The clouds passed beneath them, and the sun was setting in the distance, it's rays colouring the cloud tops with a pinkish hue. Vale hadn’t expected Caledon’s… grandfather to have ascended that high. Before she knew it, they had taken to the skies, on their way back towards Brimstone.

  "Ahhhh, It’s such a beautiful day today! I wonder how many Brimstones I’ll kill before it ends."

  "Shiver! You idiot shut that trap of yours. Do you want him to drop us?"

  Vale clasped a hand over Shiver’s mouth, hissing through her teeth. Shiver just responded by licking her hand in defiance. Vale grimaced, shaking off her spittle, only to realise that some of it had frozen to her hand.

  Then her eyes narrowed and they lingered on Shiver. Even though she acted with her usual levity, she could see the slightest tinge of worry cross her friend’s face as she stared down at the clouds below.

  Icey’s not responding to her… What did Shiver do in her descent?

  Vale’s mind returned to the sudden academy shutdown. Shiver’s room of descension, covered in jagged spires of ice, with black liquid leaking from the huge seams in the walls they created. She bit her lip in concern, but she was reluctant to draw attention to Shiver’s worry.

  "Ah how glorious to take to the skies again. The memories yet elude me, but I am certain I’ve sailed across the clouds-"

  Vale ignored Quietus’ chatter. She turned instead to Caledon, who bore a similar look of concern on his face. Compared to Shiver’s, his was plain to decipher, revealed by a slight downturn in his lips and frown that creased his forehead. Which was now marked by a red welt where his grandfather had gripped him.

  Valeric Brimstone’s words had shaken him. Claiming that his father had betrayed him. And that his grandfather had supposedly come to blows with Berevan Brimstone against his own will. They had all witnessed his power, leaving the academy guardian skewered on his Phobia, a spear of dark grey ash with seams of red embers glowing from within.

  Caledon gripped his Phobia. The torch wrought of dark wood which had turned into a dark, burnished black metal. As Vale’s gaze lingered on it, she struggled to decipher its purpose. Where it had began as a torch, after the lord’s descension to Trepidation, it had evolved to bear the slightest resemblance to a hilt without a blade.

  A loud laugh erupted from beneath them, sending her lunching for Valeric’s neck spines.

  "I like you girl! The gall to threaten my family with death, even as you ride on my back. I will eagerly await your descent through your Fear before I melt you!"

  The shadow of concern on Shiver’s face disappeared as she grinned in response. Vale’s face fell into her hands.

  She was surrounded by idiots.

  "Challenge accepted grandpa! I look forward to freezing your tail and shoving it up your-"

  She ignored Shiver’s idle words and sidled – very cautiously, keenly aware of the ground below her - up to Caledon. She cleared her throat, drawing his attention to her.

  "Caledon... You descended. Congratulations."

  He nodded to her, wordlessly. His eyes and attention far in the distance, lingering on clouds stained by the dying light of the sun as gradually dipped in the horizon.

  "You’re worried about your father?"

  He nodded again. He looked so downtrodden that it prompted Vale to awkwardly pat him on the shoulder. His words came out, under his breath.

  "Why did grandfather say he attacked father against his will? That father had betrayed him? Perhaps it has to do with what Triol said… That Brimstone was allied with the Reveanants, and Flora."

  Caledon’s face fell. The man had departed on a seemingly simple mission, albeit surrounded with some contradictions and questions. Ultimately, it had culminated in the discovery of a lost Archcity, and the revealation of foes long since defeated, turning out to be allies. The unmistakeable evidence inherent in the dagger wrought from darksteel, the work of Sakar, his master.

  Then his Feardamned, dead grandfather had returned from the grave, his will twisted by another.

  Vale winced. Suddenly, she was beginning to feel like she didn’t have it the worst.

  "Caledon… Your father isn’t weak. He’s the Highlord of Brimstone. Even I’ve heard of his Fearshaping, his bond with the eternal phoenix. He wouldn’t have died from a brush with your grandfather."

  Finally, Caledon turned to meet her gaze. The lord’s brown eyes were hollow and tired, from the rigours of their descent - his nightmares presenting themselves as dreams. Now exacerbated by his concern for his father. He broke into a soft smile, seemingly comforted by her words.

  "No, you’re right. What my father lacks in destructive power, he makes up for in his resilience. I have seen his powers of regeneration. Him and his guide, Sale’s."

