Kael woke to silence. No wind. No hum from the cores. Just… quiet.
He sat up.The camp was empty.
"Lira?" he called out. No answer.
Then he noticed—the cores were gone.
Panic struck. He ran outside and spotted tracks in the mist. And beside them… a small dart. A tranquilizer.
Kael's heart dropped. "She was taken."
Before he could move, something slammed into him from behind. He fell hard. A shadow stood over him—tall, armored, and familiar.
Ryen!. He looked down coldly. "She's fine. But she took something that doesn't belong to her."
Kael growled. "You're the one stealing lives."
"I'm saving them," Ryen snapped. "You're too blind to see what awakening the Sky City will do. You think you're chasing treasure, Kael, but you're chasing destruction."
Kael swung at him, but Ryen stepped back and vanished into a cloud of smoke.
A screen blinked on nearby—Lira tied in a chamber filled with humming energy.
"Trade the cores," Ryen's voice echoed, "and she lives. Keep them—and you'll bury her along with the sky.
Kael was left standing alone, fists clenched, staring at the blinking image.
He had three cores. But now Lira was the price.
He whispered, "I won't lose another."
As thunder rumbled in the distance, Kael made a choice.
He wouldn't give up the cores.
But he would go after her.
And he'd bring the sky down if he had to.