Astheria, At Last

For a long moment, the siblings stood together before the blazing light of the Skygate, the wind still battering the lighthouse all around them—but it felt distant now, like the storm belonged to another world.

Elias tightened his grip briefly, steady and sure, grounding them one last time.

He looked at Mira, her face aglow with awe and fear, and at Finn, who could barely contain the wild spark of excitement in his eyes.

"Go," Elias said, voice rough but sure, carrying over the hum of the Gate. "Go and chase your stars."

For the first time in what felt like forever, Mira smiled—a true, trembling smile full of hope.

Finn whooped and grabbed her hand, tugging her forward.

In an instant, the lighthouse shook, a shudder that threw the siblings off-balance. The storm bellowed once again, rain and wind fell back to motion—harsher and stronger. An explosion below further shook the lighthouse, metal and stone groaning.

"We have to go now!" Elias shouted as he pulled the compass and bracelet off the stone block.

Without a word, he seized Finn's hand, Mira's sleeve, and leapt into the heart of the Skygate as the lighthouse behind them began to crumble, the unforgiving wrath of the storm swallowing the last of the world they had known.

The moment they crossed the threshold, the world changed—it was like stepping through glass and falling into a sky turned inside out.

They fell forward towards the ground—soft, composed of iridescent stone, half-solid, half-breathing with quiet pulses of energy.

As they looked up, colors they had no names for rippled across a vast expanse, the air shimmering like spun silver. Silhouettes of islands floated in the endless aether above and below them, tethered by streams of crystalline light. Clouds like living mist drifted lazily across unseen currents, and the stars—oh, the stars—were close enough the siblings felt like they could reach out and pluck them from the sky.

Strange, elegant ruins jutted on some of the floating islands—broken archways similar to the Skygate they have crossed, bridges leading to nowhere, monoliths ahead etched with more runes that seemed almost to hum in welcome.

As the siblings moved forward, the Skygate shimmered behind them—no longer the roaring pillar of energy it had been at the lighthouse, but something quieter, more solemn.

Mira stumbled to a halt, staring around her with wide, shining eyes. "I—I don't think... we're even on the same plane anymore," she whispered, wonder thick in her voice.

The storm back home, the crumbling lighthouse, the broken past—it all felt a world away.

Finn ran a few steps ahead, laughing breathlessly, turning in circles to take it all in.

"It's like a dream!" he shouted, arms thrown wide. "We're inside the sky!"

Elias stepped forward, following Finn—slower, more cautious. He felt the strange pull of the place in his bones—not frightening, exactly, but vast, ancient, aware.

He looked up at the enormous sprawl of islands floating like wayward stars, at the bridges of light connecting them, and for the first time, he let himself feel it.

The awe.

The wonder.

He didn't need to be a dreamer to understand it now. It was enough that he was here—that they were here together.

For a moment, none of them spoke, breathing in the sharp, bright, living air of this new realm.

They turned to the Skygate once, drawn by instinct, to look back.

Still shaped like a lancet arch-pier, but it felt more alive, impossibly slender and elegant, carved from some silver-white stone that glowed faintly against the vastness. One side leaned slightly, a jagged wound where a portion of the pillar had broken away long ago, leaving it incomplete—yet it held firm, defying logic and gravity.

Runes chased each other along its surface like living veins of color, swirling in soft hues of blue, gold, ruby red, emerald green, and deep violet. They pulsed once more—as if sighing—then slowly dimmed, folding themselves into slumber. The colors faded until only faint impressions remained, like the last traces of starlight before dawn.

The Skygate stood there, silent and monumental, a gateway half-ruined but still proud, guarding the way between worlds.

"Here we are," Elias commented, gaze turning back to Finn and the endless space before them. "Inside the world Pops had hoped to see."

"I can't believe it… I've been hoping for this day, this moment I've dreamt of—to finally see Astheria. And now, standing before its majestic beauty, I…" Mira muttered, barely above a whisper. "I find it hard to believe, crazy right?"

