The mountain path was a cruel thing—rocky and steep, with jagged edges that seemed to grate against the very air. It was a far cry from the pleasant, if occasionally weird, terrain they had been used to. The Riven Drake's scream still hung in the air, and Mira couldn't shake the feeling that something was following them. It wasn't just the beast that haunted the skies—it was the land itself. A weight pressed down on her chest, as if the earth had grown heavier in the wake of the creature's call.
Reeko was humming under his breath, perhaps trying to distract himself from the endless climb, or from the undeniable fear in the air. Mira glanced at him as he twanged a string on his lute. He wasn't bad—if you ignored the clashing harmonies. But now, in the thick of this dangerous territory, he sounded like he was trying to soothe a wound that wouldn't heal.
"Reeko," Mira asked, trying to sound casual, "how do you handle this? The fear, I mean."
He didn't look at her as he tuned the lute. "Fear? I'm just here for the sandwiches."
"What?"
"Yeah. The last sandwich I ate in Riverbend was a spicy chicken club. Probably still the best I've had. Do you want a snack?"
"I think I'd prefer not to get eaten by a giant monster, thanks."
He looked up, offering a lopsided grin. "You're no fun."
Mira rolled her eyes but couldn't suppress a smile. Her own fear was creeping up her spine, tightening like a vice. But she refused to show it. Not now. Not with the shard so close. And not when they were all looking to her for strength. The Die were silent for now, but she could feel them, nestled in her bag, ready for the moment she would need them.
Pipla, ever the optimist, marched ahead without a care in the world. "We're getting closer," she said, glancing over her shoulder. "The air feels colder. That means we're near the Riven Drake's lair."
Mira squinted into the distance. The sky had shifted to a deeper purple, and the stars were few and scattered. The path wound up the mountainside, steep and uncertain, but it wasn't the rocky ground that made Mira 's heart beat faster—it was the anticipation of what lay ahead.
The air was becoming more oppressive, the kind of heaviness that made your chest feel like a vice and your thoughts sluggish. Reeko's lute music faded into the background as they pressed on in silence.
As they neared a bend in the path, the ground beneath their feet trembled.
"Did you feel that?" Jory asked, his voice suddenly tight with tension.
Mira stopped in her tracks, heart hammering. The tremor had passed, but the deep, pulsing vibrations were still echoing in the earth. The others halted as well, eyes darting around nervously.
"I think the Riven Drake is closer than we thought," Mira said, her voice barely above a whisper. Her fingers brushed the Die in her bag. They felt different now—cold and vibrating with power. She could feel the pulse of something ancient, something powerful, deep beneath the mountain. It wasn't just the Riven Drake. Something else was down there. Something worse.
Reeko was scanning the horizon. "Should we keep going, or—"
A distant screech sliced through the air, louder this time. Closer.
Without warning, the ground beneath them cracked open, and the mountainside gave way. Mira gasped as she felt herself tipping forward, scrambling to find purchase on the loose rocks. Her heart skipped a beat, and in the chaos, the Die tumbled out of her bag and onto the ground.
A low growl rumbled from the depths below.
"That's it," Mira said, breathless. "We're not alone."
Before anyone could react, a massive shadow lunged from the cliffside.
The shadow came crashing toward them, a shape so large and menacing that it seemed to blot out the stars. Mira 's breath caught in her throat. The Riven Drake had arrived, its wings wide, black as ink, and tipped with razor-sharp feathers. Its scales glistened with the sheen of molten rock, flickering like fire as it soared down toward them.
It was beautiful. Terrifying. And it was coming straight for them.
Reeko screamed like someone who had just realized they had absolutely no plan for this scenario. "Run! Everyone, run!"
Mira barely had time to react. The ground beneath her feet cracked again, and in the chaos, she grabbed the Die from the ground, her fingers tightening around them as if they were the only thing keeping her tethered to reality.
"Get out of the way!" Jory shouted, already lunging toward the nearest outcrop of rocks. His dagger was drawn, though Mira doubted it would be much use against a creature that could eat a mountain for breakfast.
The Riven Drake's roar echoed through the mountains, a guttural sound that vibrated in Mira 's bones. She had only a moment before the beast was upon them. She didn't know why the Die felt so warm, so urgent. But she knew, instinctively, that this was the moment she had been preparing for.
She raised her hand, the Die glinting in her palm. "I need your help," she whispered. It wasn't a command. It wasn't a plea. It was a simple statement of fact. The Die responded immediately, pulsing in her hand as though they understood her desperation.
