The first raindrop fell.
Then another.
Then the storm resumed breathing—the suspended lightning bolts snapping back into motion, the winds groaning as if they were waking from a forced slumber. Danny stood rigid, fists clenched at his sides, golden aura flickering like a candle resisting a gale.
Shadeclaw's claws were half-extended, eyes white, breath trembling in a predator's rhythm. The Wolf King towered behind them both, shoulders wide, fire licking between his fangs. His presence alone kept the storm from closing around them too quickly.
And Solmara stood unmoving, untouched by the chaos returning around her. Silver armor reflected the world, from the black storm clouds above to the shattered canyon below.
Not a single drop of rain dared touch her.
Danny didn't lower his guard. "Why are you here?"
Solmara's eyes—clear, sharp, impossibly calm—settled on him like a blade resting on a throat.
"To save you," she said, "from walking blindly into your doom."
The Wolf King let out a low, rolling growl. "I do not trust you, storm-sister."
"You shouldn't," Solmara replied without looking at him. "I have stood at Tempestron's side longer than your kingdoms have existed."
Shadeclaw snarled. "Then why betray him now? Why appear instead of attacking us?"
Her gaze moved to him.
"You would not survive an attack from me, shadow-wolf. Not in your current state."
The insult burned—but Shadeclaw didn't move. His shadow fur prickled all the way to his tailbone.
Solmara continued, voice steady enough to cut stone.
"But you will not die today. And neither will the girl Tempestron took."
Shadeclaw took a step forward, trembling. "You know where she is."
"I know where she will be," Solmara answered. "If Tempestron completes his ritual."
Danny's heart lurched.
"What ritual?"
Solmara looked to him then… and for a moment, he swore he saw something like pity in her expression.
"The ritual to chain a Golden Dragon to the storm."
Danny's breath stopped.
Solmara spoke as if reciting history. "Bones promised Tempestron that the heart of creation could be bent to his will. That your flame could be made into an eternal power source. He intends to drain you. Chain you. And reshape the multiverse in stormlight."
Danny felt sick.
Shadeclaw's fury spiked so violently the shadows warped around him.
The Wolf King stepped between them, his presence grounding Danny's spiraling thoughts. "And the girl?" he growled.
Solmara turned to Shadeclaw.
"She is alive because I intervened."
Shadeclaw staggered back as if struck.
"What?" he whispered.
"Tempestron sought to dissect her—see how the shadow took root in a humanoid vessel."
Shadeclaw lunged—but the Wolf King caught him by the scruff, hauling him back with ease.
Solmara didn't flinch.
"You would be dead before you touched me," she said softly. "Do not confuse my allegiance with my mercy."
Danny exhaled shakily. "So you saved Mira."
"No," Solmara corrected. "I only delayed her death."
That hurt worse.
PART II
Lightning cracked behind them, revealing the storm citadel suspended in the sky like a metal continent, rotating through sheets of rain and thunder. It was beautiful in the way a hurricane's eye was beautiful—deadly, mesmerizing, and full of promise.
Danny stared up at it, creation fire simmering beneath his skin.
"So what do you want?" he demanded. "Why tell us this now?"
Solmara stepped toward him.
"For you to live."
He froze.
"For Mira to live," she continued. "For the multiverse to survive Tempestron's ambition."
The Wolf King studied her closely, nostrils flaring as if scent alone could reveal truth.
"He lies often," the King murmured. "Tempestron deceives like a serpent. But you… do not smell of deceit."
"I do not waste deception on those beneath me," Solmara replied. "I speak only when strategy requires clarity."
That, oddly, made Danny trust her more.
Shadeclaw paced, shadows peeling beneath his feet.
"What do you want from us?" he asked, voice brittle. "Say it."
Solmara nodded once.
"A pact."
Danny's aura flared defensively. "No."
"You haven't heard it yet."
"I don't need to," Danny said. "I'm not bargaining your help in exchange for—"
"Not a bargain," Solmara interrupted. "A necessity."
The air stilled again, this time from tension.
She raised her hand, drawing a shimmering outline of the storm citadel above them. The image flickered with runes, lightning chains, and spinning rings of energy.
"To reach Mira," Solmara said, "you must survive Tempestron's gauntlet. Each barrier designed specifically to counter your strengths."
Lightning tower.
Storm labyrinth.
Living thunder guardians.
Gravity vortex chambers.
Lightning spires arranged in lethal geometry.
Danny swallowed.
Shadeclaw stared. "We can break through that."
"Separately?" Solmara asked. "No. Together? Possibly."
The Wolf King stepped closer, towering over her. "And where do you stand, storm-sister? With us or against us?"
Solmara turned to face him without blinking.
"I stand against Tempestron."
"Why?" Shadeclaw demanded.
Solmara's eyes dimmed with something ancient.
"Because Bones lied to us all."
Danny's blood ran cold.
"What did he tell you?"
"That the Golden Dragons abandoned the multiverse to endless destruction," Solmara said. "That they would return only to consume creation and remake it in flame. That your kind was the reason Bones exists in the first place."
Danny stared.
He felt creation flicker—quiet, frightened, like an old wound being touched.
Solmara watched him carefully.
"But then you awakened differently," she said. "You defended instead of consumed. You created instead of destroyed."
She folded her hands behind her back.
"You are not like the dragons before you, Daniel of Earth. And I choose to align with what has changed."
PART III
Shadeclaw stepped closer, voice breaking.
"Where is Mira now?"
Solmara answered without hesitation.
"In the Storm Labyrinth. The deepest chamber of Tempestron's citadel. He moves her every time she resists. But she is alive."
Shadeclaw trembled.
Danny's flames burned hotter.
The Wolf King snarled, "We go now."
Solmara lifted a hand.
"You will fail."
Danny stepped into her space, aura blazing.
"Then show us how to succeed."
And for the first time—
Solmara smiled.
Not mockingly.
Not cruelly.
But like someone who had been waiting for that exact sentence.
"Good. Then we begin."
She turned toward the shattered horizon and raised both hands.
Lightning obeyed.
Clouds parted.
Storm rings realigned.
A massive lightning bridge extended from the ground to the citadel's first gate, miles above them.
The world shook from the force.
Solmara turned back, silver armor reflecting Danny's golden glow, Shadeclaw's shadows, and the Wolf King's flames.
"Walk this path with courage," she said. "From here, the storm watches you."
Danny ignited fully, creation flame spiraling along his arms.
Shadeclaw's shadow-wolf form pulsed with white energy.
The Wolf King growled, fire boiling from his lungs.
Solmara stepped onto the lightning bridge.
Danny followed.
Shadeclaw followed.
The Wolf King followed.
The storm closed behind them like a mouth swallowing its prey.