The first thing Danny noticed was how wrong the sky looked.
From orbit, the stormworld had seemed chaotic, but there had still been some kind of pattern to it—bands of clouds, swirling cyclones, lightning veins. Up close, pressing against the WhistleDawn's forward viewports, the atmosphere looked less like weather and more like a living, furious organism trying to tear itself apart.
Black clouds folded over golden ones in churning layers. Wind currents twisted sideways, downward, then up in spiraling funnels that snapped apart and reformed. Lightning didn't fork downward in simple branches. It lanced sideways, upward, and sometimes just… hung in the air for several heartbeats before shattering into splinters of blinding light.
The stormpiercer shields glowed around the hull, violet and angry, as the WhistleDawn forced itself into that mess.
Danny held onto the console and tried not to lose his breakfast.
"The turbulence is exceeding projected estimates," Riss said from the navigation pit, voice thin but still controlled.
"Compensating," Ven replied, hands flying over his controls. "If we drop out of the corridor now, the storm will rip us in half. So maybe don't do that."
The ship bucked hard, nearly throwing everyone sideways.
Jake screamed, both hands clamped around Bumble's round metal headplate. "It's already ripping us in half! My bones are in three time zones!"
Bumble vibrated with joy. "THIS IS EXHILARATING."
Mira braced herself with one clawed hand on the nearest support rail, golden eyes locked on the storm ahead. Her ears twitched back and forth, picking up subtle vibrations in the metal, in the air, in the way the world itself seemed to groan.
"Something doesn't want us down there," she said quietly.
Shadeclaw stood behind Danny's chair, legs slightly bent, tail low, every muscle ready. "Too bad for it."
Swift was a study in contrast to the chaos—calm, focused, reading atmospheric data as if nothing was unusual. "Wind shear pockets forming portside, elevation dropping. Ven, adjust vector seven degrees starboard, increase thrust by four percent to compensate for downdraft."
Ven actually listened. The ship lurched, then steadied, punching through a band of swirling black cloud.
"That's better," Ven muttered. "Keep telling me what the universe is trying to kill us with."
"Gladly."
Danny might have smiled if his chest hadn't been burning.
The sigil stone's presence was no longer a distant tug.
It was a constant pulse. Hot. Then cold. Then hot again. Each beat reverberated through his ribs, as if a second heart had grown behind his sternum. The sensation made it easier than it should've been to ignore the ship's violent rocking—and much harder to ignore the growing sense of panic rising through him that wasn't entirely his own.
…bearer… bearer…
The whisper wove through the storm-noise in his head. Not a sound, not really, but a feeling translated into thought. It felt like someone calling to him from behind a wall that was getting thicker with every second.
…we wait… we fail… hurry…
Danny sucked in a shaky breath.
Swift noticed. Of course he did. "Increase flow of regulated breaths," he murmured quietly. "In slowly. Out slowly. Don't let its panic become your own."
Danny forced his lungs to obey. "Kind of hard," he muttered, "when I feel it fading."
Shadeclaw's claws scraped lightly against metal, a slow, deliberate sound. "The stone is being smothered."
"By what?" Jade asked, fingers tapping restlessly on the back of a nearby chair. "Can we punch it? That would help me conceptualize this."
"Eventually," Shadeclaw said.
Jake wailed, "I don't want to punch the unpunchable dimensional horror! I want to punch my pillow in a safe bunk somewhere far away!"
"No safe bunks," Ven called back. "Plenty of dimensional horror, though."
Commander Wynn kept her gaze on the storm, hands steady. "Bringing us into final descent corridor. All squads—prepare for ground deployment."
The intercom buzzed through the ship.
"Assault teams, ready up," Jade repeated under his breath, smiling sharp. "Oh, I like the sound of that."
"Recon squads, gear check," Mira said.
"Security units, lock down internal sectors until we return," Shadeclaw added.
"B.E.A.R. teams, run final diagnostics," Swift said, his voice carrying across the bridge through the comm.
Jake flinched as his name pinged over the internal channel. "Y-yes, B.E.A.R. teams, that's me, that's us, that's—Bumble, stop licking the console."
Bumble, who was clearly not licking anything and definitely didn't have a tongue, beeped smugly. "I WILL LEAD THEM TO GLORY."
"You will lead us to a safety violation," Chief Engineer Baro's voice snapped from somewhere deep in the ship. "If you cook one more circuit, I'm welding you in a crate."
The WhistleDawn shuddered again, the storm slamming into its shields like a living wall.
"Contact with lower atmosphere," Riss reported. "Storm density at maximum. We have a plateau lock—a structurally stable shelf amidst the fissures. That's our landing zone."
"Take us in," Wynn commanded.
Gravity shifted.
