The departure from Elle's shell chamber was smooth and uneventful. One moment, they were gathered within, face grim—except Huiron, who looked excited—with weapons held tightly in their arms, the next they were falling through the atmosphere to the earth below.

  Being Spirit lords, they couldn't simply dive into the planet straight from space. They weren't strong enough yet, so they waited for Elle to take them past the visibly shattered world barrier, safe from the intense energy storm and the freezing temperature whirling across its rims. Keilan could've sworn he sensed the presence of the wind at some point, but a second look told him otherwise. Was that even possible?

  Nevertheless, as they dove through the second layer, which tingled with sparks of charged lightning, his body relaxed as he felt the presence of air, though vanishingly small. It tingled his senses.

  He could have tampered with it, drawn it to do his bidding, but he stayed his hands. This far up, the air was so small it wouldn't accomplish much, and he didn't want to touch his essence yet.

  "Keilan," Vanis's voice reached his ears. "Your turn."

  Keilan nodded, even though he knew the Verrille lord couldn't see him. He drew in a breath, closed his eyes, and spread his senses out like a net, and then waited.

  As he fell into the planet, senses spread wide, Keilan couldn't help but marvel in awe at how much stronger he'd become. A few months ago, he'd been weak, restricted to only a few facets of the air— the common levels. Now, and he wasn't being pretentious, but he felt like he was walking the same halls as titans. Eating from a high meal course in contrast to the common gruel he'd been feasting on a couple of months ago.

  He could do so much more, influence the air in ways he wouldn't have dared before. The air came to him as one of their own, embracing him as one would do a precious child.

  As they dove into the third layer of the atmosphere, Keilan called to the others. "Alright, gather up." He said and then called to the wind.

  Unlike the other layers of the atmosphere, the wind here was wild, untamed. They blew whichever way they wanted, disregarding the wills of whatever being rode that layer. Keilan felt them, their voices a roar in his ears. They clamored for destruction, to scatter everything, for freedom. This was the truest form of the wind.

  Keilan pacified them.

  He would have liked to believe the majority of the deed came from him and him alone, but deep down he knew that the influence that calmed the wind, that tamed it, came from the thing swirling within his soul. He could feel it responding to his will, acting as a medium between him and the ambient wind.

  Unlike what most people thought, the air was a semi-sentient force. It wasn't completely alive, couldn't speak like other people could, but it had a will—feelings, in its own weird way, and could convey its words in its own way. Keilan didn't know how it worked but he knew that after he'd taken in the fragment, he'd begun hearing the wind clearly, slowly becoming adept at parsing out its unworded thoughts. That was why he called the others to gather around him.

  He left the war titans that fell behind him to do so on their own powers—they'd survive. Nalon and the other Spirit King bonded creatures likewise.

  Keilan focused his will around the Spirit lords—dozens of them—wrapping his will around the area as they drew closer. And then he instructed the wind to calm around them, to give them an unchallenged entry.

  An invisible tunnel opened for them right in the middle of the violent wind. Keilan felt like an ordinary human walking through the middle of a raging inferno. He knew the wind could have snuffed him out if it truly wanted, slapped him out of the sky if it was being lenient. But instead it didn't. Keilan chuckled as the wind whispered to him, regaling him with different tales, slanderous stories about the people that lived below. He heard secrets that had been thought buried, scandalous words and deeds that had been said and spoken by the rulers of this world.

  The wind fought itself to spill secrets to him, dozens of different chaotic whispers fighting to be the first into his ears. Keilan had to grimace and convey his discomfort before the whispers reduced, leaving behind an apology as many of the voices turned their attention elsewhere. The few that stayed continued their gist, regaling him with random stories, regardless of importance, until at one point a voice reached the part where the world had been attacked.

  Keilan's mood changed when he heard how the Aveanii had arrived in the system, jumping in without any warning whatsoever.

  One thing he noticed about the wind was that it was an unbiased storyteller. There was no fabrication, no addition or subtraction. No exaggeration. It simply gave him the details as they had occurred, straight and vivid.

  The Aveanii had jumped into the system, hundreds of pinpricks of light the only warning heralding their arrival into the system. The world defenders had barely raised up a defense before the Aveanii ships opened fire, blasting bright rays of energy straight into the planetary shield.

  The assault had lasted continuously for minutes, and it looked like the awakened World Spirit could have held for much longer than that without problem, until a new presence had stepped forth.

  This Aveanii exuded power heavy enough to make the World barrier flare with power, an effect that none of the previous attacks had so much as come close to causing. Its aura had burned like a sun to the sunless system.

