The wind had changed.
Where once it blew wild and angry, it now circled around me like a loyal beast—charged with lightning, yet calm beneath my command.
The Stormbearer's mark had not just awakened a power.
It had bound a promise.
> You are more than flame now.
You are storm-wrought.
And the Unwritten will fear you.
But there was no time for triumph.
Because the stars were moving again.
---
The Sandglass Cracks
Solin knelt before the new cylinder at Emberwatch's center.
Lines of script were appearing without hands to write them. Not in flame or shadow—but temporal echoes.
The cylinder read:
> Next Cycle: Time
Location: Fractured.
Bearer: Unknown.
Status: Foreseen.
Warning: "Do not seek what already knows your failure."
Kaela frowned. "Well that's not ominous."
Neriya stepped from the edge of shadow. "Time is cruel. It does not protect. It remembers."
I stepped closer.
"This Bearer knows us already."
