Chapter 41

Diem deliberately leaps from Yrselle’s balcony to avoid mind-reading and trust Sorae to catch her. Sorae arrives with Luther, Taran, Alixe, and Zalaric, and they climb above the clouds as Yrselle gives chase. Overloaded and exhausted, Sorae struggles while Yrselle threatens to force Diem back to Umbros.

Pressed, Diem counters the gryvern’s fire with crystalline frost and, at Luther’s urging, realizes she can wield multiple Kindred magics, including wind. Empowered by her resolve to save dying Luther, she hammers Yrselle’s gryvern with a wall of air, sending Yrselle tumbling through the clouds. Diem and Luther share a fierce vow to survive together.

Yrselle returns and rams Sorae; Alixe falls toward the sea. Diem and Sorae dive; with wind magic and Taran’s reach, they snatch Alixe a breath above the water. During the scramble, Diem’s jar of lavender flame spills into the Sacred Sea.

Yrselle then seizes their minds: Taran strangles Luther as Alixe and Zalaric begin to slide off Sorae. Diem refuses Sorae’s desperate offer to kill Taran and resists using her godhood to annihilate Yrselle. As Luther’s lips turn blue and both allies slip, a blinding surge of lavender fire suddenly engulfs Yrselle and her gryvern, breaking her control.

Freed, the group hauls everyone back onto Sorae, cloaks themselves in illusion, and rides a westward wind. Exhausted but alive, Diem holds Luther and orders Sorae toward home.