  The World Spirit, understandably, had shifted quickly from a defensive stance to a straight assault. Its Sentinels—titanic creatures—had risen into the sky, accompanied by the few Spirit Kings that called this planet home.

  It had all been for naught. The Aveanii had simply punched down, their powerful gauntleted arms trailing sparks of annihilating energy. The World Barrier had exploded, the shockwaves from its explosion carrying enough energy that the mere word of it sent tremors down Keilan's body.

  That explosion would have sunk continents and probably vaporized more than a third of the world population had the Spirit Kings not stemmed it. Still, its shadow had reduced cities to rubble and killed millions.

  The wind must have sensed his mood because they stopped, the remainder that had stayed with him retreating off to other things. Keilan's face had turned grim, and deep within he burned with wrath.

  These people had done nothing to the birds. They'd simply been attacked because every person killed here was another that Lese couldn't call on.

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  Keilan wanted to rage and kill every Aveanii that came in sight, but he calmed himself.

  "Keilan, what is it?" Vanis said.

  "Yeah, what's up?" Huiron joined in. "Your emotions's all over the place. Whatever it is, I swear I'm innocent!"

  A shadow of a smile touched Keilan's lips and he breathed in. "It's, it's... Never mind, I don't think I can speak about it at the moment."

  The silence for a few seconds. "It's alright," Sareina finally said, her voice a soothing whisper to his ears. "Take whatever time you want. We'll always be here whenever you're ready."

  A sharp pain ripped through Keilan's heart and his mood fell further. Of course, he knew what they thought; that he was thinking of his missing brother again, that he was refusing to accept the truth that Damien was dead and likely a skin suit for some Mind Demon somewhere.

  He'd been told countless times how he kept hurting himself by holding on to false hope. Damien was dead, they said. Accept it, they said. Move on, they said. You'll get your revenge someday, he'd been promised.

  The hope that his brother was still alive would have been easier to hold up had Gray been present. But no, the Minder had vanished a week after Damien's body had failed to turn up. He returned sometimes, mostly to drop cryptic comments or simply to brood, after which he'd disappear again, never to be seen for weeks.

  Keilan took a deep breath, pressing a firm hold on his emotions. He opened his mouth to speak and was startled when a strange voice reached his ears.

  "Child of the wind."

  It was with great expertise that Keilan didn't lose concentration and fall out of the air. As it was, he was extremely startled.

  "What?" His eyes flickered around until he spotted the gray figure diving down beside him.

  Ever since Damien's disappearance, Gray had changed. Once jovial, the construct was now gloomy, drifting around listlessly with a silent air of despair.

  Gray had not been blessed with all the same comfort Keilan had gotten. He'd chosen to wander around, from place to place, manually searching for his brother.

  Merak, whom Keilan had expected to see more often considering who was missing, was nowhere to be found. Their last meeting, a quarter year ago, at the dusk of the invasion on the Verrille's home world, was the last he'd seen or heard from the Ascendant.

  "Nice to see you, Gray, again" Keilan said. "How, how have you been? Are you alright? Two times in a row? Are you finally back?"

  Gray ignored his greeting. "Be careful. All is not as it seems. Evil lurks around."

  "What do you mean?" Keilan asked, but the gray figuring was already vanishing, like he'd done the last half dozen times. "Gray, you can't just say something this cryptic and then vanish! Gray?! Gray!"

  But he'd already gone.

  Keilan cursed, spitting out expletives directed at no one in particular. The air rippled and the chaos from outside slipped into the bubble of peace he'd created.

  "Err, Keilan? I swear on Vanis's love life, I didn't do anything!"

  "Wait, what?"

  Keilan sighed. "I think we have a problem."

  "Yes, I believe so too. Vanis, go fix your love life!"

  "Why am I suddenly the one being attacked? I don't see any of you in relationships."

  "That's because you haven't looked. Sareina here is in hoots with the Teralin heir!"

  "What?!" Keilan, Vanis, and whoever was tapping into their communication line echoed.

  "That's enough, we should get back to business. Keilan dear, you were saying?"

  "Yeahh, deflect all you want, Sar" Huiron snickered, "anything to shift away prying eyes from your deviousness. Imagine dating someone just to secure free access to their luxury services." He tutted, "And here I thought Vanis had a fucked up love life."

  A sigh, "And we're back to me."

  "How did you find out? Wyol and I have kept our relationship private right from its beginning. Hell, we've barely been on the same planet since we started dating."

