The beast lowered its head.
Ice cracked beneath its weight, breath curling in thick clouds. Its muscles bunched—massive, fur rimed with frost, plates of glacier-ice fused across its chest and shoulders like armor.
Then it charged.
I moved.
Not fast enough.
The impact was a landslide. I threw myself sideways, wings snapping out, but its shoulder clipped me like I weighed nothing. Pain exploded along my ribs as I slammed into a pillar of ice. The world went white, then black, then a blur of falling shards.
I hit the ground hard enough that my teeth clacked.
Okay. Ow.
The guardian wheeled, claws gouging into the frozen lake, leaving trenches of shattered ice. Its eyes burned that same cold blue as the veins under the floor—a mirror to the relic's pulse.
I pushed up onto shaking arms, coughing. "You're just doing your job," I rasped. "Hate that for me."
It roared again.
The sound hit first—then the wind. Snow blasted sideways, the cavern vibrating with the force. A chunk of ceiling-ice sheared off and crashed where my head had been a second before.
Move, Lyra.
I rolled, wings snapping out for balance as I skidded across the slick surface. Claws—only half-formed, scales glittering along my fingers—scraped for purchase.
The yeti swiped.
The paw was the size of my torso. I ducked under it, heat surging down my arm as I let fire flare just beneath my skin, melting a thin strip of ice so I could slide instead of fall. The creature's claws slammed into the wall, sending a shock through the entire dome.
I used the momentum, spinning, obsidian dagger flashing as I drove it at the back of its knee.
The blade hit solid ice.
Not armor—glacier layered thick as bone. My wrist jarred, numbing up to my shoulder. The dagger carved only a shallow groove.
The guardian turned, glacial eyes locking onto me.
Right. Can't stab a mountain.
It lifted a foot and stomped.
Cracks spiderwebbed from the impact. The ice under me dropped half a handspan. I pushed off, wings flaring, heart hammering.
If it shattered the lake completely, I'd be fighting on drifting chunks—or drowning beneath them.
"Child of storm," a voice murmured inside my skull, deep as submerged stone. The water dragon. "It is old magic, but not cruel. It tests. Survive the test."
"It's trying to turn me into paste!" I snapped aloud.
"Then do not be paste," the voice replied, maddeningly calm.
The yeti lunged again.
I dodged left—too slow. Its arm clipped my hip; pain screamed up my side as I spun, slammed shoulder-first onto the lake, and slid toward the central pillar. Nails of ice bit through my palms as I dug in, wings flaring.
The beast's shadow fell over me.
It raised both arms, ready to crush me flat.
"LYRA, MOVE—"
I didn't know whose voice that was—mine, the dragon's, or sheer panic.
I kicked hard, rolling just as its fists came down.
The impact was an earthquake. Ice detonated into shards. A crater formed where I'd been—deep, jagged, water glimmering beneath. A splintered edge cut my thigh; heat flared as blood hit the air and froze.
Okay. Ow again.
This thing wasn't just big. It was relentless.
The guardian pried its fists free with a grinding groan. Its chest rose and fell, steady—not mindless. Watching. Calculating.
Good. Study this.
I dragged in a breath, forcing my shaking hands to steady, and summoned heat.
Fire slid along my arms, humming under my skin. Not the wildfire eruption I'd cracked the sky with. But enough.
I dashed forward.
Its paw swept toward me. I ducked under it, slamming my burning palm into the underside of its wrist.
Ice hissed.
Steam burst between its fingers. The beast jerked back with a guttural snarl, clutching the scorched armor.
"Not so thick there, huh?" I panted. "Good to know."
It answered with another swing.
The blow collided with my wing.
Agony ripped down my back. Something tore. I was airborne for a heartbeat before slamming spine-first onto the lake, sliding until my shoulder hit the central pillar.
White spots burst across my vision.
Breathe. Move. Get up.
I pushed onto one knee. My right wing hung wrong.
"Up, little flame," another voice murmured—different this time. The same one that had pushed its hands through my soul in the sky. "You are not finished."
"Kind of busy," I hissed.
The yeti lumbered closer, each step making the ice quake.
"I will not carry you," the fire-voice said. "But I will remind you. You are bridge, not beast. Reach."
"Bridge to what?"
Silence.
Of course.
The guardian lowered its head, breath curling over me in freezing mist. Frost crackled across my skin.
It opened its jaws.
Rows of icicle teeth gleamed.
"Rai," I whispered without meaning to.
Fear lanced through me—
and snapped.
Something answered in the bond.
Not words.
Emotion.
Panic. Pain. Determination.
