The forest around you was a blur of shadow and shattered branches, the smell of damp earth and burning pine filling the air. You twisted beneath Dain’s grip, your back pressed to the jagged roots of an old tree. His knife pressed cold and sharp against your throat, and every instinct screamed that this was the end. Dain’s storm-grey eyes were unreadable, calm but lethal, a predator sizing up prey he didn’t fully want to harm.

“I warned you,” Dain said, low, measured, but there was an edge to his voice that betrayed tension. “You can’t outrun the Order.”

You spat blood from a split lip, your chest heaving. “Maybe I don’t need to.” Your fingers twitched instinctually toward the forest floor, toward the roots, toward anything that could give leverage.

Then—a sound. A silent, wet huff from behind you. Both froze. The undergrowth trembled. Eyes, glowing faintly like molten metal, appeared between twisted branches. A rogue aether beast emerged, a grotesque blur of muscle and corrupted sinew, fangs dripping with iridescent venom. Its movements were unnervingly deliberate, predatory. Both you and Dain recognized it immediately—fast, deadly, smarter than most human soldiers, and not a creature you could bait.

Dain reacted first, yanking you up by the collar with a force that bruised, his knife abandoning the hold as he shoved you both backward. “Run!” he barked, eyes flicking to the approaching horror.

You barely had time to react before your feet were pounding the uneven forest floor, branches whipping your face and tearing at your clothes. Behind you, the aether beast’s roar echoed—a sound like grinding metal against bone. Adrenaline sharpened every sense. Your heart didn’t beat, it thundered, and instinct screamed you had a path: straight to the cliff.

You broke free of the trees and stumbled into open air. The ground fell away beneath you in sheer, dizzying drop. Your gut twisted at the height—five hundred meters of vertical nothing—but your legs moved before thought could catch up. You ran toward the edge, a primal confidence thrumming through you. You could feel Vorthenyx—like a pulse beneath your skin, a silent promise of wings and fire.

Dain skidded to a halt, heart hammering, his hand shooting out to grab your shoulder. “Stop! You can’t—”

Your eyes, fierce and untamed, met his. “I don’t need you to stop me!” You shoved him back with all your weight, a flash of teeth and defiance. Dain countered, gripping your arms, pulling hard, steel in his expression.

“No, not like this! I’m not letting you—”

You punched him in the jaw, blood mixing with dirt, but Dain’s hold didn’t waver. With a surge of movement, you seized his wrist, twisting it, and together—grappling, thrashing—both toppled over the edge of the cliff.

The wind stole your breath. The world blurred. Your scream mixed with Dain’s curse, bodies spinning in chaotic, uncontrolled descent. The aether beast snapped at your heels, claws scrabbling at bare rock as you fell.

Then: a shadow. A rush of heat, a roar that shook the very air. Vorthenyx erupted from the clouds below, black scales gleaming with molten highlights, wings unfolding like shattered night, eyes burning with recognition. The dragon’s talons caught you both in a violent, controlled swoop. Your stomach lurched—this was too fast, too big, too powerful—and yet, instinct screamed: you belonged here.

Dain grabbed at you instinctively, but your wild eyes met his, and he understood. The dragon’s back rumbled beneath your feet like a living battlefield. Your hands dug into the leather of its scales, heart racing. “I… I don’t know how to—fly!”

Dain, kneeling across your chaotic hold, shouted over the roar, voice raw but precise: “Lean forward! Use the pulse! Feel it! Move with it, don’t fight!”

Your legs flailed, fists clawing at Vorthenyx’s neck, adrenaline and fear and thrill tangled together. “I… can’t control it!”

“You can! Listen—your heart, your blood—it chose you!” Dain barked. He grabbed your shoulders, steadying you as the dragon banked. “Trust it! Not me! Don’t fight it, move!”