The wind outside the fortress didn't feel like ordinary wind.
It moved with purpose.
It hissed through the dry grasses along the open ridge, circling Germaine like a whispering warning. Solaryn perched on her shoulder, talons tight on her jacket, releasing a small tremor of heat. Lumira floated above her head, violet light faint but tense — as if listening harder than she'd ever listened before.
Germaine's breath fogged in the cold morning air.
"This feels… wrong," she muttered.
Solaryn chirped anxiously.
Lumira gave a short, pulsing blink: Caution.
Germaine placed a hand on her chest. The Shard thudded again, stronger than back at the fortress — almost impatient.
"I know, I know. We're going," she said. "Just… let me breathe for a second."
She tried to calm herself, but the Shard pulled, and the longer she resisted, the more painful the pressure became.
She closed her eyes briefly.
Inside her inner world — the Soul Haven, a glowing space where her bonded SoulPets rested when not manifested — she could feel the faint energy signatures of her other unborn SoulPets, dormant and waiting for new soul slots in future ranks.
Only Solaryn and Lumira were awake.
Only they were with her.
She exhaled slowly. "Alright. Let's move."
She stepped into the wildlands.
---
The wildlands were not supposed to be this quiet.
Birds should've been calling.
Insects should've been buzzing.
Yet the only sound was the crunch of her own boots over twisted grass and brittle soil. Every few minutes, the Shard heaved again — a pull, a direction, almost like a heartbeat syncing with something far away.
Solaryn pressed closer against her neck, warm and bright.
Lumira dimmed, as if shrinking in on herself to stay alert.
Germaine rubbed Solaryn's head gently. "Hey. I'm not letting anything happen to you two. You hear me?"
Solaryn chirped and brushed her cheek with his warm beak.
Lumira tilted closer and tapped her forehead with a soft glow — their equivalent of a hug.
That made Germaine smile, even amidst the fear.
She whispered, "Let's follow the pull."
---
Hours passed. The terrain changed.
The land sank into jagged valleys, rising into crooked hills. Trees leaned at unsettling angles, their silhouettes sharp against the pale sky. Every time Germaine passed a tree's shadow, it felt like the shade followed her a second longer than it should have.
She tried not to think about that.
But Solaryn clearly noticed.
He puffed up and hissed sparks.
Lumira darted in loops, scanning every dark patch.
"Hey," Germaine said gently. "You're safe. You're both safe. We're just… on alert, not in danger."
The Shard pulsed violently.
She stumbled.
Solaryn screeched.
Lumira's glow spiked like a starburst.
Germaine caught herself on a rock, chest throbbing. "Okay—fine. We might be in danger."
---
The first threat arrived without warning.
The ground shuddered.
Solaryn's wings flared.
Lumira shrieked in a ringing flash of violet.
Germaine jerked back as the soil split open in front of her — a long, curved fissure ripping across her path. Dust exploded upward. Something enormous shifted beneath the earth.
A deep rumble vibrated through her legs.
"What is—?"
The ground erupted.
A massive worm-like creature — twice the length of a wagon — burst upward, plated with dull gray armor. No slime, no gore, nothing graphic — but the sheer size and speed made Germaine's heart stop.
Its blind head swung toward her, senses hunting for movement.
Germaine shifted her stance.
Solaryn flamed brighter.
Lumira twirled around her arm.
"Don't panic," she whispered to her SoulPets. "We've handled worse in training—"
No.
Even Elric wouldn't use something like this.
The worm lunged.
Germaine threw herself sideways, rolling hard across the dirt. Solaryn launched upward in a burst of heat. Lumira zipped behind her, blinking furiously.
Germaine landed in a crouch, breathing fast. "Solaryn—Lumira—attack pattern two!"
Solaryn dove from above, trailing a streak of gold, releasing a controlled heat burst. Lumira darted around the worm, confusing its sense of direction with sudden flashes.
The worm snapped blindly, twisting the ground into ridges.
Germaine sprinted toward a higher boulder, leaping up in a single bound.
She was stronger now.
Faster.
More attuned.
"Solaryn — left flank! Lumira — keep it disoriented!"
