55 East

Dumai wakes from a plea-filled dream, convinced she can send rain, and seeks answers from Kwiriki. With Kanifa, she is summoned to Master Kiprun, an irascible alchemist. Dumai presents ancient pages and Furtia’s message about a missing star and “fallen night.”

Kiprun recalls a theory of cosmic balance—cold/night/above versus fire/day/below—arguing the world is in an overheated Age of Fire. He posits the Dreadmount across the Abyss as a pressure point and suggests these wyrms are mindless products of imbalance, not evil. Concluding that only forces from above can end it, he insists they need an astronomer. Nikeya quietly observes.

Shouts and smoke interrupt; Lacustrine is under attack. Dumai mounts Furtia as Nayimathun rises from the Hidden Lake. They douse fires, but a swift lesser flyer is crushed by Nayimathun, revealing the true threat: a massive golden wyrm. Furtia charges and is struck by heat and an iron horn, her light snuffed, sending Dumai tumbling from the sky.

Injured and disoriented, Dumai navigates burning streets as the golden wyrm immolates avenues. She encounters warped beasts—a scaled stag, a monstrous bear, a distorted wolf—born of the same upheaval. Pursued and choking on smoke, she stumbles along canals and through debris, determined to reach the palace.

Nayimathun descends through the chaos to seize Dumai to safety and deposits her on the snow before plunging into the Lake of Long Days. When the green dragon resurfaces, she is not alone, leaving the outcome and the new arrival poised to alter their next move.