Page 381 of Elemental Becoming

We pivot and circle until we are back to back. The ring tightens around us as magics lash and blades clash.

Thane spins, his sword blazing with fire as he slices clean through one creature while his free hand ignites a wall of flame that scorches two more.

Another Fellborn leaps at me from the side. I duck and roll low beneath it, then rise with a blade in one hand and magics in the other. I drive my sword up into its ribs as my free hand releases a compressed blast of air that shatters its chest like brittle glass.

We move as one, magics and steel, flame and wind working in perfect rhythm. Even in the chaos, I feel the bond between us. Not just the one etched in power, but the one shaped by silence, trust, and choice.

Strike for strike. Step for step.

No words pass between us. No glances. We’ve trained for this, drilling formation pair combat until it became second nature. At the outpost, I followed his lead. Now we move as equals.

He is a rhythm I know by heart. I shift left, blade raised, wind curling around the steel. Thane shifts right, his sword trailing fire as we cut through the last line of Fellborn. Every movement feels instinctive, shaped by repetition and forged through trust.

And in that moment, understanding settles over me.

I finally understand why the bond exists. Why it was given to us. Why the prophecy spoke of two.

It was never just about fate. It was about this. Standing side by side, fighting as one. Becoming something greater together than either of us could ever be alone.

We move as one because we trust each other. Because we love each other. And because nothing—not shadow, not prophecy, not even death—will break what we’ve built.

Above us, Calryx and Xaroth circle, roaring their challenge to the battlefield below and ready to incinerate anything that breaks the line.

One comes at me from behind. Thane’s sword drives through its back before I even have to turn.

Another lunges at him from the flank. I lift a hand and wrench it off the ground with a twist of water before hurling it into the others like a battering ram.

Together, we clear the final ring of defense.

Only the Commander remains.

He stands at the center of the battlefield, robes lifting with the force of his power. The ground beneath him trembles as darkenergy coils around his body and black lightning cracks through the air.

Even in the chaos, I feel the steadfast certainty of the dragon bond. Calryx circles overhead, and the connection between us deepens as her power answers mine.

Four shimmering streams of power unfurl from my wrists, each one pulsing with an Element. Fire. Water. Wind. Earth. They coil around my arms, weave around my blade, and answer every movement with a life of their own.

For a heartbeat, I think of Valen.

Of every lesson.

Every failure.

Every hour spent learning how to listen instead of force.

The prophecy was never about becoming one Element. It was always about becoming all of them. Together.

I launch forward.

Thane moves with me.

His blade lashes out in a sweep of fire as I spin beside him, the elemental currents extending outward in a cyclone of light. Wind tears through the battlefield. Fire scorches the earth. Water cuts like sharpened glass. Stone erupts beneath the Commander’s feet in jagged bursts.

The Commander raises both hands. Black lightning coils around his fingers. Then he unleashes it. Bolts tear through the chaos in every direction.

And one of them hits me.

Pain tears through my arm, searing from shoulder to wrist. I stagger in the middle of my strike, barely keeping hold of my blade as the Elemental streams flicker at the edges of my vision.