Danny's stomach tried to climb into his throat. He groaned, gripping the armrests tighter. The golden pulse in his chest flared in sympathy, like the stone knew they were getting closer and was trying to reach for him through the instability.
…bearer… closer… closer…
His vision blurred around the edges for a moment. In the haze, he thought he saw the world the way the sigil did:
Cracked. Wounded. Bleeding light.
When his eyes cleared, the WhistleDawn was punching through the last layer of storm.
The clouds parted just enough to reveal the ground.
Jake squeaked. "Oh. Good. The planet looks even worse up close."
He wasn't wrong.
The plateau Riss had found was a jagged shelf jutting out over a gulf of molten chaos. Rivers of glowing magma wound through shattered chasms. Distant floating landmasses drifted in slow circles, pulled by invisible forces. The sky screamed with lightning.
In the distance, beyond all that, a canyon carved by some unimaginable force cut into the world. Lightning never stopped hitting it. Not once.
Danny knew, without question, that's where the sigil was.
The WhistleDawn's landing thrusters roared, burning away dust and loose rock. The ship settled onto the plateau in a low crouch, stormpiercer shields still flaring and flexing against the wind's fury.
"Touchdown," Ven said. "Landing gear secure. Stormpiercer barrier stable for now."
"'For now' is doing a lot of work in that sentence," Jake muttered.
Commander Wynn turned away from the viewport and faced the six.
"This is where you take over," she said. "Your cadets are standing by in Hangar Bay Two. We'll provide orbital overwatch. You handle ground."
Danny's heartbeat doubled.
He wasn't just going down there as a fighter.
He was going as the one the stone was calling to.
The bearer.
He nodded, legs feeling like they were made of something heavier than bone, lighter than smoke.
"Let's move," he said.
Shadeclaw's tail swayed once. "You heard him."
Mira's claws clicked on the deck as she turned. "Recon teams, with me."
Jade cracked his knuckles. "Assault squads, stay on my hip."
Swift looked to Wynn. "Feed all environmental and storm telemetry to my wrist console. I'll coordinate routes."
Jake grabbed Bumple. "B.E.A.R. crews—I mean, B.E.A.R. pals, uh, meet at the armoury! Try not to die on the way there!"
"You inspire such confidence," Mira said dryly.
Jake winced. "I'm trying my best."
"I know," she said, and there was no mockery in it.
They left the bridge together, the door sliding shut behind them.
As they moved through the corridors, the ship felt different than during training. The usual background hum carried a sharper edge, like the WhistleDawn knew this wasn't just another deployment. Crew members stepped out of the cadets' way, nodding, saluting, or simply staring with a mix of curiosity and respect.
Danny wanted to tell them he wasn't ready.
The stone beat faster.
…no more time…
Hangar Bay Two was a controlled storm of preparation. Cadets snapped armor plates into place, checked rifles and sidearms, secured medkits, loaded B.E.A.R. frames into drop-ready positions.
As the six walked in, a hush fell across the bay.
Helmets under arms, one hundred fifty pairs of eyes turned toward them.
Danny swallowed.
Shadeclaw felt the hesitation and stepped slightly to his side, not in front of him—but next to him. Mira took Danny's other flank, not touching him, but close enough that he could feel the quiet support radiating from both.
"Listen up!" Jade shouted, because subtlety was not in his nature. "This world is trying to kill us, and something worse is doing squats in its basement. Stay moving, stay sharp, and when in doubt, hit it harder."
A few nervous laughs. Some of the tension eased.
Swift lifted his voice, calm and precise. "Assault team, you'll provide front line support around Danny and Shadeclaw. Recon spreads ahead under Mira. Security teams screen flanks and rear and maintain communication lines. B.E.A.R. units deploy only when I call for them or when things get catastrophic."
Jake raised a hand. "Define catastrophic."
"This planet," Swift said simply.
"Right. Okay. Got it."
Danny stepped forward, feeling every gaze settle on him.
"I'm not going to lie to you," he said, surprised at how steady his voice sounded. "There's something on this world that shouldn't exist. And it wants the same thing we came for."
He touched his chest.
"The sigil stone is calling me. It… trusts me. That means it's ours to protect. All of ours." He looked around. "We're not just here to grab a rock and run. We're here to make sure whatever's clawing at it doesn't get to use it. Or destroy it. Or twist it."
He took a breath.
"I won't be able to do this alone. I won't pretend I can. So… I'll do everything I can to keep you standing. To keep you breathing. To get us all home."
He let out the breath, his chest glowing faintly.
"Let's move before this storm decides to get creative."
It wasn't a commander's speech Jimmy might give.
But it was honest.
And that mattered.
Assault cadets snapped their helmets on and moved to the forward ramp, Jade at their head. Recon teams drifted toward Mira, shadows forming behind a wolf. Security elements gathered around Shadeclaw like planets caught in gravity.