  Then Valeric Brimstone’s words reached them, on his back. They boomed across the empty skies, and carried a hint of disapproval.

  "Your father… Was weak. He failed to embrace the path of destruction, choosing healing instead. Departing from Brimstone’s ways. Picking a guide of [moderate] burden, against his better judgment. Pathetic."

  Valeric spat smoke into the clouds below, as if disgusted by the very words he uttered.

  "I lost control of myself, a prisoner in my own body. My memories fade even as they arrive. What I do know, is that I did hold back against your father when I was sent against him. Whoever controls me, he didn’t intend to kill Berevan."

  The dragon flailed in anger, and the sky whirled before them as Valeric swayed in the air.

  "Watch it, grandpa!"

  Shiver let out a shout, as she clung to one of the dragon’s spines for dear life.

  "Are you alright, grandfather?"

  "Had I been in control of my senses, I would have done much worse. Your father betrayed us."

  In his frustration, he let out a gust of flame down into the clouds beneath them.

  "Oooh… so there are uses for a Brimstone after all."

  Vale gaped as she saw Shiver glance into the clouds beneath them, at the unwitting birds that had been charred to a crisp by the dragon’s flames. Falling to the ground beneath them.

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  Caledon’s eyes hardened. He attempted to reign in his anger at his grandfather’s words. But he steeled himself, as he continued, in search of the truth.

  "Tell us everything you know. How did you lose your will? Who corrupted you? How did father betray you?"

  The dragon let out a deep grunt.

  "We were betrayed, all of us. By a coalition. Not a single house. All of us, Fearshapers who stood at the end of our path, our wills torn from us so easily. That fateful day, in the Archcity of Dreams."

  All of them listened to the dragon’s words, alert.

  "The last thing I remember from that time… was facing your father. He fought me, holding me at bay as I watched my will slip from me. As the corruption took hold. My memories from that point escape me."

  Caledon gulped.

  "I only retain my most recent memories. I remember engaging in battle with your father. Not of my own accord. I recall feeling a stranger’s emotions. Anger. Then a feeling of betrayal. No doubt the emotions of the Fearshaper that controlled me. It seems like I wasn’t the only one your father betrayed."

  The dragon’s voice fell. A sliver of vulnerability that shook Caledon to his core, to see his arrogant grandfather bereft of his confidence.

  "Even now, I feel myself slipping away. I will confront your father. Do not worry boy, I will not kill him. He is my own seed. Answers are what I seek."

  Caledon’s mind raced as to the circumstances of his father's betrayal. What had they been doing in the Archcity of dreams?

  There were more important questions. Caledon interceded.

  "When you fought him… do you remember what state he was in after the battle?"

  His grandfather laughed, regaining some of his levity.

  "The Mansion is in a poor state. So was he. The epitome of resilience met the pinnacle of destruction. Yet both of us, held back. I do not recall the words we exchanged."

  Caledon shivered, as fear crept its way into his heart.

  "Do not worry boy. He was weakened, but the Fearshaper that controlled me didn’t seek to kill him."

  Then, without sparring a moment or a word of warning, his grandfather banked and they cut through the clouds beneath them as they dove towards the surface. They pierced through the winterstorm that swirled around the Archcity, the serenity above the clouds coming to an abrupt end.

  Marking their descent into terror.

  As they pierced through the howling gale, Caledon could make out a pillar of smoke rising from Brimstone’s upper quarters. Squinting, Vale could vaguely make out a section of the city wall that had been breached. Valeric seemed to be making his way towards it.

  They landed heavily right in front of the breach. Valeric sent snow flying as he impacted the ground. His grandfather crouched, allowing them to disembark.

  "Now… we seek answers. Let us- ARGH-"

  His grandfather let out a roar. He covered his ears, as his eardrums threatened to burst. Dread began to fill him, as he saw the dragon’s eyes piercing red, begin flicker gold. Then, he saw his grandfather’s chest heave, deep breaths sending billowing steam into the air before him.

  "That Fearshaper of corruption… He’s reasserting his control. I don’t have much time."

  He fixed Caledon in his gaze.

  "Ask your father… why. Why he betrayed the Brimstone ideals. Why he strayed from his family."

  Then, a flash of deep hatred filled the dragon’s gaze.

  "I feel a call to return. To the Archcity of Dreams. That must be where the corruptor lies."

  His mouth widened into a grin, which Shiver had no choice but to admire, Brimstone or not.