A storm stretched past its limit.
Raiden.
His presence slammed into me—frayed, exhausted, burning at both ends.
He was killing himself.
"No," I breathed. "Don't you dare."
My fear rebounded along the thread—sharp, desperate, mine.
Something inside me shifted.
Threads.
Hair-thin glimmers of power running through my veins and through the cavern itself. Not visible—felt. Like the world had veins and I'd brushed against them.
A bridge.
"Do you feel it?" the fire-voice murmured.
"I feel like I'm about to be eaten!"
The yeti lunged.
Time didn't slow.
I finally kept up.
I grabbed the nearest thread with my will and pulled.
Air surged beneath my feet—enough to move early.
I slid under its jaws, then drove both flaming fists up into the underside of its chin.
Glacier cracked.
The beast's head snapped back. Armor along its jaw glowed faintly where I struck. Not shattered.
But weakened.
It staggered.
I spun, daggers in hand, fire flooding the steel until they glowed red-gold. I hurled them with everything left in me.
They struck—
And the ice gave.
One dagger buried a full handspan into the joint of its massive shoulder. The guardian roared, staggering as fractures spiderwebbed across its chest and neck.
It wasn't invincible.
Not anymore.
It lashed out blindly.
The backhand smashed into my chest.
My body lifted—weightless for a heartbeat—
Then the wall slammed into me like a hammer.
Everything went dim.
I slid down the stone and crumpled.
Everything hurt. Wing. Chest. Leg. Head. Reality.
"I really," I wheezed, "hate… guardian trials."
The yeti lumbered toward the glowing cracks. Purposeful. Testing.
"Up," the fire voice urged.
"I think… something broke."
"You have broken many things," it said dryly. "None have killed you yet."
The water-voice followed, gentle thunder:
"Reach again, bridge. Only the small threads."
Raiden's presence flickered again—weak, fraying.
"Please," I whispered. "Hold on."
Warmth pulsed in my chest—bond. Mate.
Not now. Survive now. Fall apart later.
I rose.
Barely.
Blood froze along my side. My wing dragged. My fingers trembled.
The guardian roared.
I didn't run.
I ran toward it.
It swiped; I slid under the blow, flattening myself across the ice as its claws ripped the floor behind me.
I planted a flaming palm against the ice.
The lake exploded upward—steam and water blasting into the creature's stride.
Its back foot slipped.
It toppled, one knee smashing into the cracked lake.
"Got you," I hissed.
I leapt, yanking another tiny thread. Energy surged. Flames curled up my legs as I knee-struck the side of its head, then stabbed my dagger into the glowing fracture.
The blade drove deeper.
The beast howled and flung its head, tossing me like debris.
I hit the ice and slid, catching myself on hands and knees.
The crack beneath me pulsed.
The relic.
"You stand over what it guards," the water voice said. "It will not stop until you are gone—or proven."
"Proven how?!"
"Alive."
"Love these divine instructions," I muttered.
The yeti slammed both fists into the floor, sending a wave of ice spikes rushing toward me.
I dove sideways, shards slicing my calf and forearm, freezing blood midair.
Can't keep this up.
The guardian towered over the brightest pulse now. Ready to destroy the relic.
"NO!"
I lunged.
I reached—
The fire thread snapped into my left hand.
The violet thread coiled around my right wrist.
A third thread—hot, electric—shot through me.
Raiden.
I yanked.
The world lurched—
I struck the guardian's arm, knocking its fist off its killing line. It slammed to the side instead, pulverizing ice but not the relic.
Pain screamed through me; something popped in my shoulder.
I clung anyway.
The beast slammed its arm into the wall to crush me.
Stone exploded.
I fell.
The ice met me like a punch to the soul.
Raiden's voice brushed my mind—
Lyra…
"Rai," I breathed.
He was alive.
Barely.
"See?" the water-voice murmured. "Your other half still stands. So must you."
"Fine," I croaked. "Fine."
The guardian staggered toward the center again. Jaw cracked. Wrist scorched. Slower. Determined.
Bridge, not beast.
I rose—shaking, half-broken.
"What if I don't have to kill you?" I whispered.
It paused.
"What if I unbind you?"
The dragon-voice inhaled sharply.
"Little flame… do you understand what you attempt?"
"Nope," I said. "But I'm great at terrible decisions."
I approached.
Slowly.
It snarled—low, confused.
I dropped my dagger.
"I'm not here to steal it," I said. "I'm here to keep it from the thing made of shadows. Help me—or everything you guard becomes meaningless."
The yeti huffed. Frost curled around my boots.