Jake's B.E.A.R. group huddled around their towering suits. Bumble climbed into a support station and managed to plug three wires into the correct ports.
"LOOK AT ME," the little bot declared. "I AM A REAL TECH NOW."
A spark blew out a light fixture.
Chief Engineer Baro screamed from another room.
The main ramp opened.
The world's storm screamed back at them.
Wind slammed into the stormpiercer barrier, sending translucent ripples across the shimmering field. Lightning struck the invisible dome and crawled in furious lines across its surface.
Beyond that protection, the plateau waited.
Broken. Hostile. Daring them.
Danny stepped down the ramp first.
As soon as his boots met the plateau, the pulse in his chest intensified. The ground trembled under his feet. The wind swirled differently, pressing at him instead of against him.
…bearer…
He pressed his hand against the armor over his heart.
"I'm here," he whispered.
The reply wasn't words.
It was relief.
Swift walked out onto the rock, head bowed slightly as data streamed across his wrist display. "Storm pattern unstable but predictable enough for short-range movement. However, there is… interference."
"From what?" Shadeclaw asked.
Swift's jaw clenched. "I don't know. My readings keep… slipping. Like something is rearranging data every time I look away."
Mira sniffed deeply, then hissed. "The air smells… empty."
Jade frowned. "Pretty sure that's the opposite of air's job."
"No," Mira said, ears flattening. "It's not just wind and rain. There's space here where there should be scent. Like… erasure. Like something walked through and took all trace of itself away with it."
Shadeclaw's tail flicked sharply. "Show me."
Mira moved ahead with a recon squad, dropping low as she navigated the cracked terrain. Shadeclaw followed with a few security cadets, eyes narrowed.
Jake peeked out from behind a B.E.A.R. suit. "I really hate when the wolves say scary metaphors."
Swift glanced at Danny. "Can you feel directionality?"
Danny shut his eyes.
The world narrowed.
Storm roar faded.
Under everything else, he felt the stone's pull—a line of golden tension stretching from his chest toward that lightning-torn canyon in the distance.
"There," he said, pointing. "Same as the vision. It's in that canyon."
Swift marked it on his tactical display. "Then we aim for it. Jade, assault formation along this vector. Keep our line tight. Security on flanks. Recon ahead and high. No one breaks too far from the main body unless Mira or Shadeclaw direct you."
Jade snapped off a sloppy salute. "On it, boss brain."
They moved.
The world didn't like it.
Wind smashed against the stormpiercer dome over the landing zone. Dust and ash frothed around their boots. Chunks of loose rock broke away and tumbled into glowing fissures.
Mira's recon squad reached a cracked ridge and froze.
"Shadeclaw," she called. "Here."
He joined her, trotting silently up the incline. Danny followed with Swift, because pretending they'd stay behind was pointless.
At the crest, he saw it.
Footprints.
Huge.
But wrong.
They were two times the length of a B.E.A.R.'s foot, but they didn't depress the stone. The ground wasn't compressed where the prints lay.
It was melted.
Edges glassy.
Stone drooping like partially cooled lava.
Several smaller cracks lined the air above the prints—not on the ground, but hanging where nothing should be.
Mira extended a claw, dragging it slowly through one of the scars.
The air rippled.
Her fur stood on end.
"That's not space," she whispered. "It's… a wound in space."
Shadeclaw put a hand out to stop her from touching more. "Enough."
Swift examined the footprints, face set. "No weight. Only… contact. As if it does not have mass, but still interacts with reality on a fundamental level." He exhaled slowly. "Wonderful."
Jake, who had absolutely not meant to follow them this far and yet somehow had, peered over the ridge and immediately regretted it. "Nope. No. I'm done. I'm going back to the ship and becoming a cook."
"Cowardice later," Jade said. "Monsters first."
Danny stared at the prints.
The golden pulse in his chest stuttered like an old engine trying to turn over.
The whisper lurched through him—sudden, jagged.
…bearer… we… fade…
His breathing hitched.
The world spun.
Mira grabbed his arm before he could fall. "Easy."
"It's losing power," Danny choked out. "The stone—someone's draining it. Smothering it."
Swift frowned deeply. "Is it the planet?"
Danny shook his head.
He could still feel that other presence—cold as nothing, heavy as inevitability.
"No. It's him."
A triumphant growl rose behind them as Jade punched a piece of loose obsidian into powder, just to make himself feel better. "Then we find him. And then we break him."
Storm pressure intensified, lightning veining the clouds overhead.
The world shivered.
And responded.
Shapes formed out of the storm itself.
At first Danny mistook them for more swirling clouds—but then they detached. Coalesced. Lightning threaded through them, twisting into skeletal outlines.
Stormborn.