Her SoulPets moved as if choreographed with her thoughts.
The worm thrashed, its armored hide glowing faintly from Solaryn's heat.
Not enough to hurt it — But enough to irritate it.
It reared.
Germaine's heart spiked.
"DOWN!"
Solaryn obeyed instantly, diving to her shoulder. Lumira shot downward into her chest — merging back into the Soul Haven in a blink of violet mist.
Germaine pressed both palms to the stone beneath her feet.
Her Shard pulsed in sync with her thoughts.
Her lattice vibrated.
Mana surged.
She exhaled—
Then unleashed a concussive burst of force downward.
It blasted her upward like a spring-loaded launch, flipping her clean over the attacking worm. Sunlight flashed across the worm's armored back as she soared.
Solaryn screeched triumphantly at her side.
Germaine landed behind the worm, boots digging into the dirt.
The worm plunged headfirst into the soil and vanished.
Silence.
Germaine didn't breathe.
Solaryn bristled, wings trembling.
Lumira materialized again with a soft pop of violet light.
Then—
The ground behind her rippled.
Germaine wheeled—
A second worm burst from the earth.
"MOVE!" she shouted.
Solaryn shoved against her cheek to the right.
Germaine twisted.
The worm's massive head crashed through the spot she'd been standing half a second earlier.
The impact threw dirt everywhere.
"This is insane," she panted. "Absolutely insane."
Lumira spiraled anxiously, nudging her side.
Solaryn chirped in outrage, like he was personally offended the worm dared try something so rude.
Germaine pressed a hand to her SoulPets. "Okay. Enough running."
She faced the worm.
"The Shard wants me alive. So I'll stay alive."
She gathered her mana.
Her lattice hummed.
The Shard flared so bright she flinched.
A burst of shimmering force snapped outward from her chest in a short-range shockwave.
The blast wasn't enough to kill the worm— But it staggered the creature.
That was enough.
Solaryn dove.
Lumira streaked in a loop.
Together they hit the worm with a synchronized flash of heat and light — disorienting it completely. The worm thrashed wildly, slamming into a rock formation, then scurried underground, fleeing deeper into the earth.
Germaine sank to her knees, exhausted but alive.
Solaryn landed on her shoulder.
Lumira crawled onto her lap, flickering softly.
Germaine wrapped her arms around her SoulPets. "I love you two. You know that, right? You're incredible."
Solaryn rubbed her cheek gently.
Lumira nuzzled her wrist.
They stayed like that for a long moment.
Just breathing.
Just safe.
---
The Shard interrupted the peace.
A violent tug — almost angry.
Germaine hissed and clutched her chest. "Stop! I'm going, alright?"
Solaryn chirped in frustration, glaring at her chest like he wanted to peck the Shard itself.
Lumira dimmed with worry.
Germaine stood shakily. "There's more danger coming. I can feel it."
She looked down at her SoulPets.
"You can return to the Soul Haven until I—"
Solaryn shook his head furiously and slapped her forehead with his wing.
Lumira puffed up in indignation.
Germaine blinked. "…So that's a no?"
Both SoulPets glared.
"Alright, alright. You're staying."
She brushed off her clothes and began walking again.
---
The wildlands grew darker.
Not from nightfall.
From something else.
A creeping shadow tint across the ground, stretching from an unseen source. Trees contorted into twisted shapes. Rocks looked carved by claws or maybe time itself.
Germaine's pace slowed.
"This isn't natural," she whispered.
Solaryn's feathers bristled, glowing gold in the growing gloom.
Lumira hovered low, vibrating nervously.
The Shard hammered harder than ever.
"Something's ahead," Germaine murmured. "Something big." ' Good thing I collected that weapon from Elic otherwise I'd be damned' she adds mentally.
She swallowed.
Her heart raced.
Solaryn tensed.
Lumira trembled.
Germaine placed a hand on each SoulPet gently.
"No matter what we find… we face it together."
Solaryn leaned into her palm.
Lumira looped around her wrist in a soft glow.
Germaine stepped forward.
Into the deep shadow.
Toward the awakening Shard.
Toward something that could either become her greatest ally —
Or the thing that finally broke her lattice.