Floating Island Adventure

**Chapter 7: Betrayal**

Eira, Talos, Vale and Arlo moved swiftly through the icy catacombs beneath Glacius using the Windwalker map’s guidance. Eira could scarcely believe they now possessed the long lost clues leading towards the mythical island of Silva.

But the savage frost tribe still hunted them. As howls echoed down glittering passageways, the group hurried onwards barely staying ahead of their trackers.

"How...much...further?" Vale panted, equal parts exhausted and annoyed.

Tracing a finger along glowing runes, Talos replied "Just ahead lies a portal chamber the map references."

Ducking inside the carved chamber, they found an ancient magic seal etched around what appeared to be simply a bare section of ice wall. Talos quickly got to work decoding activation runes with Arlo lending his surprising arcane insights.

As the portal gateway slowly glowed to life, furious tribesmen wielding ice axes poured into the room, bellowing war cries. Protective symbols flashed before Eira's eyes as she deflected a volley of hail shards. They couldn't hold out much longer...

"It opens! Go, I shall follow last!" Talos urged. Vale leapt through without hesitation while Arlo checked behind before entering the shimmering light himself...leaving Eira alone with her guardian as he held off three brutes.

Time seemed to slow as she saw a tribesman's ice dagger hurtling straight for Talos’ exposed back. Without thinking, Eirarushd forward, calling on her deepest well of magic to shield her teacher... Suddenly, she was through the portal landing hard on tropical soil and foliage under a blazing sun.

"We made it!" Vale said. Yet celebration stalled as they all stared back at the fading magics where the gateway once stood...with no sign of Talos behind them.

Shock shifted to rage as Eira rounded on Arlo. “You left him to die!" she accused, air swirling violently around her.

Eyes wide, Arlo raised his hands saying “It was too late! I had no choice if we were to-”

His words meant nothing as anguish flooded Eira’s heart. She had failed Talos - the man who had raised her ever since her parents disappeared. The one she had sworn to protect. An orphan yet again, stranded halfway towards her destiny...