I reached for the threads—
not pulling, but aligning.
Light traced up my arms.
"What are you doing?" the water-voice whispered.
"Setting him free."
I pressed my palms to the cracked ice.
Heat and cold collided—fire in my veins, mountain chill beneath, relic thrum between. The sigils on my palms flared violet-blue.
For one heartbeat, I felt everything:
Raiden's strain
Muir's frost-burn
Revik's blade-arm
Tadewi's wings against the storm
And the guardian's longing—
Not to kill.
To be released.
"I'm not your enemy," I whispered. "Let me prove it."
Divine power surged.
A blinding flash tore up through the ice—through me—into the guardian.
Chains snapped.
Light cracked its chest wide open.
The creature staggered, then placed one massive hand over my head.
Not crushing.
Thanking.
Then it crumbled.
Ice collapsing into snow.
Falling around me in soft, silent flurries.
When the last of it fell, a glow rose from the shattered lake.
The relic.
A crystalline sphere swirling with blue and silver currents.
My hands shook as I lifted it. Its cold sank into my bones—not cruel.
Recognizing me.
Claiming me.
"Keeper," the water dragon whispered. "You freed me. Tell my beloved I will meet her soon, once you free her as well."
A laugh scraped out of me. "Yeah," I croaked. "If I live that long."
My legs gave out.
⸻
I dropped to my knees.
The impact rattled through me, but I barely felt it. I curled around the relic, every part of me hollowed out, scraped raw.
Then—
"My stream has now opened."
The relic melted.
Blue-silver light poured into my palms, flooding my arms, ribs, spine.
Cold swept through every wound—
Healing.
My ribs eased.
My fingers steadied.
Strength—clean and bright—rushed through me.
My wings shuddered—
then straightened as torn membrane knitted itself whole.
The relic had healed me.
Completely.
As if it knew I still needed to fight.
As if it refused to let me fall.
Far away, through the bond—
Something shifted.
Raiden.
His presence flared—
Then vanished.
Like a light snuffed out.
Cold panic surged through me. "Rai?"
Nothing.
Only the fading echo of lightning and stone.
"Tadewi," I whispered. "Please… someone…"
Silence.
I bowed my head over the relic.
"Hold on, Raiden," I breathed. "Just hold on."
Because my battle was over.
But the real war was still waiting.
The beast lowered its head.
Ice cracked beneath its weight, breath curling in thick clouds. Its muscles bunched—massive, fur rimed with frost, plates of glacier-ice fused across its chest and shoulders like armor.
Then it charged.
I moved.
Not fast enough.
The impact was a landslide. I threw myself sideways, wings snapping out, but its shoulder clipped me like I weighed nothing. Pain exploded along my ribs as I slammed into a pillar of ice. The world went white, then black, then a blur of falling shards.
I hit the ground hard enough that my teeth clacked.
Okay. Ow.
The guardian wheeled, claws gouging into the frozen lake, leaving trenches of shattered ice. Its eyes burned that same cold blue as the veins under the floor—a mirror to the relic's pulse.
I pushed up onto shaking arms, coughing. "You're just doing your job," I rasped. "Hate that for me."
It roared again.
The sound hit first—then the wind. Snow blasted sideways, the cavern vibrating with the force. A chunk of ceiling-ice sheared off and crashed where my head had been a second before.
Move, Lyra.
I rolled, wings snapping out for balance as I skidded across the slick surface. Claws—only half-formed, scales glittering along my fingers—scraped for purchase.
The yeti swiped.
The paw was the size of my torso. I ducked under it, heat surging down my arm as I let fire flare just beneath my skin, melting a thin strip of ice so I could slide instead of fall. The creature's claws slammed into the wall, sending a shock through the entire dome.
I used the momentum, spinning, obsidian dagger flashing as I drove it at the back of its knee.
The blade hit solid ice.
Not armor—glacier layered thick as bone. My wrist jarred, numbing up to my shoulder. The dagger carved only a shallow groove.
The guardian turned, glacial eyes locking onto me.
Right. Can't stab a mountain.
It lifted a foot and stomped.
Cracks spiderwebbed from the impact. The ice under me dropped half a handspan. I pushed off, wings flaring, heart hammering.
If it shattered the lake completely, I'd be fighting on drifting chunks—or drowning beneath them.
"Child of storm," a voice murmured inside my skull, deep as submerged stone. The water dragon. "It is old magic, but not cruel. It tests. Survive the test."
"It's trying to turn me into paste!" I snapped aloud.
"Then do not be paste," the voice replied, maddeningly calm.
The yeti lunged again.
