The forest narrowed, its branches heavy and roots clawing through the trail. Feyra padded close to Draven's side, blossoms trailing in her steps. Stonehide followed like living stone, the Thunder Raven circling above, violet sparks faint across its wings.
Mira slowed. Her hand brushed the bark of a tree.
"This mark… someone carved it. Scouts."
Draven touched it, and the Codex stirred in his mind:
"Eyes follow. Chains hunger."
He said only, "They're watching."
The ambush came without warning.
Dominion soldiers burst from the brush, iron collars dragging beasts with them. A hound foaming at the mouth lunged, two tusked swine thundered behind. Shackles bit into their hides as handlers whipped them forward.
"Take the Chainbreaker alive!" a soldier shouted.
Draven's lotus flared. Emerald runes shimmered into the air as his Servitors poured forth from the Codex: Goat stamping, Hound snarling, Mule bracing low, Ox charging, Pig bristles sharp, Birds scattering overhead.
Feyra leapt, blossoms exploding in flashes of light. Stonehide slammed into a soldier like a moving wall. The Thunder Raven screamed, sparks raining violet fire through the canopy.
Mira loosed arrow after arrow, her bowstring singing. A soldier fell clutching his throat, another beast shrieked as her shaft pierced its eye. But she stumbled back toward the treeline as another soldier and his shackled hound closed in.
Her hand shook as she drew. The arrow clattered against bark. Too close.
The soldier's blade lifted.
The forest split with a piercing cry.
From above, a falcon streaked down, silver flashing across its wings. Wind tore through the trees as it struck, hurling the soldier into the dirt. Mira's next arrow curved with the sudden gale, driving clean through the hound's skull.
The falcon wheeled once, scattering silver light, then perched high on a branch. Its gaze was sharp, fixed not on Draven — but on Mira.
Draven's halberd swung, lotus burning. He slammed it against a collar. Sparks raced green across the iron before it cracked, the shackle falling in pieces. The beast stumbled free and fled.
A Dominion soldier gasped. "His mark—he shattered the binding!"
Draven's voice thundered.
"You chain what was never yours. I break what you cannot hold."
The halberd swept wide, scattering men like leaves.
When silence fell, Mira lowered her bow, chest heaving. The falcon still perched above her, unblinking.
She turned to Draven. "Back there… when you struck the collar. I saw the light. That wasn't just your lotus mark. What was it?"
Draven hesitated, then answered steadily. "The Ruins left me with something. Not chains, not contracts. Something older. It heals, and it weakens shackles. That's what you saw."
Mira's voice was quiet, but firm. "And the falcon… why me? I'm not strong. I don't have whatever you carry."
Draven's gaze lingered on her before he spoke. "When that power surged, you were there. It touched you too. The falcon felt it. It wasn't looking for chains or marks — it was looking for freedom. And you've always given beasts that. That's why it's watching you now."
The Codex flickered in his mind, words etched like breath:
"Roots bind bearer. Bloom may rise in others. Choice spreads."
As if answering the thought, the falcon dropped from its branch. Its wings stirred a steady gust as it landed on Mira's arm, talons firm but harmless. It lowered its head into her touch, calm and certain.
Her eyes widened, voice unsteady. "So it really did choose me."
Draven's reply was steady, almost solemn. "No chains. No marks. Only choice."
That night, firelight danced against silver feathers. Mira sat with the falcon beside her, its eyes sharp in the dark. Draven kept watch opposite, Codex heavy in his thoughts, lotus faint on his chest.
The storm had answered.
And now, the winds had chosen their ally.