The first attempt did not come with banners.
It came with silence.
Night wrapped the mountain in deep indigo, stars sharp and cold. The Hawk Clan's patrols moved in smooth, overlapping arcs—alert, disciplined, wings cutting clean lines through the dark. The alliances had tightened the perimeter, but no one relaxed.
Especially not Feng Lihan.
He stood at the outer ridge, wind pressing against his wings, senses stretched thin. Something itched at the back of his skull—not fear.
Pressure.
Inside the mountain, Lin Yue slept lightly, the chick tucked against his chest, small body rising and falling in perfect rhythm with his breath. Mo Shan dozed nearby, one eye half-open out of habit.
Then—
The wind stuttered.
Not stopped.
Hesitated.
Feng Lihan's eyes snapped toward the western cliff.
There.
A ripple in the air—wrong, subtle, like heat distortion where no heat should exist.
"Assassin," he breathed.
The intruder slipped through a blind angle between patrol paths, body wrapped in illusion-silk that bent moonlight away. No wings. No scent. Even the mountain's currents slid past them as if politely ignoring their presence.
Professional.
They moved fast.
Too fast.
Inside the inner chamber, the chick stirred.
Not awake—but aware.
A thin, sharp sound escaped its throat, halfway between a chirr and a hiss.
Lin Yue jolted upright. "Lihan—"
The ward sigils flared.
Gold.
Not Feng Lihan's doing.
The assassin froze mid-step as the air thickened violently, pressure slamming down like an invisible hand. Their illusion shredded, silk unraveling into ash.
Mo Shan was on his feet instantly. "What in the—"
The chick screamed.
A piercing cry tore through the chamber, raw and unrefined—and the mountain answered without waiting for permission.
Wind exploded outward.
Not in a wave—
In a point.
The assassin was lifted bodily off the ground and hurled backward through the tunnel, bones shattering before they even struck stone. Their body slammed into the cavern wall with a wet, final sound.
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Stunned.
Lin Yue stared down at the chick, heart pounding. "Hey—hey, it's alright—"
The chick trembled, feathers bristling, golden lines blazing too bright, too sharp. The stone beneath them cracked in thin spiderwebs.
Feng Lihan was there in a heartbeat, wings snapping open, wrapping them both tight. He dropped to his knees, pressing his forehead to Lin Yue's temple.
"I've got you," he said, voice low, steady. "Both of you."
The glow faltered.
Slowed.
The chick chirred weakly, exhaustion hitting all at once, and burrowed deeper against Lin Yue's chest.
Mo Shan exhaled shakily. "…That was instinctual. No control. No intent."
Lin Yue swallowed hard. "It could've killed—"
"It did," Feng Lihan said quietly.
Lin Yue's breath caught.
Outside, Hawk Clan warriors surrounded the broken body at the tunnel mouth. Red Feather Elder knelt, examining the corpse, fingers brushing a blackened sigil carved into the assassin's collarbone.
His expression darkened.
"Black Talon Dominion," he said grimly. "High-tier operative."
A pause.
"They knew exactly what they were aiming for."
Back in the chamber, Feng Lihan gently pried his wing back just enough to look at the chick. Its golden eyes were half-lidded now, unfocused with fatigue.
Too much power.
Too soon.
"They won't stop," Lin Yue whispered.
"No," Feng Lihan agreed. His jaw set, something cold and lethal settling behind his eyes. "But neither will we."
He looked up, voice carrying—not loud, but absolute.
"From this moment on, the inner mountain is sealed. No unsworn presence. No exceptions."
Mo Shan nodded immediately. "I'll reinforce the wards. And… I'll start designing suppression runes. For safety."
Lin Yue hesitated, then asked softly, "Did it… do wrong?"
Feng Lihan turned back to him, expression gentler than the wind. "No."
He brushed his thumb over Lin Yue's knuckles, grounding both of them.
"It protected its family."
Far away, in the Black Talon Dominion, a command seal shattered.
"What do you mean it failed?" the masked leader snarled.
The messenger knelt, shaking. "The child—my lord—the child reacted. The mountain itself moved."
Silence.
Then, slowly, dangerously—
"…So," the leader murmured, almost amused, "the Sky-Child bites back."
They smiled beneath the mask.
"Good. Send another."
Back on the mountain, Feng Lihan looked out into the dark sky, wings spread wide.
Let them come.
The blessing had teeth.
And now—
It had learned how to scream