Chapter 26: The Eye of the Storm
The valley was silent, but that silence was far from peaceful. The air hummed with a strange tension, as though the world itself was holding its breath, waiting for the storm to return.
Xiao Lian stood still, his senses sharp, his body aching. The Windblade had quieted in his hand, but its power still pulsed through him, as if it recognized the battle was far from over. Yun Mei, her face pale but determined, surveyed their surroundings. Her daggers were still drawn, but her grip had loosened.
"Do you feel it?" she asked, her voice low, almost hesitant.
Xiao Lian nodded, though the answer terrified him more than he would admit. There was something in the air, something ancient and heavy, like the shadow of a storm that had yet to pass. The victory had been hollow, a brief flash of light in a world quickly consumed by darkness.
And it wasn't just the storm in the sky.
"There's a power stirring," he said quietly. "That figure... it wasn't alone. That energy—it was too familiar."
Yun Mei's eyes flickered with unease. "You mean...?"
Xiao Lian's jaw tightened. "The Aetherbound."
A chilling wind whipped through the valley, its cold breath cutting through the air. The trees shuddered, their branches creaking as if to warn them of something more sinister. The ground beneath their feet felt unstable, as though it was about to break open.
Suddenly, the earth trembled again, but this time, the tremor was followed by an eerie, vibrating hum that resonated through the very core of the valley. Xiao Lian's heart skipped a beat, and he gripped the Windblade harder, the blade's pulse aligning with his frantic heartbeat.
Then it came—a ripple through the mist, faint at first, but unmistakable. A figure emerged from it, not like the shadowed being they had faced before, but something far darker. Its presence filled the space, heavier than the weight of a thousand storms. It was tall, cloaked in a robe woven from midnight itself, stitched with shifting threads of silver that seemed to move with a life of their own.
The air around them crackled with electricity, but this time, it wasn't the storm. It was the storm—the storm of the Aetherbound.
Xiao Lian's breath caught in his throat as he met the figure's gaze. It was a woman—or, at least, she had once been. Her eyes were voids, black as the deepest abyss, and her skin was a pale, almost ethereal white. She wore no mask, but her beauty was terrifying, like the calm before a tempest that would tear apart everything in its path.
"You…" Xiao Lian began, his voice steady, but inside, his heart pounded like a drum. "You're the one who has been watching me."
The woman smiled—a cold, predatory smile that sent a shiver through his bones. "I am Eryndra, High Seer of the Aetherbound. And you are... the heir of a broken destiny."
Her voice was like the wind, soft but laden with a heavy promise of destruction.
Yun Mei's daggers glinted in the fading light as she stepped forward, eyes narrowed. "We've already dealt with one of your kind. If you think you can—"
Eryndra raised a hand, and the valley seemed to hold its breath again. The sky darkened, the winds howling as if they were in agony, and the ground beneath them split.
"Foolish child," Eryndra's voice rang out, a powerful, bone-chilling command. "You do not understand. The winds you call to, the storms you think you control... they are not yours to command. You are merely a puppet, a pawn in a game you cannot even begin to comprehend."
Xiao Lian's grip on the Windblade tightened until his knuckles were white. He had faced challenges before, but something about Eryndra's presence, her words, made him question everything.
"Then why are you here?" he demanded. "What do you want with me?"
Eryndra's smile deepened, and she took a step closer. "The Aetherbound are the keepers of the storms. The Windblade you wield... it belongs to us. It is not just a weapon—it is a key. A key to an ancient power, long buried beneath the veil of time."
She extended a hand toward him, and the air around them seemed to warp. A thousand memories rushed through Xiao Lian's mind, flashes of something long forgotten—his father's final words, the faint whispers of Bai He's spirit. The Windblade pulsed again, as if urging him to understand.
Eryndra's eyes flickered with something almost like pity. "You have no idea what you're about to face, child. The storm is not just a force of nature—it is the embodiment of fate itself. And you are its unwitting heir."
Yun Mei moved to stand beside him, her voice firm. "We don't care about your fate or your storm. We'll fight, no matter what."
Eryndra tilted her head slightly, her smile never wavering. "You have no choice but to fight. And you will fail."
With a single motion, she raised both hands high, and the storm answered.
The sky above them twisted and churned, black clouds swirling in a vicious spiral. The valley seemed to tremble, the air pressing in on them with suffocating force. Xiao Lian felt the weight of the storm bearing down on him, felt his power surge but then flicker, as if it was being drawn into the storm itself.
"Xiao Lian!" Yun Mei shouted. "Don't let it take you!"
But it was too late.
A wave of raw, unrestrained energy burst from Eryndra's hands, slamming into them both with the force of a thousand thunders. Xiao Lian fought against it, raising the Windblade, but the storm wrapped around him like chains, pulling him down, threatening to swallow him whole.
His vision blurred, the world distorting as the storm tore through him. But in the chaos, one thought pierced through the madness.
I am not a puppet. I am not fate's heir.
The Windblade surged in his hands, its energy flaring with the intensity of a thousand winds.
"I choose my destiny!" Xiao Lian shouted, his voice breaking through the storm's roar.
And with that, he struck.
The valley erupted in light and fury.
---
The storm raged around them, but Xiao Lian knew one thing for certain now: the battle was far from over. The winds had only just begun to howl, and the true storm was yet to come.