It happened during a tribute ceremony.
Hundreds gathered. Girls offered Ether. Elders brought relics. Kael stood atop the stage like a reluctant god.
That's when the explosion hit.
Flames tore through the left wing. Screams. Smoke. Blood.
Masked attackers in black poured in.
Not women.
Men.
Bondless, raw, fanatical.
They weren't part of the Male Order.
They were something worse.
Kael leapt down mid-fight, summoned his Ether—
And found it resisted.
He looked up.
One of the masked men smirked.
"We don't need to be bonded to be powerful anymore."
Then stabbed a bonded girl in front of him.