I dodged left—too slow. Its arm clipped my hip; pain screamed up my side as I spun, slammed shoulder-first onto the lake, and slid toward the central pillar. Nails of ice bit through my palms as I dug in, wings flaring.
The beast's shadow fell over me.
It raised both arms, ready to crush me flat.
"LYRA, MOVE—"
I didn't know whose voice that was—mine, the voices in my head, or sheer panic.
I kicked hard, rolling just as its fists came down.
The impact was an earthquake. Ice detonated into shards. A crater formed where I'd been—deep, jagged, water glimmering beneath. A splintered edge cut my thigh; heat flared as blood hit the air and froze.
Okay. Ow again.
This thing wasn't just big. It was relentless.
The guardian pried its fists free with a grinding groan. Its chest rose and fell, steady—not mindless. Watching. Calculating.
Good. Study this.
I dragged in a breath, forcing my shaking hands to steady, and summoned heat.
Fire slid along my arms, humming under my skin. Not the wildfire eruption I'd cracked the sky with. But enough.
I dashed forward.
Its paw swept toward me. I ducked under it, slamming my burning palm into the underside of its wrist.
Ice hissed.
Steam burst between its fingers. The beast jerked back with a guttural snarl, clutching the scorched armor.
"Not so thick there, huh?" I panted. "Good to know."
It answered with another swing.
The blow collided with my wing.
Agony ripped down my back. Something tore. I was airborne for a heartbeat before slamming spine-first onto the lake, sliding until my shoulder hit the central pillar.
White spots burst across my vision.
Breathe. Move. Get up.
I pushed onto one knee. My right wing hung wrong.
"Up, little flame," another voice murmured—different this time. The same one that had pushed its hands through my soul in the sky. "You are not finished."
"Kind of busy," I hissed.
The yeti lumbered closer, each step making the ice quake.
"I will not carry you," the fire-voice said. "But I will remind you. You are bridge, not beast. Reach."
"Bridge to what?"
Silence.
Of course.
The guardian lowered its head, breath curling over me in freezing mist. Frost crackled across my skin.
It opened its jaws.
Rows of icicle teeth gleamed.
"Rai," I whispered without meaning to.
Fear lanced through me—
and snapped.
Something answered in the bond.
Not words.
Emotion.
Panic. Pain. Determination.
A storm stretched past its limit.
Raiden.
His presence slammed into me—frayed, exhausted, burning at both ends.
He was killing himself.
"No," I breathed. "Don't you dare."
My fear rebounded along the thread—sharp, desperate, mine.
Something inside me shifted.
Threads.
Hair-thin glimmers of power running through my veins and through the cavern itself. Not visible—felt. Like the world had veins and I'd brushed against them.
A bridge.
"Do you feel it?" the fire-voice murmured.
"I feel like I'm about to be eaten!"
The yeti lunged.
Time didn't slow.
I finally kept up.
I grabbed the nearest thread with my will and pulled.
Air surged beneath my feet—enough to move early.
I slid under its jaws, then drove both flaming fists up into the underside of its chin.
Glacier cracked.
The beast's head snapped back. Armor along its jaw glowed faintly where I struck. Not shattered.
But weakened.
It staggered.
I spun, daggers in hand, fire flooding the steel until they glowed red-gold. I hurled them with everything left in me.
They struck—
And the ice gave.
One dagger buried a full handspan into the joint of its massive shoulder. The guardian roared, staggering as fractures spiderwebbed across its chest and neck.
It wasn't invincible.
Not anymore.
It lashed out blindly.
The backhand smashed into my chest.
My body lifted—weightless for a heartbeat—
Then the wall slammed into me like a hammer.
Everything went dim.
I slid down the stone and crumpled.
Everything hurt. Wing. Chest. Leg. Head. Reality.
"I really," I wheezed, "hate… guardian trials."
The yeti lumbered toward the glowing cracks. Purposeful. Testing.
"Up," the fire voice urged.
"I think… something broke."
"You have broken many things," it said dryly. "None have killed you yet."
The softer-voice followed, gentle thunder:
"Reach again, bridge. Only the small threads."
Raiden's presence flickered again—weak, fraying.
"Please," I whispered. "Hold on."
Warmth pulsed in my chest—bond. Mate.
Not now. Survive now. Fall apart later.
I rose.
Barely.
Blood froze along my side. My wing dragged. My fingers trembled.
The guardian roared.
I didn't run.
I ran toward it.
It swiped; I slid under the blow, flattening myself across the ice as its claws ripped the floor behind me.
I planted a flaming palm against the ice.
