The wind over Skyhold had changed.
Liam stood at the edge of the western overlook, watching the storm writhe on the horizon. Black clouds churned like smoke caught in a vortex, laced with veins of white lightning. The air pulsed with distant thunder, but it wasn't natural. No rain followed. No breeze reached them.
The storm wasn't coming.
It was waiting.
Zone 17: Cradle of Storms.
> [System Update]
Zone 17: Cradle of Storms
Threat Level: Severe – Atmospheric Distortion Detected
Zone Type: Elemental Hazard / Entity-Controlled
Bond Target Signature: Obscured
Entry Status: Available – Immediate Deployment Possible
Warning: Bond Sync Must Remain Above 85% To Survive Prolonged Exposure
Kaelith appeared at his side, still half-armored from the night before. Her eyes locked on the stormfront, but her voice stayed with him.
"You sure you're ready for that? Doesn't look like it wants company."
Liam's gaze narrowed. "It doesn't have a choice."
Behind them, his wives assembled in silence. Not all. Just five.
Rena, Naia, Elyra, Kaelith, and the Ice Queen.
The ones chosen for this expedition.
Naia approached first, her cloak fluttering in the dry wind, staff glowing faintly with healing runes. "I prepped storm stabilizers. They'll hold… for a little while. But if that zone spikes the way Skyhold did, I won't be able to shield everyone."
Elyra ran her fingers along her bowstring. "We won't need long. We get in, identify the bond target, and move fast. You can feel it, can't you?"
Liam nodded slowly. "Something's pulling from inside the storm. It's not a creature. It's... old. Like it's been there waiting since the collapse began."
> [System Notice]
Bond Pulse Detected
Compatible Entity Signature – Intermittent
Warning: Target Afflicted by Storm Core Fragmentation
Rena stepped forward, expression serious. "Another corrupted one?"
Kaelith clicked her tongue. "Then let's hope she's not as broken as Markus's hound."
The Ice Queen said nothing. Her silence, as always, spoke loudest.
She walked to Liam and raised a hand toward his chest. Not a gesture of affection, but of icebound intuition.
"Storm energy gathers around your core," she said. "The moment you enter the Cradle, it will react to your command. Or tear you apart."
Liam reached for her wrist and gently pulled it down.
"Then we make it obey."
---
They moved.
The gates of Skyhold opened for the first time since the relic was claimed, leading them westward across the shattered dunes. The heat bled away quickly, replaced by static in the air, and the dull thrum of pressure building with every step. As they approached the storm's edge, the wind stopped entirely. No movement. No sound. Just a hum that vibrated in their bones.
Naia laid the first stabilizer beacon in the dust. It flared to life with a pulse of blue light.
> [System Beacon Active – Atmospheric Barrier Stabilized 47%]
"We've got five minutes before it burns out," Naia warned. "After that, we're inside the storm, whether we want to be or not."
Elyra moved ahead, eyes sharp. "Movement. One figure. No threat posture yet."
They advanced through the storm wall.
The moment they stepped inside, everything changed.
Sound vanished. The sky turned violet. Shards of wind spun in impossible spirals above their heads, flickering with fragmented light.
And waiting for them, at the heart of the storm's calm eye...
A woman.
She stood barefoot on cracked glass-like stone, her body wrapped in a torn cloak of storm-thread fabric. Her hair whipped around her, but she didn't move. She watched them. Unblinking. Waiting.
Liam approached carefully.
> [System Alert]
Bond Target Detected: Stormcaller – Unknown Class (Hybrid)
Status: Temporarily Lucid
Warning: Storm Core Instability – Time Limit Unknown
Bond Opportunity: Limited Window
The woman's voice was soft but carried through the storm as if whispered into Liam's ear.
"You wear the storm like armor… but you don't belong here."
He didn't stop. "Neither do you. But that can change."
Her head tilted. Lightning arced behind her, striking the ground.
"You're not the first to try. The others were... torn apart. This place devours lies. So tell me, Overlord... what do you want?"
He stopped just short of her. "I want you to survive this. And if that means claiming you, I will."
The woman's breath hitched.
Not from surprise.
But from the bond beginning to stir.
> [System Update]
Bond Sync Initiating… Compatibility: 64%
Condition: Emotional Provocation / Dominance Required
Kaelith's voice called out from behind him. "She's testing you."
Elyra nodded, drawing an arrow. "That instability's rising fast. If she loses control—"
Liam turned back to the Stormcaller.
"I don't want to fight you. But I will."
She stepped forward. "Good. Because I've already started."
The sky shattered.
And lightning fell like rain.
---
The air inside the Cradle turned electric.
Every breath Liam took was laced with static, every step across the storm-worn stone charged with pressure. The sky hadn't cleared... if anything, the clouds grew lower, circling the mountaintop like vultures made of lightning.
Behind him, Rena drew her blade without a word. Kaelithra scanned the cliffs. Naia stood still, lips parted slightly as if listening to something Liam couldn't hear.