The world seemed to slow. Time stretched, and the air grew thick with the weight of impending disaster.
The Riven Drake's talons scraped against the rocky ground as it swooped down, its eyes glowing with an eerie, unnatural light. It was too fast, too massive, and too powerful for Mira to fight with anything but the Die.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she threw them forward. The Die spun through the air, catching the moonlight as they tumbled toward the ground. They landed with a soft clink.
Everything went still.
The Riven Drake screeched in frustration, its wings snapping and swirling around it as it prepared for its final strike. Mira 's breath caught in her throat. Her vision blurred for a moment, but through the haze, she saw the Die, glowing faintly, shifting and changing. She could feel the threads of fate, weaving together, pulling the world into a direction she didn't entirely understand.
Then, as if on command, the Die rolled.
18
The world shifted.
The Riven Drake's wings slowed, and it hovered, its massive body suspended in the air. Its eyes flickered with confusion as the winds around it began to spiral out of control. Mira could feel it—an overwhelming force of chaos, an energy too vast for her to comprehend. The Die had done something. The world around her had shifted.
For a brief moment, it felt like she could control everything.
"Do you see that?" Pipla shouted. "It's slowing down! It's—"
"I don't care," Reeko interrupted, throwing himself behind a boulder. "Can we just get away from it?"
"Not yet," Mira said, gripping the Die tightly. "We're not done yet."
She could feel it, the power of the Die surging through her. But it wasn't just the Riven Drake she had to deal with. The land itself seemed to be shifting, growing more unstable as the force she had unleashed began to expand. There was something else lurking beneath the surface, something tied to the very fabric of reality itself.
The Riven Drake's wings twitched, then stilled completely. It was trapped in some strange, in-between state—no longer able to attack, but not quite vanquished either.
Mira 's pulse quickened. This wasn't just about defeating the Riven Drake. This was about understanding what the Die were doing, and why they were acting this way.
A deep rumble echoed from below, a sound that reverberated through the ground and made the very air around them quiver.
The Die were changing the rules of the world.
"Mira ?" Jory called out. His voice was tense. "What the hell is happening? Why is it still here? It looks... confused?"
"I don't know," Mira admitted, swallowing hard. "But something's wrong. The Die... they're reacting to something deeper. It's like they're stitching reality."
The Riven Drake let out another screech—this one less full of rage, more confused, desperate. The winds around them continued to howl, swirling like a vortex. Mira 's vision swam, the light from the Die growing brighter and brighter until it almost blinded her. The threads of fate twisted around her, warping, bending.
Then, with a final, resounding crack, the Riven Drake's wings folded inward, and it dropped like a stone. Mira 's breath hitched as the great beast fell from the sky, its massive form slamming into the ground with enough force to send rocks tumbling down the mountainside.
The air settled, The world held its breath.
Mira stood frozen, staring at the place where the Riven Drake had fallen. She could still feel the tremors of the force she had unleashed, still feel the way the Die pulsed in her hand, like a heartbeat that wasn't quite her own.
And then, just as quickly as it had all begun, everything went silent.
"Well, that was... anticlimactic," Reeko muttered, standing cautiously. "You know, after all that screeching."
Jory sheathed his dagger, eyeing the spot where the Riven Drake had fallen. "It's not dead, is it?"
"No," Mira said slowly, shaking her head. "It's... still alive, but... confused. The Die, they didn't kill it. They trapped it."
"Trapped it?" Pipla asked, raising an eyebrow. "In what, exactly?"
"I don't know." Mira felt a shiver run down her spine. "But whatever just happened, it's not over. The Die... they're just beginning."
The rumble from beneath the earth started again, and this time, it wasn't just a sound—it was a warning.
Mira stood at the edge of the cliff, her breath coming in ragged gasps, her hand still clutching the silver Die. The world around her felt thick, heavy—like it was holding its breath, waiting for something.
And she had no idea what that something was.
Behind her, the Halflings were slowly getting to their feet, their eyes on the spot where the Riven Drake had fallen. Reeko, ever the musician, was already composing a ballad in his head, no doubt. But the tension in the air had shifted. There was no cheer, no triumph—only the echo of an ancient, distant rumble coming from deep within the earth.
"What the hell is going on?" Jory muttered, his voice low. "You just... stopped it. You stopped it."
"I didn't mean to," Mira said, shaking her head. "I just used the Die. I didn't know what would happen." She looked down at them, now cooling in her hand, the glow dimming but still present.
