SCARLETT
The horizon split with a sound like a mountain breaking.
Lightning, not gold but an eerie violet, tore through the silver sky. Each flash carved ragged silhouettes of beasts too large to be real. The once-gentle dawn darkened to bruised twilight.
Kael’s fire leapt instinctively along his arms, a low growl rumbling from his chest. “That’s no natural storm.”
Darius angled the lightning spear across his body. Blue sparks danced nervously around the steel. “It carries intent. Something is driving it.”
Lucien said nothing at first, but his shadows thickened until they wrapped all of us in a faint protective haze. His eyes glimmered black-violet to match the sky. “The Moonbane gave us unity. Now the Rift sends its answer.”
I felt the mark on my shoulder heat again, pulsing with a
