The wind rushed against my skin, sharp and electric, as Tempest sliced through the sky like a shadow against the fading light. The world stretched far below-untamed, vast, and achingly beautiful in its solitude.
I clung to her back, my fingers digging into the ridges of her scales as we dipped lower, riding the air currents. The land beneath us was endless, a sea of dark forest, rolling hills and valleys, the treetops shimmering like a river of ink beneath the fading sun. The rivers gleamed like molten silver, winding through the wild, cutting paths between the distant mountains.
Evernight came into view. A fortress of black stone, its towers clawing toward the sky, nestled against the base of a sheer mountainside. The walls were high, lined with torches flickering in the dusk, casting
