The city of Vaelith disappeared behind him like a memory as Kael mounted Azir. The black stallion's hooves sank slightly in the soft sands that stretched endlessly under twin moons. Each step echoed in the silence of the desert, a world untouched by the ordinary, a world that seemed to breathe with secrets.
Kael held the paper tightly; the first clue to the desert flower. "Where the sun bleeds into the dunes…" He didn't need a map. He had followed this feeling before, when shadows called and when the wind carried whispers only, he could hear.
The night was alive. The air shimmered, as though the heat of unseen flames ran beneath the surface of the dunes. A low hum rose around him, a vibration Kael felt in his bones. The desert wasn't just sand and stone. It was watching.
A shadow moved across the sand, too fluid to be Azir or Kael. He squinted, trying to see its form. A creature? A trick of the wind?
Before he could decide, the sand beneath him shifted, and a voice, almost like Lyanna's, whispered:
"Beware the petals of fire…"
Kael froze. Petals? Fire? His pulse quickened. The desert flower… it was no ordinary bloom. Somewhere out there, it waited, its color, its essence, capable of helping him reach the Elixir.
Hours passed. The cold night slowly gave way to the first streaks of dawn. And then, just as the sun bled over the horizon, Kael spotted it. A solitary flower; crimson petals glowing faintly against the pale sand.
Azir whinnied. Kael dismounted, careful, sensing danger. As he reached for the flower, the shadow moved again, closer, deliberate, watching. He clenched his sword.
Suddenly, the sand erupted. From it rose a figure cloaked in shifting darkness, its eyes like molten gold.
"You seek the flower," it hissed.
Kael knew this was his first trial in the desert; he had to fight, to survive, to claim the flower without losing his life… or his soul.