39 East

Dumai flies with Furtia after King Padar and two Sepuli dragons to the Broken Valley by Mount Yeltalay. Cloaked in cloud and battered by steam and stench, they enter a dead, ruined outpost once used by alchemists and skywatchers. Nikeya nearly falls into a boiling pool, underscoring the valley’s fragility and danger.

As darkness thickens, the dragons light their crests and the group follows a rickety boardwalk to a vast rift. Inside, hundreds of pitted, lava-leaking boulders rattle together—twistings of fire and earth that Furtia warns cannot be calmed, foretelling that the sky will burn.

A hulking presence moves in the steam. Eyes like braziers reveal a mantle-born sire, too strong for Furtia alone. Recognizing the imminent catastrophe, King Padar orders Dumai to return to Seiiki to warn them and mentions a Lacustrine alchemist, Kiprun of Brakwa, who might know what to do.

As a Sepuli dragon snatches King Padar away, Kanifa drags Dumai and Nikeya toward Furtia. The sire opens its jaws, fire races across the boardwalk, and the rift’s boulders crack, turning the valley into a furnace as the ground seems to break apart. The group scrambles to escape, their mission split between realms.