They shrieked without sound and dove.
"CONTACT!" Mira roared.
The first of the creatures hit the plateau like falling spears. Storm-wind and electricity formed incomplete bodies—wolfish shapes with too many limbs, humanoid outlines with twisting arms, a mass that was nothing but jaws.
Shadeclaw was already moving, claws blazing with shadow as he met the first one mid-leap, rending it into mist and static. The creature exploded into a spray of sparks that sizzled out on the rocks.
Assault cadets fired, bolts of energy ripping through the stormborn and scattering them into the wind. Jade charged ahead, a chi-racked fist connecting with a lightning-beast's "head" and blasting it apart.
"YEAH!" he roared. "YOU'RE NOT SO TOUGH—"
Another hit him from behind. He rolled with it, laughing, and came up swinging.
Mira leapt like a golden streak, ripping through a stormborn that had almost reached Danny's back.
Jake panicked as three of the things rushed the flank. "B.E.A.R. TEAM, DO SOMETHING!"
One B.E.A.R. raised its miniguns and fired short, controlled bursts, shredding crackling storm limbs. Another launched a missile that somehow hit exactly the right place on a swirling cloud-beast to destabilize it.
Jake nearly fell over in shock. "I—I did that!"
"No," Bumble corrected, perched on his shoulder and working an auxiliary fire control panel. "I DID THAT. YOU JUST SCREAMED VERY HELPFULLY."
"Team effort!" Jake insisted, voice cracking.
Swift watched the way the creatures moved—and, more importantly, what they avoided. "They're not attacking randomly," he realized. "They're probing. Testing. Searching for something."
Mira swiped through another, panting. "What?"
Swift didn't have to answer.
The way they shifted their trajectory each time Danny moved made it obvious.
"Me," Danny whispered.
Before any of them could react, three stormborn snapped toward him at once—one from ground level, two from above, bodies unbound by gravity.
Shadeclaw blurred into motion. One swipe, two, three—he shredded them before they reached Danny, taking crackling impacts across his arms.
The smell of burning fur singed the air.
He snarled, eyes burning gold. "You may want him." His voice dropped into a growl. "But you do not get him."
The last stormborn reared back—a towering mass of roaring thunder and teeth made of lightning, howling without a mouth.
Danny's chest flared.
He didn't have time to think.
He thrust his hand forward, palm open.
Golden energy burst from him—less like a beam, more like a wave. It hit the creature dead on, stabilizing its chaotic form for a fraction of a second before tearing it apart from the inside.
The stormborn exploded into a ring of dispersing sparks.
Silence fell.
The wind screamed.
Danny panted, lowering his arm slowly.
The stone's whisper came again—but weaker.
…bearer… we… see you… come… before he…
The voice cracked.
Faded.
Became a echo stretched too thin.
A new sound slid over it.
Lower.
Deeper.
Wrong.
…found you…
Danny flinched.
It wasn't in his chest this time.
It was in the storm itself.
In the air.
In the way the lightning stopped mid-flash.
In the way the clouds curved, just slightly, as if something enormous had turned its attention toward him.
Shadeclaw's ears flattened. His claws dug into stone. "He's here."
Mira's hackles rose. "He's everywhere."
Jake whispered, "I've changed my mind. Bones was enough. We didn't need DLC."
Jade grinned with too many teeth. "About time."
Swift, eyes on his display, spoke quietly.
"Whatever he is… he's between us and the stone."
Danny looked toward the lightning-drenched canyon in the distance, every pulse of his chest now a dull ache instead of a guiding light.
The stone's voice was barely a thread.
The other voice was everywhere.
He straightened his back.
"We go anyway," he said. "We don't stop. Not for him, not for anything."
Shadeclaw nodded once. "Agreed."
Mira bared her teeth in a grin that held no humor. "Let him try to take you."
Jake tightened his grip on Bumble. "Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm terrified. I hate this. Let's do it."
Jade rolled his shoulders. "Finally feels like a proper mission."
Swift lifted his head, eyes steady. "Then we move. Tight formation. No one strays."
The storm roared around them, almost drowning out the last whisper curling through Danny's chest.
…hurry… bearer… before he…
It broke off completely.
Danny opened his eyes, glow reflecting the lightning.
"He knows I'm here," he said.
And the storm screamed louder in reply.
They advanced toward the canyon anyway.
Because they were Buddies.
Because the sigil stone needed them.
Because the universe had decided that a confused, recovering Golden Dragon and five lunatics would stand between creation and something older than destruction.
And because Danny, for all his fear, refused to run.
The plateau shook beneath their boots.
Far ahead, beyond the jagged cliffs and furious sky, something waited near the sigil stone.
Something ancient.
Something hungry.
Something that had finally found its bearer.
They went to meet it.
Together.