Page 368 of Elemental Becoming

Flames consume what they can reach.

And rising from the center of the shattered courtyard is a hulking, monstrous silhouette.

A Gorganthe.

My heart stutters, fear flashing through the bond with Calryx.

I know that shape. I’ve faced one before. Or at least, it felt that way.

Valen conjured one during the training trials, an illusion built from shadow and memory, designed to test my fear. I fought it and came away feeling as though I had barely survived.

But that creature wasn’t real. This one is.

The Gorganthe moves like a living nightmare, stone-skinned and wrapped in shadow, its eyes burning with unnatural light. Every step crushes bodies and battlements beneath its feet. Its roar rattles the walls of the keep.

“Calryx—”

“I see it.”

The formation drops lower, slicing through the wind with precision, wings casting vast shadows across the fields below. The battlefield sharpens into focus—the shattered walls of Greythorne Keep, the chaos of fire and blood, the roar of dragons filling the air.

Then everything changes.

A fog rolls in.

Fast enough to raise every instinct I have.

It swallows the edges of the battlefield like a living thing, curling upward from the ruined southern gate, creeping along the ridge line, and spilling into the sky around us. At first it looks like smoke, but there is something wrong about it.

The temperature drops. The cold strikes with the force of winter, sharp and bone-deep.

Calryx growls beneath her breath. “This isn’t right.”

“Thane,”I say through the bond, eyes straining against the gray.“This isn’t normal fog. It’s shadow magics.”

To my right, I feel him more than see him. Xaroth’s vast wings slow just enough to hold position, and Thane’s presence sharpens through the bond.

“Yes.”His certainty is immediate.“There must be a commander on the ground. Maybe more.”

A beat passes.

“Amara, can you clear it?”

I reach for the air around us. The fog clings like wet cloth, heavy and unnatural. This feels suffocating.

But I have to try.

“I think I can.”

My eyes drift closed, trusting Calryx to see for both of us.

Focus.

Valen’s voice whispers in memory.

The Element is already there. You don’t force it. You invite it.

I draw in a measured breath and still my mind.