Finn, now crouching a few paces ahead, poked at a mound of silvery dust and fractured stone that rose like a small hill. He frowned, rubbing the strange soil between his fingers, feeling how it crumbled almost weightlessly.

"Guys! Look! The soil here is very strange—"

The ground suddenly shifted beneath them.

A deep, low growl—more felt through their bones than heard—rolled across the vastness.

All three of them froze. Heads snapped to the source of the sound.

At first, it seemed like a mountain itself was stirring, a distant ridge of the broken horizon heaving upward as if the world were shrugging off its own crust. Rocks tumbled in lazy arcs, sliding off the emerging shape.

Then—two enormous embers flared open in the darkness.

Eyes.

Ancient, molten-gold eyes, set deep in a cragged, monstrous form.

The rest of the creature emerged slowly, unfolding like a nightmare given flesh. Thick, scarred scales the color of ash and iron shifted across powerful shoulders. Its horns curled back like shattered tree branches, one broken halfway through. A network of old wounds and pitted scars mapped its hide—evidence of battles fought long before any of them were born.

The creature hauled itself up, wings half-folded, shoulders rippling with slow, deliberate strength. Its scales caught what little light there was, giving the illusion of armored plates forged from unknown metals.

A dragon.

Mira absently clutched Elias' arm. Finn's mouth hung open in awe.

The creature gave another rumbling growl—not quite a threat, but not a welcome either—a heavy sound that vibrated the broken stones around them.

And then, from between the massive plates of its shoulders harness, a figure descended, barely a speck against the beast's flank.

Elias immediately grabbed the younger ones behind his back, one arm protectively shielding them, stance low. His heartbeat thundered in his chest, each instinct screaming danger, but the figure's approach was deliberate—movement fluid, purposeful.

Cloaked against the whipping winds, boots landing sure-footed on the uneven ground, kicking up dust, the figure pulled back its hood and scarf, hair wild from the winds but eyes sharp and clear. A human.

"Took you long enough," she called across the wide space, her voice carrying on the wind, tone surprised. A rare crooked grin cut across her weathered face. "Oth'ha! Thought you might have gotten yourselves eaten by the storm."

The siblings blinked at her, stunned. Unable to find their voices.

A human—a woman in Astheria.

It felt impossible—and yet, after the Skygate, after the storm, after the loss of the lighthouse—everything had already crossed into the realm of the impossible.

The dragon rumbled again, its body folding lower as if awaiting a command. Its head swiveled slightly, keeping one molten eye fixed on the trio, but otherwise made no move. It settled heavily into the broken earth, barely accommodating its enormous size—its bulk twice the length of a great blue whale, a living mountain of muscle and armored hide. Every shift of its weight sent tremors through the ruined soils.

The woman stood before them, a barrier between the siblings and the creature's immense shadow. The crooked grin she had worn earlier was gone, replaced by a sharp-edged wariness.

"Now, which faction do you serve?" she asked, her voice clipped and hard. 

Some figures also descended from the mystical dragon, their movements smooth and precise, landing with the quiet grace of practiced sentinels, their eyes scanning the surroundings, poised ready to attack and defend.

The siblings stiffened as they looked at each other. The air felt heavier, like the atmosphere itself was holding its breath.

"Faction?" Elias echoed, his words slow, confused.

"You opened a Skygate, twice. We didn't catch you the first time." The woman's voice hardened, her gaze narrowing. "That's no small feat. Lyth'naer! Who are you? What are you trying to do?"

"We—we're not part of any faction," Mira stammered, her voice small despite the weight of the question. Elias still shielded her and Finn with his body, his eyes scanning the woman's movements with growing concern. "We're just—"

"Where are you from?" The woman cut through her words, her gaze sharp and unforgiving.

"Not from here." Finn, always quick to speak, answered immediately, though his voice wavered under the woman's intense scrutiny. 

A frown tugged at the corners of her mouth, her eyes flicking to the siblings' clothing, their accents, the odd familiarity of their presence here—something she couldn't quite place.

