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Approaching the maelstrom’s border, Nomad is shocked to find a storm of fire rather than rain. He notes the ground cools unnaturally fast, likely from an Invested core that draws heat—cracking terrain and releasing flammable gases. With Beacon less than two hours from daylight, Rebeke flies into the firestorm on instruments, skirting fissures while prospecting for sunhearts.

Heat gauges spike as the ship is buffeted by flaming vortices. Trusting Auxiliary’s hearing, Nomad has Rebeke double back to a faint prospector ping. With temperatures critical, he exits alone into blinding fire, drops to the ground, and begins to dig with Auxiliary formed as a spade.

The heat destroys Nomad’s sight and burns his body while draining his remaining Investiture. Realizing he misjudged the plan and led the team into danger without sufficient testing, Nomad shelters underground, forming Auxiliary as a shield. He nearly goes numb as his Investiture dwindles to almost nothing.

As the planet rotates, the storm passes into daylight and shadow returns. Rain patters above, and Nomad’s body slowly heals the burns despite minimal Investiture. With roughly ninety minutes until Beacon’s sunrise deadline, he resolves to ambush the Cinder King’s harvesters at this corridor, steal ships and sunhearts, and race back to save Beacon.