Night had fallen in a howl by the time Arin, Lireya, and Kalem reached the jagged ridge of Stormbreak Pass. The wind shrieked through the rocky spires like a living thing, tearing at cloaks and wrenching breath from their lungs. Stars were hidden behind rolling clouds, and the narrow path ahead was slick with rain.
Kalem's voice was a rumble against the gale. "Keep close. One wrong step, and you'll be swept into the chasm." He pressed his back against the stone wall, bow at the ready. Arin and Lireya mirrored his stance, both gripping the straps of their packs as the storm tested their balance.
Arin felt the fragment's pulse against his chest, a steady heartbeat in the chaos. He closed his eyes for a moment and drew in a measured breath. Wind and earth… wind and earth… He let the wind-core meet the gale, coaxing it into a protective spiral around their bodies. At the same time, he wove earth currents into the rocky ground beneath their feet, anchoring them like rooted trees in a tempest.
A deafening crack split the air as a section of the ridge fractured. Kalem shouted, and a fresh crevice snaked open at Arin's feet, revealing a pitch-black abyss. Lireya stumbled backward—too close to the edge.
"Hold steady!" Arin roared. He thrust his palm down, driving earth currents into the ridge. Stone erupted in a jagged barrier between Lireya and the void. Simultaneously, a ring of wind circled them, deflecting the worst of the driving rain.
Lireya's eyes were wide with awe. "You… you did that instinctively."
Arin didn't answer. The gale was intensifying, and he felt a tug at his senses—a faint fluttering at the edge of his wind-core. He opened his eyes to see a cloaked figure perched atop a crag some fifty paces away. Moonlight briefly broke through the clouds, illuminating the stranger's pale mask and burning crimson eyes before the clouds swallowed it again.
"Who's there?" Kalem bellowed, nocking an arrow.
The figure raised a hand in silent greeting and then vanished into the swirling mist. The wind carried a soft laugh—amused, mocking.
"An ambush?" Lireya muttered.
"More than that," Arin whispered. "They know we carry the fragment." His heart hammered. If enemies had followed them this far, the trial in the Atrium might have been a signal: the moment when Arin's mastery became public, marking him as both champion and target.
Kalem glanced down the pass. "We can't linger. The route ahead narrows even more, and that storm's going to barrel through."
Arin nodded. He refocused his dual currents: earth pushing the ridge's broken stones into a firmer path, wind smoothing sharp edges and carving handholds into the rock. Together, the reinforced ledge extended several strides ahead.
"Readjust your footing," he called to Lireya. "Follow me quickly!"
They sprinted along the newly forged ledge, wind gusting at their backs like invisible steeds. A sudden blast sent Kalem sprawling—but Lireya's gauntlet of stone rose in time, a shield that repelled the worst of the wind before Arin yanked Kalem upright with a surge of earth magic.
"Thanks," Kalem panted, gripping Arin's arm. "That could've been the end."
Arin forced a grin, even as thunder rolled overhead. "Just the beginning."
They pressed on until the pass funnelled into a narrow defile. Here, the roaring wind mustered into a final crescendo before it gave way to an eerie silence. In that pause, the clouds slid aside for a single moment, revealing the ridge's true summit: a lone monolith carved in the spiral motif of the First Binding.
Lightning split the sky, illuminating intricate runes etched into the stone. The same spiral Arin had seen in the indigo tome—only here it was vast, every inch alive with raw elemental power.
Arin approached, the fragment's pulse thrumming in resonance. His dual currents hummed against the monolith's energy, and he felt the echo of ages—the promise of the Binding that had once sealed the wyrm.
A fresh gust tore loose the lantern Kalem carried, sending it tumbling into the abyss. Arin caught his breath: no light, no margin for error. But before panic could set in, Lireya pressed the crystal vial of Althé's breath into his hand.
"Breathe," she urged. "Let her wind guide you."
Arin raised the vial to his lips and inhaled. The restored breath of the Second Wind flowed through him like liquid air. His wind-core blazed, weaving into Lireya's earth-core to cast a radiant glow on the monolith's runes. The spirals pulsed in reply, revealing a hidden panel at the base of the stone.
Kalem exhaled in wonder. "You've awakened it."
Arin placed a hand on the panel. It yielded under his touch, sliding inward to reveal a carved alcove—empty, save for the outline of a missing codex page.
His blood ran cold. The First Binding's ritual text was already here—and already taken.
From the defile behind them came the softest of footsteps. Arin turned—just in time to catch the gleam of steel as the cloaked figure stepped into the flickering light, dagger at the ready.
The storm's eye had passed. Now only the silence of destiny remained.
Arin drew his wind blade and felt the earth gauntlet tighten around his forearm. The moment had come—a clash of currents, of secrets, and of foes who would kill to shape the fate of the Dual-Core legacy.
And Arin would not be swept aside.