Four

Alizeh and Cyrus ride an exhausted dragon toward a sky crowded with apparent stars. Their tense exchange reveals mutual provocation: Cyrus attempts to intimidate Alizeh, while Alizeh refuses submission and coolly asserts her resolve. Cyrus explains the moving “stars” are fireflies in Tulan’s protective skies.

A violent descent through clouds strips Alizeh’s borrowed coat and hurls them toward thunderous surf. Breaking mist reveals Tulan’s cliffs crowned by a vertiginous palace framed by colossal staircase waterfalls. The ocean spray electrifies Alizeh’s Jinn nature; she openly delights in the water despite the cold, startling Cyrus.

The dragon lands roughly on mossed cliff ground. Cyrus tends the beast with water, an apple, and meat from a waiting chest, revealing unexpected gentleness. Dawn light unveils a towering, intimidating stronghold piercing the clouds. Alizeh, freezing and overwhelmed, absorbs the alien grandeur and the ever-present roar of falls.

Alizeh evaluates her impossible position: exposed to two empires and trapped in Iblees’s scheme via Cyrus. She vows not to marry Cyrus, resolves to bide time within Tulan, and aims to outmaneuver the devil himself. After panic briefly grips her, she steadies, reclaiming focus and intent.

As Alizeh finalizes her immediate plan to observe, recover, and gather information, a soft, unfamiliar voice speaks her name from behind. She turns toward the unseen newcomer, and the scene closes on this unsettling greeting.