The sky above was torn and weeping.
Scarlet streaks bled across a once-blue horizon, the very heavens split open like wounded flesh. Lightning arced not white but black, jagged veins of shadow rippling through the broken firmament. The world screamed beneath my feet—the ground itself mourning what had been lost, or warning me of what was to come.
I stumbled into the chaos, my body still blazing with the remnants of power gifted by the First Flamebearer. Every heartbeat was a drum pounding against the Veil, every breath a thread binding me closer to destiny.
I had no map. No guide. Only the burning certainty thrumming in my bones: Find the Door. End this.
Behind me, the Blood Court's fortress cracked and groaned, collapsing under the fury Elowen had unleashed. The Queen’s shriek pierced