"Do you feel that?" she whispered.
He nodded.
The woman in blue still hadn't moved.
She stood with her arms raised to the dark sky, her white-silver hair whipping around her like a banner. Lightning sparked between her fingertips, not summoned... coaxed.
> [System Notice] Unbonded Entity Detected: Name – Unknown Designation: Stormcaller Class – Warlord/Summoner Hybrid Affinity – Elemental Storm / Dominance Threat Rating: SSS
"Stormcaller," Liam muttered, the word tasting like prophecy.
Kaelith stepped beside him, eyes narrow. "This isn't a normal trial. She's not waiting for you."
Rena moved forward. "Then we make her notice us."
"No," Liam said. "She already does."
The woman turned.
Her eyes glowed pale blue... stormlight incarnate.
"I know who you are, Overlord," she said, voice neither welcoming nor hostile. Just… true. "You stir the world with your touch. And now you've come to stir me."
"I'm not here to take anything you don't offer," Liam said, stepping forward.
She tilted her head. "I've offered nothing. And yet you stepped into my storm."
Thunder cracked overhead, louder than before.
"Why?" she asked.
Liam didn't hesitate. "Because I need strength. And I don't want it alone."
She stepped down from her perch, barefoot on stone, skin glowing faintly with inner light.
"You want my bond?" she asked.
He nodded once.
"Then you must stand with me. In the eye."
A flash of light, a roar of wind, and the platform shattered beneath her feet. She fell, or dived, into the abyss... vanishing into a spiral of howling clouds below.
The system chimed.
> [System Challenge Initiated] Trial of the Eye – Commenced Trial Rules: All Participants Must Survive Entering Storm Core Zone Objective: Claim the Stormcaller OR Fall
"She's testing us," Naia said, voice steady.
"She's calling us," Kaelithra growled, excitement gleaming in her eyes.
Rena looked at Liam. "What's the plan?"
He didn't flinch. "We jump."
And he did.
Without another word, Liam stepped off the broken edge and vanished into the storm.
One by one, his wives followed.
---
The descent wasn't falling. It was being swallowed.
Liam passed through thunder, heat, wind... then light.
He landed hard on a glowing platform, surrounded by spirals of torn clouds. Above and below, storm-light twisted in impossible arcs. At the center of the cyclone was a second platform, and on it, she waited.
The Stormcaller.
Clothed in a high-slit robe of charged silk, her body was taut with control. Her power didn't pulse like Elyra's charm or Kaelith's speed. It shivered, barely held in check.
"You stepped in," she said, as the others landed behind him. "Then stand with me. If you survive my storm... I may listen."
She raised both hands.
Lightning erupted from the sky, and the trial began.
> [Combat Sync: Engaged] Wives Deployed: 5 Bond Boost: +20% Overlord Buff: Stormstride Active
Enemies emerged from the walls of the storm... elemental beasts, wind-shaped creatures, armored monstrosities wreathed in electric coils.
Kaelithra shot forward, blades gleaming with fury. "I've been waiting to cut loose!"
Naia dropped low, sigils glowing along her skin. "Healing web's up!"
Sylvara leapt from platform to platform, her cloak sparking. "Let's dance, stormborn."
Rena stayed near Liam, sword drawn, dual guard active. "You're not falling here. Not now."
And Kaelith...
Kaelith disappeared, only to reappear behind the first beast, driving a blade through its eye with silent precision.
Liam's blade came alive in his hand, pulsing with the storm's rhythm. He didn't wait for more to come.
He met the storm.
---
Minutes passed like heartbeats. Or hours. There was no time in the storm.
Only heat. Motion. Power.
And her.
She watched them from the center. Testing. Waiting.
Finally, as Liam drove his blade through the last of the storm-forged beasts, she walked forward.
Unarmed.
Unshielded.
Unflinching.
"You are not what I expected," she said softly.
"Neither are you," Liam replied, his chest heaving.
Their eyes met.
Lightning struck the ground between them, not as threat... but summons.
"You want my bond?" she asked again.
He nodded.
"Then take it. But know this... my loyalty is not given. It's won. Not by strength. Not by promises."
She stepped closer.
"But by submission."
> [Bond Trial Initiated] Dominance Path Chosen Bond Class: Stormcaller – High Resistance Emotional Trial – Active Physical Tension – Escalating Threshold
The wind stilled.
Her body pressed close.
Liam felt her heat, her power, her storm... but she was not demanding. She was waiting.
Waiting to be claimed.
Rena tensed behind him.
Kaelithra's breath hitched.
Even the system paused.
He reached for the Stormcaller... not roughly, not gently, but with the weight of everything he was.
And she closed her eyes.
Letting it happen.
> [Trial Status] Bond Acceptance: 73% Emotional Sync: RISING Wife Status: UNCLAIMED – NEAR THRESHOLD
The storm spiraled tighter.
Tomorrow, the Cradle might collapse.
But tonight, she was his to earn.
And the storm wanted more.