick in my voice. “FADE?!”

  To my enormous relief, I thought I heard something. I couldn’t make out a single individual word, though. It was faint, and muffled, and wasn’t coming from inside the house at all.

  Instead, it seemed to be coming from below it.

  My gaze darted downward in blank incomprehension before I realized. The storage basement! That was where I kept all of the Oninite from Kawamara.

  They had to be down there!

  I ran out and around the house, racing for the cellar doors behind it and across from Azarus’s forge. When I reached them, I grabbed the twin handles and heaved with all of my might.

  I nearly tore the heavy steel doors out of their hinges, but when the faint light of the still blackened sky touched the opening.

  I thought I was going to break down weeping in relief.

  Rachel must have heard me from above, because she was standing on the steps leading further into the basement.

  With a scared Aveline held in her arms, clutching at her breast with tears in her eyes. When those emerald green eyes, the same shade as my own fell on me, Aveline began to struggle in Rachel’s arms.

  And shrieked a word that caused my heart to stutter in my chest.

  “DAD!” She cried, falling to the steps below. She stumbled as she tried to run up the short distance between us, sobbing all the way. Until she tripped…

  Right into my arms.

  I folded them around her, feeling a bone-deep relief steal over me as I did so. I knelt there on the top step as my daughter cried in my arms, eventually feeling another set of feminine arms wind their way around the two of us. Rachel didn’t say a word.

  She didn’t need to.

  Whatever had just happened to Vereden, we’d weathered it. That was what mattered most.

  Now…

  I had to figure out what happened to Fade.