"You're not Isles-marked, Khlara'tho," she muttered. "Not Riftborn, either. Your hideous covers are definitely not Drifters... and not eccentric enough to be Abyssals..."

Her brow furrowed deeper. She cocked her head slightly, as though hearing something only she could perceive. Then her eyes narrowed further, like a predator spotting a flaw in its prey. She stepped closer, each movement sharp, controlled.

The siblings took a step backward for every forward she did.

"Which group?" she asked again, quieter but no less insistent.

A pause.

"The Ancients sent you?" she demanded, her words colder now, sharper. "Which group? The Atlasians? The Eryndari?"

The siblings exchanged a helpless glance.

"We—we don't even know what those are," Elias admitted, his voice oddly strained, the weight of truth settling on his shoulders like a leaden cloak. "We're just ordinary people... from... Earth."

For a long heartbeat, no one said anything. The silence stretched, thick and strange.

The woman barked a dry laugh, shaking her head, as though hearing a ridiculous joke. "Of course. Beyond the Veil. Stars above and below, oth'rath."

Her hand hovered over her sword, fingers brushing its hilt with a subtle tension. Her eyes roamed over the siblings once more, and she seemed to make up her mind.

"No ordinary people can open a Skygate, let alone a crumbling ancient one." Her expression hardened, eyes calculating. Without warning, she unsheathed her sword, the blade gleaming in the fading light. "Ath'lynn. There's no explanation other than you're Stormforgers."

"Wait, wait, wait—we're really not from here!" Mira stepped forward, hands raised in surrender, her voice louder now, pleading. "Please, we're telling the—"

The dragon growled—deep and low, like a rumble of distant thunder. Its ember eyes ignited, ancient and patient, locking on the compass with a gaze that seemed to weigh millenia. It exhaled sharply through its nostrils, a thunderous rush of mist and hot breath blasting outward like a geyser.

The woman's eyes snapped toward the dragon then to the compass, her wariness shifting into something else—something far more alert.

"Where'd you get that?" she demanded, her voice faltering as she stared, transfixed by the compass in Mira's hands, sword dropping low.

"It's—it's our grandfather's." Mira quickly hid the compass behind her, suddenly afraid it might be taken from her, clutching it tightly as though the very gesture could shield it from their mysterious, calculating gazes.

The woman's breath hitched as her eyes locked at Mira's face. "How... How are you alive? Is that what—did you use that to cross here?"

"Yes. Why?" Elias asked, brows furrowing, his posture shifting to protect Mira. His arm still shielded her from the woman, though the barrier now felt more fragile with every question.

An incredulous laugh escaped her as she sheathed her sword, shaking her head as if grappling with something too impossible to comprehend. "T'haelos'ki. That's impossible."

"Wait…" Mira hesitated, her brows furrowing, trying to wrap her mind around the strange woman before them. "You guys are human, right?"

"We're not human, Khaar'thel, we're skyfarers. I'm Sorsei of the Skyborn Rebellion." She said this with a casual flick of her wrist, as if dismissing a trivial question, wiping her eyes as though she'd just recovered from a ridiculous joke.

"But how are we even... understanding each other?" Mira asked again, her voice laced with confusion.

Sorsei's expression sobered. The smile faded, replaced by a look of measured seriousness.

"The Skygate, Khir'naan," she said, jerking her chin toward the ancient arch behind them, now a faint silhouette blending in with the dark horizon. "When you passed through, it brushed you. Attuned you."

Sorsei tapped the side of her head with one finger, her sharp eyes locking onto Mira's with the weight of unsaid knowledge.

Mind to mind. Word to word. Enough for sense to pass between us.

Finn blinked, wide-eyed, the gears in his mind slowly grinding to a halt. "Like magic?"

"Old magic," Sorsei said, her voice carrying a deep resonance as if the very air around them hummed. "Older than the Isles themselves."

A chill ran through Mira despite the warm air, as if the shadows of ancient power pressed against her skin. She instinctively hugged her arms around herself.

"But then how…" Elias began, brow furrowing, the questions now tumbling out in a rush. "How are we able to—?"

