Book One – Chapter 13

Another volley of massive ice shards rained down from the storm, their edges slicing into the beast’s back and wings. Though many shattered upon impact, sending plumes of ice crystals into the swirling winds, others bit deep, tearing through feathers and flesh, leaving ragged, bloody wounds. The force of the onslaught sent the beast crashing against the steep mountainside.

And now, the mountain came alive and fought, retaliating with icy tendrils that surged forth like the grasping fingers of a titan. They grasped at the beast, ensnaring and immobilising it, freezing its massive form against the slope.

Scrambling, the beast dropped the golem, the voltera, and the smaller avian beast, mere moments before its talons were captured and fully sealed by the encroaching ice. Dislodged, the golem and the smaller avian slid and tumbled down the steep incline, a brutal descent abruptly halted when they collided with protruding rocks. While the avian creature became lodged in an outcropping, its body splayed and trapped, the golem crashed all the way down to the Snowtrail below.

The voltera, with greater agility, found purchase halfway down, its claws biting into the cliffside a hundred metres above the trail. However, the shards that missed the grand avian now slammed into the mountainside, dislodging the very rocks and chunks of ice to which the voltera clung. He was trapped, confined to the icy slope with no cover or foothold to escape the continuing barrage assailing the grand avian beast. The encroaching ice ensnared both the voltera and the smaller avian creature. Scraping heedlessly along the cliffside, they froze.

Midnight’s senses flared as she observed the assault that unfolded before her. This was no natural storm — it was magic. Her darkness surged outward, coiling and unfurling past the bending light, weaving through the chaos, latching onto every fragment of movement and every ripple of sound in search of arcane signatures. She moved with purpose, ceaselessly evading the encroaching light while tracking the ice shards, tracing their destructive path back to their origin.