The wind pulled at his coat.
Liam stood at the western ledge of Skyhold, the ruins behind him silent now, their secrets bled dry beneath the weight of his claim. Below, the sands had shifted. What had once been scorched desert now gave way to something darker... storm-stained ridges and cracked earth split by veins of flickering light.
Zone 17.
Cradle of Storms.
> [System Alert]
Zone 17: Cradle of Storms
Zone Type: Tempest Rift / High-Aether Exposure
Threat Classification: Tier III
Bond Target: Detected – Unidentified
Warning: Hazard Surge Predicted in 22 Hours
Emotional Load: Unstable | Sync Drain: Moderate
Recommendation: Harem Resync Prior to Entry
The words flickered across his vision, but Liam didn't flinch. The air beyond Skyhold was different. Charged. Almost sentient. He could feel the aether shifting in gusts, prickling across his skin like breathless whispers.
Behind him, footsteps approached.
Naia arrived first.
She walked in silence, cloak trailing in the dust, her staff faintly glowing with residual heat from the sub-core. Her expression was unreadable, but her gaze lingered on him longer than usual. Not with want... but with question.
"You didn't sleep," she said softly.
"Couldn't," Liam replied.
Naia tilted her head. "It's the next zone. You feel it, don't you? The way it… watches?"
He nodded once.
"It's hungry," she murmured, almost to herself. "Whatever's in there, it doesn't just want to be found. It wants to be claimed."
He turned to face her. "And you're ready?"
Naia gave a faint smile. "Always. But I won't let you walk into a storm with a fraying bond chain. You're stretched thin, Liam. The wives feel it. So do I."
Before he could answer, she stepped closer, her hand brushing his chest. Not possessive. Not aggressive. But grounding.
"You don't have to burn alone just because you're the flame."
He didn't pull away.
But the storm called louder.
---
They gathered an hour later at Skyhold's outer gate.
The system had activated a new tether... a rift passage shimmering with purple and gold, woven into the edge of a broken canyon where the air buzzed with electricity. Veins of light shimmered between cracked stones, and distant thunder rolled through a sky that no longer followed natural rules.
Cradle of Storms pulsed on the horizon.
Only select wives stood ready this time. The others had rotated out by system mandate, though the resonance of their bonds still flickered in the back of Liam's thoughts like old dreams refusing to fade.
Kaelith was sharpening her blade at the edge of a shattered pillar, every motion precise. Her dark red sash danced in the wind, eyes half-lidded as if already reading the battlefield ahead.
Elyra stood near her, adjusting the grip of her bow. She didn't speak. She hadn't said much since the relic sync. But Liam could feel her attention. Focused. Expectant. Like a drawn arrow.
Naia stood closest to him, always the watcher beneath her healer's skin. She didn't press. But he knew she felt the pressure mounting in every step.
Rena wasn't among them.
Neither was Ice Queen.
Not today.
The system had chosen the forward unit based on sync stability and resonance tier. He would be rotating again soon.
> [System Alert]
Cradle Threshold Ready
Sync Signature Required – Leader Only
Deploying Tactical Bond Team (4):
– Naia
– Kaelith
– Elyra
– Aisha (In Transit)
> Emotional State: Tether Pressure High
Next Wife Sync Rotation: 6 Hours
Liam stepped toward the rift.
The air around it shimmered like heat haze, but it wasn't heat. It was static. Pressure. The kind of atmospheric charge that made bones ache before lightning struck.
Behind him, Kaelith rose, sheathing her blade with a smooth snap. "So we're walking into a thunderstorm made of system spite."
Liam didn't glance back. "Sounds like your kind of party."
Kaelith smirked. "Only if it bleeds."
Elyra approached, her voice low and calm. "I scouted the edges earlier. The zone isn't natural. There's no sun. Just shifting skies and wind that doesn't listen."
"Sounds like a trapfield without rules," Liam muttered.
"Exactly," she replied. "Which means we adapt. Or we lose."
Naia stepped beside him again, fingers brushing his wrist. She didn't speak, but her presence was like a calm pulse against the rising tide of tension.
And then the rift shimmered once more.
A fifth presence appeared.
Aisha.
She walked through the shimmering edge of the canyon as if it had never stopped her. Wind curled around her armored form, dark braids snapping behind her, twin blades strapped to her back.
"Late," Kaelith drawled.
"Busy," Aisha shot back. "Had to break up a beastkin dispute at the spire. Apparently, someone thought the relic was talking to them."
"Was it?" Liam asked.
Aisha shrugged. "Maybe. But it speaks louder here."
She turned toward the rift.
"So. We going in?"
Liam gave no command.
He simply walked forward.
The storm took him.
And the wives followed.
---
The zone changed immediately.
No transition. No warning.
They were simply there... inside a world built of lightning and broken skies. The terrain beneath them was blackened stone veined with silver, the air thick with pressure. Thunder echoed without origin. Lightning danced far above in jagged spirals, illuminating fragments of twisted ruins built into the cliffside.
> [System Update]
Zone 17 Entry Confirmed – Cradle of Storms
Current Status: Initial Exploration
Hazard Index: Elevated
Bond Target: Location Unknown
Environmental Effect: Static Bleed – +Aether | -Stamina
Combat Readiness: Passive | No Immediate Hostiles
Liam scanned the horizon.
To the north, a fractured bridge stretched across a chasm glowing with deep red mist. To the east, an archipelago of floating platforms hovered above a swirling vortex of wind. And straight ahead, the remnants of a tower lay half-buried in the rocks… its surface carved with jagged runes still flickering faintly.
Naia stepped beside him. "This place remembers pain."
Elyra shifted her bow into her hand. "Or it never forgot it."
Kaelith drew a dagger and spun it once. "Only one way to find out."
But Liam held up a hand.
"Not yet. We're not hunting… not until the system shows us what it's hiding."
His eyes flicked toward a nearby ridge.
Something shimmered there.
A figure.
Tall. Cloaked. Watching.
Then it vanished, swallowed by the next roll of thunder.
> [System Alert]
Unidentified Bond Signature: Tracked
Class: Unknown
Status: Observing
Interaction Chance: 41%
Emotion Reading: Wariness / Desire
The storm was listening.
And something inside it wanted him to follow.