"My turn." Sorsei cut him off with a sharp, almost teasing shrug. She crossed her arms, eyes gleaming with that same calculated edge. "If you're not sent here by the Ancients, then who did?"

The siblings exchanged another look, the tension thickening between them. They had been swept into this strange world by forces beyond their comprehension, but this new revelation felt like another layer of mystery, more complicated than they had anticipated. The ground felt unsteady beneath their feet, as if they were caught between two realms and neither could offer solid ground.

"I told you," Elias said quietly, looking between his siblings, his voice steady despite the growing uncertainty. "We're simply just… we're from Earth."

Sorsei's eyes narrowed, taking in their words carefully, but her posture shifted, as if she were reconsidering something. Her gaze flickered to the dragon, still looming behind her, its molten eyes never once straying from them.

"No simple human accidentally stumbles into Astheria." Her voice softened for a brief moment, but the hardness in her tone returned quickly. "And a Skygate like that… Well, oth'rath, let's just say it doesn't open—respond without something powerful—or someone—pulling the strings."

The dragon's low growl rumbled again, as though in agreement with her words. The deep, resonant sound vibrated through the stones beneath their feet, a reminder that they were standing before something far beyond their understanding.

Mira stepped forward hesitantly, the compass still tightly clutched in her hands. Her fingers tingled at the edges of it, as if it were pulling something from her—something she didn't fully grasp yet. She swallowed, trying to find her voice.

"We—" She started, her words faltering for a moment as she met Sorsei's sharp gaze. "We didn't mean to open the Skygate. It just… happened."

The woman studied her, eyes unblinking, then glanced briefly at the compass Mira was holding. Her mouth twisted into a wry smile.

"The compass…" She muttered, as if tasting the word. "It's not just a trinket, is it?"

Elias stiffened. "It really was our grandfather's," he said, his voice rising slightly in defense of the only piece of familiarity they had in this alien world. "It—he left it for us."

"I'm still so confused as to how you managed to cross in the first place. No one from your world... should've been able to awaken it, t'haelos'ki. Not even a single skyfarer can." Sorsei clicked her tongue, staring at the Skygate as if looking for answers.

"Wait, you said... something about the Skygate not responding, but it did. The compass... it—" Elias' voice trailed off as something clicked in his mind. He turned toward Sorsei, his eyes widening with a new thought. 

"Does opening the Skygate have anything to do with this?" Elias pulled the bracelet from his pocket, small, unassuming but felt ancient, powerful. "But Mira already was able to open the Skygate without it."

Sorsei froze, her sharp eyes locking onto the bracelet in his hands. Her expression shifted instantly, flickering between disbelief and sudden realization. "What...?" 

She took a step closer, staring intently at it. "That bracelet... Taen'darun! How—how do you have that? That's—" Her voice faltered, and she ran a hand through her wild hair as she stepped back, exhaling sharply as she processed the sight. "Impossible. No. It's a myth."

"We… we wrapped it around the compass." Mira said, her voice strained. Instinctively, she pulled the compass closer to her chest, her heartbeat quickening as the woman's gaze grew heavier. "But what do you mean, 'a myth'?"

Sorsei's brow furrowed deeply as she took another step forward, her confusion blending with awe. "I—That bracelet... it's not just any bracelet. It's... it's connected to the Skygate's original keys—ancient keys, before the Skybridge was made. It's thought to be... lost. A symbol of power, forged to activate pathways between realms. But it was never meant to be used again. Oth'rath… It's—it's said to be... the key to a realm that no one should reach."

Finn's eyes widened. "Wait... so it's real? It's not just some... legend?"

Sorsei didn't answer immediately. She just stared at the bracelet, her expression a mixture of awe, dread, and something else—something inexplicable.

"It was never supposed to be found. Never supposed to be used again. Yet here you are. Using it, with the compass..." She swallowed, her gaze shifting from the siblings to the Skygate again behind them. "I—I don't understand it. Saer'eth… But the fact that you're standing here... means you've crossed into something that was never meant to be crossed." 

