The storm was a towering vortex of white frost and celestial energy, ravaging everything it touched. Boulders were lifted into the sky, and the snow on the ground was whipped into a frenzy so thick it blinded the drivers. Inside the first carriage, Sylaris tried to poke her small head outside the window to watch the flashing lights, but Iruna grabbed her by the shoulders, pressing her head back inside the carriage.
"Stay still, Sylaris, Keep your head down, it's dangerous" Iruna commanded, her voice trembling as she held the child close.
Thalassa looked out at the swirling vortex, her face pale with a horror she had never felt on any battlefield.
"What the hell is happening? This isn't a normal winter storm, The atmospheric pressure is shattering the glass"
Harun watched the trees twirling like leaves in the funnel of the wind, his breath hitching. "It's far from a winter storm.. it's His Highness."
Inside the second carriage, Zaliyah was in a trance. He stood stiffly on the seat, his eyes wide but unseeing, his body acting as the conduit for a magical pressure that was slowly crushing the carriage from the outside.
"Zaliyah, Zaliyah!, what are you doing? Stop this!" Xulthas shouted, his own dark magic flaring to protect himself from the pressure. He reached out, grabbing Zaliyah's slender wrist, pulling at him multiple times to shake him out of the fugue state. But Zaliyah didn't wake up. He was trapped within the trauma Malachi had inflicted on him, his core was bleeding energy into the sky.
Xulthas glanced out the window. The eye of the storm was approaching their specific carriage. The force of the wind was slowly tilting the carriage, the wheels lifting off the road.
"Shit," Xulthas muttered. He looked at the catatonic Zaliyah, then out at the swirling destruction. He didn't know whether to abandon Zaliyah im the carriage or go out to try to stop the storm.
Gritting his teeth, Xulthas kicked the carriage door open and jumped out into the raging tempest. The wind nearly threw him off the cliffside, but he dug his boots into the ice. Raising his hands, he used two fingers to slash through the air, drawing a huge, glowing green runes of suppression.
He shot the runes directly into the heart of the vortex, trying to disperse the energy.
Nothing happened. The elfen magic swallowed his spells whole. He tried three different, higher-level ancient runes, his hands shaking from the strain, but the storm only grew wilder, the uprooted trees spinning closer.
Recognizing he couldn't break the spell from the outside, Xulthas quickly spun around and cast a massive dome-like protective rune around the two carriages to keep them from being ripped into the sky.
When he turned back toward the storm, he found Thalassa and Harun already standing beside him in the freezing wind, their armor claking against the gale. Both of them had their fingers pointed directly at the tempest, their faces strained as columns of raw demon energy flowed from their bodies, connecting with Xulthas's barrier. They were using every ounce of their combined magic just to hold the vortex in place, trying desperately to isolate the destruction before it flattened the city below.
"Xulthas!" Thalassa yelled over the roaring wind, her muscles trembling under the pressure. "Go, We can't hold this containment for long, Try to wake him up from the inside"
Xulthas didn't hesitate. He turned and rushed back inside the tilting carriage, slamming the door behind him against the wind. He scrambled across the floor and grabbed Zaliyah's cold, slender hand.
"I'm sorry," Xulthas spoke quickly, his voice filled with sincerity. "I shouldn't have said it"
Zaliyah didn't move. The white light radiating from his hair was beginning to singe the velvet of the seats.
Xulthas softened his grip, his expression shifting into something desperate. He leaned in close, his voice dropping into a soft, pleading tone he had never used with anyone in his long, brutal life. "I'm sorry... Zaliyah. Please, wake up. Look at me."
Outside, Thalassa's voice cut through the metal panels, filled with panic. "Xulthas! We can't hold it any longer Hurry the fuck up!"
"Please wake up... please wake up, Zaliyah," Xulthas muttered, his fingers tightening around Zaliyah's hand. "Think about your daughter. Think about Sylaris."
The word Sylaris acted like a physical shock to Zaliyah's system.
The vacant, blinding light in his purple eyes flickered. His pale lips parted, a weak, breathless sound escaping his throat. "Sy... Sy... Sylaris..."
In an instant, the spell snapped. Zaliyah's glowing hair went dim, returning to its normal, soft silver texture. The massive reservoir of energy vanished from the air, and his body completely went limp. Before he could fall forward and hit the hard wooden floor of the carriage, Xulthas extended his arms, catching the slender man against his chest, holding him securely.
Outside, the change was instantaneous. The roaring wind died into a complete, eerie silence.