"That's not stopping it," Pipla said, moving forward to inspect the area where the Riven Drake had fallen. "That's... something else." She crouched, poking at the ground where the beast had landed, then stood and brushed her hands on her knees. "It's not dead."
"I know," Mira replied quietly. She could still feel the weight of the situation pressing down on her, even though the immediate danger had passed.
The ground trembled again, a warning shot that was followed by a sudden crack. The earth beneath them split open in a jagged line, and Mira barely had time to react before a huge mass of molten stone and fire shot up from below. The Riven Drake's wings erupted from the fissure, twisted and broken, but still alive, still struggling to break free.
"You've got to be kidding me," Reeko said, his eyes wide with panic. "It's... coming back?"
"No," Mira said, her voice steady despite the chaos around her. "It's not the Riven Drake. It's something else."
The molten fissure grew wider, splitting the earth like a wound, and a new figure emerged from the depths—a being made of fire and ash, its body shifting and cracking like a living volcano. Lava dripped from its body, forming pools of molten rock that hissed and sizzled on the ground. A towering, monstrous creature rose from the depths, its eyes glowing with an unnatural fire, its body burning with the intensity of the core of the earth itself.
A creature that was both fire and shadow—Velcrath.
The ground shook with each step it took. The Halflings staggered back, their faces pale with fear. Even Jory, who had a taste for danger, looked worried.
"The hell is that?" Pipla demanded, her hand instinctively reaching for her axe.
"Velcrath," Mira said, her voice barely above a whisper. "The one who's been pulling the strings, the one behind everything." She looked down at the Die again, feeling their heat begin to rise in her palm. It was as if they were reacting to the presence of the creature, as if they were... alive. "This is bad. Really bad."
"Bad?" Reeko said, sounding more incredulous than ever. "That's an understatement. It's a walking apocalypse."
Mira didn't have time to answer. Velcrath's form loomed above them, a creature of molten rock and shadow, its presence warping the very air around it. The temperature spiked, making it hard to breathe. The landscape around them began to shift again, reality warping as if the world itself were bending to Velcrath's will.
The Halflings scattered, diving for cover behind rocks and trees. Jory darted into the shadows, disappearing as quickly as he had arrived. Reeko, however, took a moment to adjust his lute and strum a few notes, as though the tension wasn't entirely present. "Well, if we're going out, we might as well go out with a song," he muttered, trying to act brave, but failing miserably.
"You need to leave," Mira said to him, her eyes locked on Velcrath. "This is my fight."
"Like hell it is," Pipla retorted, appearing at her side, warhammer ready. "If you think I'm leaving you to face that... thing alone, you've lost your mind."
"We're in this together," Jory said, reappearing with his dagger in hand. "That's what we do, remember?"
Reeko nodded, a grin spreading across his face, even as his fingers trembled on the strings of his lute. "And besides," he added, "I've got a song to finish."
Mira felt a wave of gratitude wash over her. She was far from ready for what was about to happen. She wasn't sure if she could even win this fight. But she had allies. And with the Die, there was still a chance—however slim—that she could change the outcome.
"Let's do this," Mira said, tightening her grip on the Die.
Velcrath's form shifted again, and it raised one massive, burning hand toward the sky, summoning a torrent of fire and molten rock. The ground cracked beneath them, sending jagged shards of stone shooting into the air. Mira could feel the heat of the flames, the pressure of the power gathering within the creature.
And yet, for all its strength, something felt... off. The air was thick with power, but it wasn't quite natural. It was like the world itself was trying to reject Velcrath's presence, as if the balance of reality was being torn apart.
Mira didn't waste any more time. She threw the Die into the air, watching them spin in a perfect arc before they landed on the ground with a sharp clink. For a moment, everything seemed to freeze. Time slowed.
Velcrath's roar echoed through the mountains, but it was distant, muted. Mira could feel the Die's pulse in her hand again, stronger this time, the connection deeper. She had no idea what she was doing—no idea what she was unleashing—but the Die had worked with her before. And this time, she would use them to fight back against Velcrath's overwhelming power.
Please work, Mira thought, focusing all her energy on the Die. Please.
19
The world around her seemed to shift again, as though reality itself was bending. Velcrath's flames faltered, sputtering out of existence. The molten creature took a step back, its eyes flickering in confusion.
Then, with a sound like the tearing of the fabric of space itself, the air snapped back into place, and everything seemed to align.
Velcrath faltered and faded away.
And Mira , for the first time, felt as though she had a grasp on this power.