Behind them, the Skygate gave a shuddering breath, prompting them to turn around.

A crack raced up its leaning side, unnoticed earlier. The arch, battered from the ages it had endured, let out one last whisper of light before collapsing fully into ruin—stones dissolving into motes of silver dust that scattered into the void. It felt almost… intentional, as if the Gate had been waiting, holding itself together, for one final crossing—the siblings' passage—before it could rest.

Mira pressed a hand against her chest, the small pang of homesickness tightening, curling into her bones. She thought of the storm, of the house now lost to the furious skies, and for a heartbeat she nearly wished they could turn back.

Everything familiar felt so far away now.

Elias must have sensed it—his hand settled firmly on her shoulder, grounding her without a word. His presence steadied her like a lighthouse in a raging sea. She glanced up at him and nodded once, blinking away the sting in her eyes. The silent comfort—the simple we're in this together presence, steadied her breathing.

Sorsei's voice dropped lower, almost a whisper, cutting through from behind. "That was beyond dangerous. You could've died."

Elias exchanged a glance with Mira and Finn, their expressions a mirror of confusion and trepidation as they turned back to her. 

"Well, we're here, aren't we?" Finn snorted, stepping out from behind Elias with a confidence that seemed to startle even himself.

"You've got a fiery tongue, yl'khar, young one," Sorsei chuckled, her lips curving upward as her posture softened just a little. She crossed her arms, still eyeing them like a puzzle yet to be solved.

"I'm not young! I'm already twelve!" Finn huffed, crossing his arms with a defiant pout.

Sorsei blinked, her brow furrowing. She looked at him up and down, as if seeing him for the first time. "Twelve?" she muttered. 

"You're... twelve?" Her gaze shifted between Finn and the others, her confusion apparent.

"Yeah, right! Twelve!" Finn snapped, hands on his hips, his chin jutted out with pride—clearly unimpressed by her skepticism.

"Why? Does that surprise you?" Elias asked, still protective, though his posture had relaxed slightly.

"Uhh, I—Never mind. So, you're really from the Earth." Sorsei's expression hardened for a moment before she shook her head, almost as if dismissing her own thoughts. "Look, time here doesn't work like it does in your world. It doesn't fit your mortal measure."

"Mortal measure…" Elias stepped forward, protective, but also puzzled. "What are you talking about—Wait, so when you said it took us long enough, how long was it exactly?"

"Three and a half crests. So…" She muttered, thoughts occupied like doing mental math, pacing left to right.

Mira eyed Elias as Sorsei's words sounded tangled and foreign, desperate to catch the thread of meaning. Elias simply responded with a clueless shrug, just as lost as she was.

"Crests…" Mira mumbled, brows knitted tightly, a crease of confusion shadowing her forehead as she leaned in, eyes squinting slightly. "Well, it's only been around four hours, maybe, since we first awakened the Skygate."

"That would be about right… Yeah." Sorsei nodded her head slowly, her expression a mix of disbelief and growing unease. "Four hours... yes, four hours..." 

"Oth'ha!" She exclaimed, unable to hide her grin, arms wide as if discovering something new. "The Crown of Stars speaks truth, yes! One mortal hour is indeed a hundred forty spirals! Ir'nar!"

Elias and Mira looked at her in confusion, trying to process what she was saying but unable to do so.

"Our time isn't measured the same, you can say ours is faster—way faster. Think of a spiral as your hour, an hour in your world is equivalent to a hundred and forty here. Khir'naan, so since you've crossed the gate, it's almost like you've never left at all!" She looked at them again, voice filled with enthusiasm and awe. 

"At least it is—in the Chronaether Cycle." She gestured to the fractured ruins around them, her expression turning grim and melancholic. "But time isn't the same on every island—" 

"Stop him!" one Skyborn shouted, snapping their heads toward the sound, eyes going wide.

"Don't touch the wyrm if you're not aetherbound! Varekth!" barked another, voice sharp with alarm. The Skyborns nearby, a few perched on smaller drakes and outcroppings, noticed too late.