The lake exploded upward—steam and water blasting into the creature's stride.
Its back foot slipped.
It toppled, one knee smashing into the cracked lake.
"Got you," I hissed.
I leapt, yanking another tiny thread. Energy surged. Flames curled up my legs as I knee-struck the side of its head, then stabbed my dagger into the glowing fracture.
The blade drove deeper.
The beast howled and flung its head, tossing me like debris.
I hit the ice and slid, catching myself on hands and knees.
The crack beneath me pulsed.
The relic.
"You stand over what it guards," the softer voice said. "It will not stop until you are gone—or proven."
"Proven how?!"
"Alive."
"Love these divine instructions," I muttered.
The yeti slammed both fists into the floor, sending a wave of ice spikes rushing toward me.
I dove sideways, shards slicing my calf and forearm, freezing blood midair.
Can't keep this up.
The guardian towered over the brightest pulse now. Ready to destroy the relic.
"NO!"
I lunged.
I reached—
The fire thread snapped into my left hand.
The violet thread coiled around my right wrist.
A third thread—hot, electric—shot through me.
Raiden.
I yanked.
The world lurched—
I struck the guardian's arm, knocking its fist off its killing line. It slammed to the side instead, pulverizing ice but not the relic.
Pain screamed through me; something popped in my shoulder.
I clung anyway.
The beast slammed its arm into the wall to crush me.
Stone exploded.
I fell.
The ice met me like a punch to the soul.
Raiden's voice brushed my mind—
Lyra…
"Rai," I breathed.
He was alive.
Barely.
"See?" the soft voice murmured. "Your other half still stands. So must you."
"Fine," I croaked. "Fine."
The guardian staggered toward the center again. Jaw cracked. Wrist scorched. Slower. Determined.
Bridge, not beast.
I rose—shaking, half-broken.
"What if I don't have to kill you?" I whispered.
It paused.
"What if I unbind you?"
The fire-voice inhaled sharply.
"Little flame… do you understand what you attempt?"
"Nope," I said. "But I'm great at terrible decisions."
I approached.
Slowly.
It snarled—low, confused.
I dropped my dagger.
"I'm not here to steal it," I said. "I'm here to keep it from the thing made of shadows. Help me—or everything you guard becomes meaningless."
The yeti huffed. Frost curled around my boots.
I reached for the threads—
not pulling, but aligning.
Light traced up my arms.
"What are you doing?" the voice whispered.
"Setting him free."
I pressed my palms to the cracked ice.
Heat and cold collided—fire in my veins, mountain chill beneath, relic thrum between. The sigils on my palms flared violet-blue.
For one heartbeat, I felt everything:
Raiden's strain
Muir's frost-burn
Revik's blade-arm
Tadewi's wings against the storm
And the guardian's longing—
Not to kill.
To be released.
"I'm not your enemy," I whispered. "Let me prove it."
Divine power surged.
A blinding flash tore up through the ice—through me—into the guardian.
Chains snapped.
Light cracked its chest wide open.
The creature staggered, then placed one massive hand over my head.
Not crushing.
Thanking.
Then it crumbled.
Ice collapsing into snow.
Falling around me in soft, silent flurries.
When the last of it fell, a glow rose from the shattered lake.
The relic.
A crystalline sphere swirling with blue and silver currents.
My hands shook as I lifted it. Its cold sank into my bones—not cruel.
Recognizing me.
Claiming me.
"Keeper," the water dragon whispered. "You freed me. Tell my beloved I will meet her soon, once you free her as well."
A laugh scraped out of me. "Yeah," I croaked. "If I live that long."
My legs gave out.
I dropped to my knees.
The impact rattled through me, but I barely felt it. I curled around the relic, every part of me hollowed out, scraped raw.
Then—
"My stream has now opened."
The relic melted.
Blue-silver light poured into my palms, flooding my arms, ribs, spine.
Cold swept through every wound—
Healing.
My ribs eased.
My fingers steadied.
Strength—clean and bright—rushed through me.
My wings shuddered—
then straightened as torn membrane knitted itself whole.
The relic had healed me.
Completely.
As if it knew I still needed to fight.
As if it refused to let me fall.
Far away, through the bond—
Something shifted.
Raiden.
His presence flared—
Then vanished.
Like a light snuffed out.
Cold panic surged through me. "Rai?"
Nothing.
Only the fading echo of lightning and stone.
"Tadewi," I whispered. "Please… someone…"
Silence.
I bowed my head over the relic.
"Hold on, Raiden," I breathed. "Just hold on."
Because my battle was over.
But the real war was still waiting.