  "I will oblige. And rain death upon him. Perhaps, I will break free of this curse. Go."

  They watched, as Valeric let out a stream of flames into the winter air in frustration, before ascending from the ground, sending waves of snow barreling towards them.

  Caledon heard Shiver’s words cut through the blizzard, drawing him back to reality, as he watched his grandfather fade away in the winterstorm, gone as quickly as he had arrived.

  "I thought I had it bad. Must be rough, having a family like that."

  Although he couldn’t see her face through the snow, he swore he caught a flash of a cerulean, a mere trick of the winterstorm perhaps. Shiver’s voice fell, its artificial cheer no longer present.

  "Now lordling, shall we go find some answers?"

  Shiver broke out into a run towards the breach in the city walls. Caledon cursed and hurried to catch up.

  ---

  They entered the city to the din of combat.

  "What in… Insanity."

  The words emerged, unbidden from Vale’s mouth. She began to shiver, fear creeping into her bones at the sight that lay before them.

  Undead ran rampant outside of the mansion, the guards locked up in a melee with the skeletons of creatures that tore towards the guards. The screams of civilians and soldiers alike pierced the air.

  "We need to help them!"

  Shiver’s hand tightened around Caledon’s arm, restraining him.

  "Focus, lordling. Do you think we’re in any state to help? You have a swordless hilt, Vale has a scythe that is about as useful as a butterknife in her hands. Who do you think is best placed to do the saving hmm? Why don’t we kill two birds with one stone. Let’s find your father."

  Caledon reluctantly nodded, despite the obvious difference in their goals. Only his father could put a stop to something like this. As Shiver relinquished his arm, his eyes widened at the frost that lingered where she had come into contact with him.

  "I on the other hand, am not entirely useless."

  Shiver stretched her hands outwards with bravado, manifesting her ice dag-

  A sword, with long, graceful blade of gleaming ice fell to the ground. The blade followed a very slight curve, and was thinner than your typical broadsword. It was adorned with an elegant hilt, criss-crossed in fabric of midnight blue. Mist peeled off the surface of its gleaming blade, remaining untarnished by the dirt and grime that surrounded it.

  It bore a certain similarity to the blade wielded by the academy’s Terror in its artistry. Yet, Caledon’s eyes widened at the sight of it. It’s surface was marred by innumerable… cracks. They covered its length and gave the impression that even the slightest touch would cause it to fall to pieces.

  "I can’t use this piece of shit! Change back! Give me my daggers you Fearforsakened-"

  Shiver grabbed her beautiful Phobia and threw ito the ground in frustration.

  "Everyone, look."

  At the sound of Vale’s voice, they turned to stare in the direction she was pointing.

  It was the skeleton of an immense creature, that lay still, ahead of them.

  A winterlion.

  But distorted.

  The skeleton of the creature sported not two, but four eye sockets. A gross and repulsive deformity from its natural form. Black liquid dripped from the numerous perforations that pockmarked the surface of black ivory, giving it an eerie, bug-like appearance.

  Shiver had heard stories of the winterlions, with their distinctive pair of fangs that hung from their mouths.

  This one’s maw was filled with them.

  They jutted from its mouth from odd angles, some protruding through its very own bone. Caledon’s hand tightened across his Phobia, as the very sight of the monstrosity compelled him to burn it to ash. Yet, it had lay still in its defeat. Something had inflicted a blow to its skull, shattering it.

  He turned to Vale, who avoided his gaze. Casting an eye at the other undead around them engaged in the melee, they were similarly the forms of various creatures native to the winterlands.

  The girl began to whisper, incredulous.

  "No, no, no… This is beyond him. It couldn’t be Triol."

  Then her gaze fixed on Brimstone Manor. And the creatures of the undead that were caught in a melee with Brimstone’s guards. Vale grimly reached into the pouch at her side.

  "There is something that we can use. We need to be quick, if my father or brother notice, they might take control."

  She cast the knucklebones to the ground. Marrow, her undead steed, slowly began to take form, growing from the tiny bones she had cast.

  "Follow my lead, he’ll carve us a path."

  She patted her steed on the face gently.

  "Go."

  Without a sound or a breath, Marrow charged into the fray, knocking aside skeletons and a few unfortunate guards that found themselves in his way.

  They raced after the steed, drawing closer to their destination wrought in death and flame.

  Brimstone Manor.