As August and Vanne Brander engaged in their serious discussion, the skies above the Western High Tower were alive with the powerful beats of wings. Great Sorcerer Titanium Hammer, a middle-aged man with a weathered face and streaks of silver in his short hair, flew confidently atop a majestic crystalline gryphon. The gryphon's feathers shimmered in the sunlight, a blend of deep blues and purples, while its piercing golden eyes scanned the landscape below. Riding alongside him was Great Sorcerer Hadrumei, perched upon a massive black wyvern, its scaled wings creating gusts of wind that whipped through the air as they tore toward the Phelan Sorcerer Tower.
It had been several days since the incident that had sent shockwaves throughout the Brander Clan: the Phelan Tower Collapse. Hidaer Brander had assigned Hadrumei and Titanium Hammer the daunting task of retrieving Great Sorcerer Phelan—dead or alive. Tension crackled in the air as they flew, each sorcerer lost in his own thoughts.
