The wind had settled.
Where moments ago the forest echoed with the screams of steel and fury, now silence blanketed the clearing like snowfall after fire. The trees stood motionless. Not a single leaf stirred. The remnants of the battlefield were a memory burned into the dirt blood, broken weapons, torn armor, and a crater where the orc leader once stood.
Red remained still.
His blade hung at his side, tip gently touching the ground. His eyes weren't on the orc corpses, for there were none.
They were gone.
All of them.
Devoured.
Erased from existence by the storm that walked in human form.
Instead, Red's eyes were fixed on her.
Volette.
His sister stood at the heart of the ruined glade, radiant in her black and violet dragon armor. The early morning light filtered through the trees, gleaming off her pauldrons like soft amethyst fire. She turned slightly, the breeze catching the edges of her cloak, and raised a gloved hand.
"Tempestra," she said calmly, her voice crisp and low.
The wind dragon, still in her elegant human form, floated down gracefully from a hovering swirl of air, barefoot as always, her gossamer hair trailing like mist.
"Yes, my lady?" she asked, kneeling in the air like a dancer held aloft by unseen strings.
Volette: Gather them," she ordered, eyes narrowing.
Volette: Heal what you can. Don't use raw mana. Only stabilize. They'll need full treatment at the Ivory Arcanum."
"As you wish," Tempestra smiled.
She drifted through the glade like a breeze taking form. One by one, she approached the broken bodies of Red's companions.
First was Selena.
The young thief-turned-warrior lay half-conscious, her chest soaked with blood. Tempestra knelt beside her, pressed a hand to her wound, and whispered in the old tongue. A soft spiral of wind coiled around her body, weaving through muscle and bone, knitting flesh, but only just enough. The bleeding stopped. The gaping wound closed. Her breathing calmed.
Then Lio.
Crushed and bruised, face hidden beneath his shattered helmet. Tempestra snapped her fingers. A faint gale lifted his battered form off the ground and gently wrapped him in a sphere of air, like a child being cradled.
Next came Hina, her healer's robes torn and soaked red.
"She tried to protect them," Tempestra murmured. "How noble."
She placed a kiss on Hina's forehead, and a gust of wind enveloped her, lifting the pain and sealing the wound.
Rika and Yuzu were last, curled beside one another like sisters in sleep.
The wind swirled around them, lifting their fragile forms gently into the air. No pain now. No fear. Just stillness, and breath.
And then…
Tempestra floated back to Volette's side. Her arms opened wide, and all five rookies hovered in the air, bound in cushions of whispering wind.
"They're stable," she said. "But only just. If left like this… they'll live, but never walk the same."
Volette nodded once.
Volette: Then they will not remain like this.
She turned to Red, stepping toward him. Her violet eyes caught the morning sun, casting amethyst reflections across her pale cheeks.
Volette: Red," she said,
Volette: take them to the Ivory Arcanum.
Red blinked. "The Arcanum…?"
Volette: It's not far from here. Across the northeast ridge. The highstone building with the silver banners and crystal-tipped towers. They specialize in trauma far beyond what most healers can manage.
Red nodded slowly, processing.
Volette: Their Grandmaster Medic is a dwarf named Elbrid Thorncleave. He served in the Border Wars. Tell him they're from me. He'll understand.
Red's eyes lingered on Selena's pale face. "They'll be safe there?"
"Yes," Volette said softly. "If they're treated within the hour."
Red straightened. No hesitation. No pause.
Red: Then I'll run.
Tempestra chuckled from behind her mistress. "Of course you will. You always do."
Volette smiled faintly and extended her hand toward her dragon.
With a clap of her fingers, the wind solidified beneath Red's feet, and five cushions of air lowered his unconscious companions gently onto a floating platform of spiraling currents.
"They'll ride with you," Volette said.
Volette: The wind will bear their weight. You only need to guide it.
"Thank you," Red said, gripping the edge of the platform as he sheathed his blade.
He took a deep breath.
He had survived the night.
But only barely.
He looked up one last time at Volette, the sister who arrived like divine judgment, who scattered armies with a glance.
He was about to step onto the platform, when she called out gently:
Volette: Oh, and Red...
He turned, pausing mid-step.
Volette: If you see Blue…
Her voice grew softer, warm as sunlight after rain.
Volette: …tell him I miss him.
Red froze for a heartbeat.
Then nodded.
A quiet smile rose to his lips.
Red: I will.
For a moment, time hung still again.
The morning mist shimmered with gold.
And then, Volette turned away.
Tempestra rose beside her in a swirl of silk and gale, their shadows dancing long across the blood-stained earth.
The two walked into the forest, step by step, the dragon and her mistress, until they vanished into the wind.
And Red was alone again.
Alone, but no longer helpless.
The platform hummed under his feet.
The wind obeyed.
The wounded lay still, safe, for now.
And the road ahead, while long, had a direction again.
He would get them to the Ivory Arcanum.
He would not fail.
The dawn had come.
And with it, hope, carved in violet light.