  Keilan could Sense the smugness in Huiron's voice. "I have eyes."

  "You two should cut it out, we're getting sidetracked. Keilan, what were you about to say?"

  Fortunately, the others whined down, and Keilan took that opportunity. "A thought just crossed my mind. The force the Aveanii have right now is frankly incapable of cracking the World barrier, talk less of shattering it to such an extent..."

  Huiron caught on. "If they didn't, then what did?"

  "They might have a WorldShip?" Sareina hedged.

  "A WorldShip is overkill. That's like bringing a Divine King to a battle of Monarchs. No, it's something else, something lesser."

  "Yeah," Huiron agreed. "Besides, a WorldShip entering Lese space would have set up all sorts of alarms across the systems. Granny duchess would have responded."

  "So it can't be that, and it can't be an Ascendant—the whole world would be dead by now—which leaves a Divine King."

  "That's more probable, but even that would be overkill here." Vanis said. "We need to let Solis know."

  It was a few seconds before Solis was able to respond, and by that time they'd already crossed the third layer and into the fourth. The air pressure dropped and their speed increased significantly, the wind howling into their ears as they built up speed. Keilan's skin tingled with energy as prepared for battle. Already he could see the war happening below, powers being exchanged over dead cities and burnt skies.

  On one side he caught the forms of warriors in combat robes bearing the insignia of Lese as well as their personal houses. They were much, by no small amount, yet they paled in comparison to the endless swarms of bird men that crashed against their cordon, a line which was visibly buckling, looking increasingly on the verge of breaking.

  Nalon and the other Spirit King warders moved forward, extending their powers to deflect the stray Spirit King energies flashing through the air.

  There was a crackle, and noise reached Keilan's ears. "Vanis, you know I'm leading a battle, right? What do you want?"

  Keilan rolled his eyes but left Vanis to respond. "We want you to run a scan across the entire system."

  "...hold on," and Keilan got the feeling he'd turned his attention elsewhere. "Dread Two, a squad of Spirit Kings are moving to flank you, be aware. Dread Three and Four, foil those rats I see sneaking towards the Shuttles." He came back. "Alright, why? And you better have a good reason. A system sweep will take a good chunk of my eyes from our immediate surroundings, which will be fatal."

  "Huh?" Huiron said. "Don't you have Four Dreadships? Task one of them to do the sweep and leave the other ones to manage the battle. Simple."

  A sigh. "Huiron, were you dropped on the head as a child?—No don't answer that, it's apparent that you were." He sighed again. "To explain this so that your caved-in in brain can understand. Each Dreadship has a couple hundred ships united to it, a mother and child kind of bond. Right now, all my eyes are—while not strained—heavily tasked with guiding those ships through the battle. A momentary mistake could see me lose a dozen ships. You understand that now, air head?"

  Huiron grumbled but said nothing, and Solis turned his attention back to his brother.

  "Vanis, you haven't answered my question. Why?"

  "Keilan—" he paused, "we, believe that the Aveanii may be hiding a Divine King."

  "No shit, they're hiding a thousand."

  "Don't be obtuse, Sol, it's beneath you." And Keilan imagined the look of exasperation on his face. "No, we believe there's a Divine King hiding in the system. An Aveanii Divine King."

  Solis paused and instantly the noise in his background all but vanished. "Explain."

  And so Vanis did, which Keilan was happy to leave him to. If he'd been the one doing it, he'd likely have been met with mockery and ridicule. Keilan was not in the mood to clash heads with the Verrille scion.

  When Vanis was done, Solis took a deep audible breath. "This is serious, Van. But I just can't take the eyes on the Ship away from the battlefield, at least not instantly. Give me time, and don't make any big waves. We don't want to spook whatever is hiding."

  "Our presence here alone will cause big waves, Solis," Sareina said. "Whatever monster they have hiding around will not let such an opportunity pass. Imagine capturing the direct scions of the three high houses? Let's hope you discover whatever is hiding before they make themselves known."

  Solis said his goodbyes and cut the connection off, while Keilan and the others turned their attention down to the ground, which was rising increasingly fast.

  The wind seemed to sense the brewing anger within Keilan, and so began gathering around him, swirling up into a rumbling storm that spanned leagues.

  Tongues of crimson lightning flickered here and there, and golden flames swallowed the sky.

  From the edges of the storm came a great maw of darkness, so wide it threatened to swallow the whole region.

  Together, they brought cataclysm down on the sea of Aveanii massing below.