The world of Aerthos was screaming.
Lyra, no longer a young pilot but the seasoned Queen of the Sky-Sailor Clans, stood on the highest spire of her capital city, Aethelburg. The city was built on a massive, stable island, a nexus of trade and culture. Now, it was a fortress under siege.
Below, the endless sky was no longer a beautiful canvas of soft clouds and gentle winds. It was a roiling storm of black, corrupted air. The Dead Wind she had faced as a girl had returned, but it was a hurricane now, a sentient tempest that howled with a malevolent intelligence.
And from that storm, the monsters came.