"Finn!" Elias shouted, quickly darting to his direction, teeth gritting. 

Mira followed behind, shouting unclear words in the air.

"Kyreth…" Sorsei could only mutter, briefly frozen in her place before running after them, easily closing in their distance.

But Finn, googled-eyed with awe, had already reached out a small, steady hand. His fingertips brushed the ancient, pebbled scales just above Kyreth's massive claw.

The wyrm stirred.

The world held its breath.

The Skyborns tensed, hands flying to their hilts or reins.

Kyreth lowered his massive head with a low rumble that vibrated the very air, the heat of his breath gusting against Finn's face. The wyrm's nostrils flared once, twice—then, slowly, settled.

Instead of striking, he let out a deep, grumbling exhale, as if... accepting.

Everyone halted and stared in disbelief, even time itself.

"Ath'lynn," Sorsei muttered under her shaking breath, heart beating wildly. "Unbound... yet Kyreth yields."

Elias grabbed Finn back by the shoulders, his heart hammering. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Finn just grinned sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders. "He didn't seem mad."

"Finn!" Mira shouted, who still was running towards them. "Are you hurt?!" She frantically checked Finn, between her breaths.

Kyreth, massive and stoic, merely blinked—a slow, ancient gesture—as if judging them and finding them... curious.

Sorsei paced toward them, boots crunching on gravel, her expression unreadable.

"You crossed the Skygate, saer'eth," she said slowly. "And now a wyrm... accepts you."

Her gaze flickered between the siblings, something wary and half-wondering in her face. 

"You are more tangled with the old powers than you know, children."

The siblings exchanged uncertain glances, unsure of how to react to the magnitude of what Sorsei had just said. This wasn't just about the Skygate or the wyrm anymore. This was about something far bigger than any of them had imagined.

Sorsei studied them, silent for a long moment. Then, her lips twisted into a wry grin. "Ir'nar, another twist in the threads of fate."

The dragon, seemingly alert to something far beyond their senses, abruptly let out a deep, rumbling growl. Its molten eyes shifted to the distance, staring into the ruins that stretched beyond them, as if it could see something no human could. 

"But this world isn't kind to strangers. And you're more than just part of something... something bigger than you know. But that's for another time. We need to get you to safety, first." Sorsei's expression darkened, hand hovered over the hilt of her sword again, her eyes flicking to the horizon where the drifting starfields were slowly sinking into the strange, crimson sky.

"We'd better get moving," she muttered, turning toward the dragon. 

The beast responded immediately, rising up, its massive form casting a long shadow across the ruined landscape.

"Didn't she mention she's from a rebellion?" Mira whispered to Elias, eyes never taking off Sorsei.

"I can hear you, ath'roth, just so you know." Sorsei rolled her eyes, voice hardening. "Look, I can't promise you safety. But I can promise you the truth. The Skyborn will not harm you." 

There was a moment of silence, broken only by the uneasy shifting of the dragon's massive bulk. The siblings stood on edge, their minds racing.

"Pops said never trust strangers but I want to ride their dragon." Finn whispered beside Elias yet it was still audible enough for anyone nearby.

"Khaar'thel? Do you people even know how to whisper?" Sorsei huffed in annoyance.

"Oh, I did that on purpose." Finn said with a mischievous grin, earning another eye roll from Sorsei.

"Here's the thing, you've just triggered something far older than your Pops. Something that's been waiting to wake up for a long time." She said, her voice now edged with urgency, the unease on her face deepening. "And whatever it is you've awakened, it's drawing attention. It won't be long before others take notice."

The siblings swallowed hard. The reality of their situation was beginning to sink in—this was no longer just a strange world they had stumbled into.

The young ones hesitated, but Elias nodded slowly, stepping forward. "Okay. Lead the way."

Sorsei didn't answer, but her crooked grin returned for a fleeting moment. Then, without another word, she mounted—climbed the dragon, her retreating figure quickly became a silhouette against the vast, tumultuous sky.

"Uhhh—hello?! We don't know how to follow you!" Elias shouted.