Thalassa staggered back, wiping a thick layer of sweat and melted snow from her forehead, while Harun let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief, dropping his hands to his sides.
They looked up at the sky. The colossal vortex had completely vanished, leaving behind a clear, freezing blue afternoon as if it had never been there at all. The only evidence of the trauma was the distant, heavy thud of the uprooted trees crashing back down into the valleys below.
Inside the carriage, Xulthas sat quietly on the bench, the unconscious Zaliyah cradled gently in his arms. He reached up, his dark glove tracing the curve of Zaliyah's pale cheek, wiping away the cold sweat that lined his brow.
"I'm sorry," Xulthas muttered to the silence of the carriage, his voice resonated with regrets.
A few minutes later, the door of the leading carriage creaked open, and Harun and Thalassa stepped inside to check on the Iruna and the child.
"That was... terrifying," Harun muttered, his voice still shaken as he adjusted his armor.
Sylaris, who was sitting comfortably on Iruna's lap, let out a loud, disappointed sigh. She slumped against her auntie's chest, her small shoulders dropping. "The fun lights are gone," she grumbled, upset that the show was over.
Thalassa leaned against the wall, her golden eyes wide as she stared back down the road. "I didn't even know he possessed that kind of destructive power. That wasn't normal magic. That was a natural disaster."
"I am not sure even he was aware of what he could do," Harun added softly, his mind racing through the implications of Zaliyah's awakening core.
Iruna adjusted the blankets around Sylaris, her eyes fixed on the carriage behind them with deep worry. For her, Zaliyah's physical health and emotional state came before any political or magical revelations.
"What could the Commander possibly have said or done to make him that angry? I just hope he is okay..." Iruna added
Sylaris remained quiet, her small fingers twirling a strand of Iruna's brown hair. She didn't understand the frightened tone of the grown-up conversation, she only knew the storm had been pretty, and now it was gone.
When the carriages finally passed through the grand gates of the fortress, the courtyard was silent. Thalassa was the first to step down, extending a hand to help Iruna as she carried the fat child down the carriage steps.
The three of them, Thalassa, Iruna, and Harun stood still in the snow, their gazes fixed on the second carriage.
The door opened, and Xulthas stepped down into the slush. In his arms, he held Zaliyah, whose head was lolled back against the Commander's shoulder, his silver hair spilling over Xulthas's dark furs, his face deathly pale and unconscious.
Sylaris blinked, her blue eyes widening in confusion as she reached out a small hand toward them. "Dada?"
Xulthas paused for a moment, bending his head down slightly so the child could see her father's face.
Sylaris extended her chubby fingers, gently touching Zaliyah's cold cheek. tears began to swell up in the corners of her round eyes, her lips trembling. "What... what happened to my dad? Did he... did he die?"
Iruna's heart broke at the sight. She quickly brought the child's teary face close to her own, caressing her pale cheek with a tender hand. "Your dada isn't dead, little warrior," she whispered soothingly. "He is just very, very tired. He's just asleep."
Sylaris sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve as she repeated the word. "Asleep?"
Harun nodded his head , offering her a warm, reassuring smile. "Yes, little warrior He just needs to rest after such a long day."
Thalassa stepped in, intentionally cutting through the emotional scene that greeted her eyes , she wanted to avoid anything that would make the child start crying in earnest.
She reached out and patted Sylaris's head, pulling the group toward the castle entrance. "Come on... let's go inside. Warriors don't cry , if you're good girl, I'll go get you those special honey cakes you like from the kitchen."
The word cakes worked like magic. Sylaris's tears vanished instantly, and she let out a loud, happy cheer. "YAY! Cakes"
She was giggling and kicking her legs again as Iruna carried her through the doors of the castle, her childish mood completely resetting.
Xulthas followed them at a slower pace, his boots thudding on the stone stairs. He carried Zaliyah to his bed chambers. Moving with an uncharacteristic gentleness, he laid Zaliyah down onto the bed, arranging the furs around his slender frame.
Xulthas sat down on the edge of the bed, looking down at the silent, beautiful man. He reached out and grabbed Zaliyah's hand, gently patting the pale skin, his voice nothing more than a whisper in the quiet room.
"I'm sorry."
Zaliyah had always possessed a short, temper under his elegant facade, but he was inherently a calm, reserved person who preferred strategy over mindless violence. But the hatred he carried for Malachi ran so terrifyingly deep within his soul that simply being compared to the monster was enough to awaken a tempest that could tear the world apart.