The stars above Cindrel's Reach flickered like dying coals as the group made camp on the city's outskirts. Mara sat apart from the others, her hands over her chest where the four shards now pulsed as one—hot, restless, and whispering louder with every breath.
Talon approached quietly. "You haven't slept."
Mara didn't look up. "I can't. It's louder now."
"The Heart?"
"It's showing me things. Not visions. Memories. From before even the First Flame." She finally glanced at him. "They're not mine."
Talon knelt. "What kind of memories?"
Mara's voice was low. "A city in the sky. Shattered by thunder. A war above the clouds."
Serai joined them, carrying a scroll she had dug up from the ruins. "I think I know where the next shard is."
She unrolled it. The map was charred, but the symbol at its center was unmistakable—an island floating above a storm, crowned in lightning.
> Aetherhold.
Tessara whistled low. "Skyborne city. The old Empire built it to house their relics. Said the gods struck it down when it reached too close to heaven."
"They say no one returns from it," Serai added. "It floats over the Endless Tempest, a storm that's never broken. You go up… and you don't come back down."
Mara traced the symbol with one finger. "Then we'll be the first."
---
Aetherhold: The Broken Sky
The next week was spent in preparation. The only way into Aetherhold was via the old sky anchors—massive arcane pylons that slung ships into the sky using stored ember and wind glyphs.
They found one half-buried in the cliffs of Kareth's Edge, its machinery rusted and unstable. With Serai's spellcraft and Talon's reckless engineering, they restored it enough to launch a small skiff.
"You sure about this?" Tessara asked as the engines groaned beneath them.
"No," Mara said. "But we don't have time for sure."
The skiff launched.
The wind screamed around them as they climbed. The world below fell away into fog and distance.
Then—they broke through the storm ceiling.
Above it, the skies were blue-gold and terrible. Floating there, majestic and broken, was Aetherhold—its towers jagged and tilted, suspended among cracks of lightning and clouds of molten air.
But the city wasn't dead.
Lights flickered inside the spires.
Shapes moved in the mist.
---
Landing Among Ruins
As the skiff touched down, the group stepped onto a platform of floating marble held aloft by ancient magic. The ground cracked beneath their steps, but it held.
Tessara muttered, "This place shouldn't still be flying."
"It's not flying," Mara whispered. "It's falling. Slowly. Dying on the edge of time."
They made their way through halls of gold-veined stone, past statues with wings carved from flame. Strange creatures watched them from rooftops—half-light, half-shadow. Not hostile. Not yet.
The Heart in Mara's chest flared.
> The fifth shard was near.
Then a voice echoed through the broken towers:
> "Flame-born, sky-marked… why do you seek the Shard of Judgment?"
A figure descended from the air—floating, robed in winds and lightning. Their eyes were storms.
An Aeonsworn.
A guardian of the sky city, long believed dead.
"You are not meant to ascend," it said. "The shards belong to no one. Not anymore."
"I didn't ask for them," Mara replied. "But they chose me."
The Aeonsworn raised a hand. Thunder cracked the sky.
"Then prove yourself."
---
The air split as storm magic poured into the ruins. Battle erupted—wind blades, shattered marble, deafening roars.
But Mara stood in the center of it all—calm.
She reached for the shard without fear.
And it came to her.
Lightning struck her heart.
The fifth shard merged.
Power surged through her—wild, chaotic, sky-touched. For a moment, her feet left the ground. Her hair whipped with wind not her own. She understood the sky's language.
The Aeonsworn knelt. "You carry judgment now. May it not burn the world."
---
As the group prepared to descend from Aetherhold, Mara stared across the cloud-choked horizon.
Five shards. Two remained.
But each one pulled her further from who she had been—and closer to what the Heart wanted her to become.
She wasn't sure which would win.
---