Eldin woke in the manner as was common for him: with a shout, gasping breaths, and a lingering dream of the miasma closing around him. To make this awakening even worse than usual, his first sight upon regaining consciousness was the actual miasma that perpetually haunted his dreams. It was still being repelled by his unconscious usage of the windwyrm egg's purewind, but nevertheless, the sight of that screen of orange death not ten feet from him intensified his panic, and his noises of fright roused Fenric and Inpheria from their own sleep in frantic alarm. In a flash, Inpheria had stood and drawn her sword; Fenric, on one knee, aimed his pistol at the miasma, prepared to deliver a windstone bullet to anything that may emerge from it.

But Eldin's fit soon passed, and his friends realized there was no danger. While the Windchaser took deep breaths to return his body and mind to equilibrium, Fenric and Inpheria packed their things for the long hike back to the windwyrm. After a hastily eaten breakfast, the Zephyrs departed.

With their journey having begun, the joy Eldin had felt the prior day upon discovering the thriving windwyrm egg returned to him, and it was almost in a jaunty manner that he hiked up the mountain. Indeed, despite the more physically demanding exertion of an uphill trek, and the added weight of the egg that was surely forty pounds or more, he felt possessed of more vigor than he had when descending the mountain, for he now had the galvanizing power of hope to drive his body.

As he hiked, he spoke with the windwyrm--although speak is an unsuitable word for how they communicated. It was more the mental exchange of ideas and feelings between one another, rather than the expression of tangible words. As Eldin had been touching the egg for the duration of the night, the windwyrm had been able to see into his mind, and share his dreams thereby. The creature expressed concern and empathy for the Windchaser, followed by a firm declaration of resolution to assist humanity in delaying their extinction.

Fatigue began to conquer spirit, however, and their progress eventually slowed to a crawl. Fenric offered to carry the egg for a time, and Eldin accepted the assistance gratefully, using his personal windstone to fuel the purewind barrier instead.

"Damn me, that's heavy," Fenric complained upon taking the burden.

"Perhaps there's a way to hatch the egg," Inpheria said, "and either leave the shell behind or bring it in pieces, divided amongst each of us. The ship's engines would benefit greatly from so much windstone material."

"There's no way we could manage to break it," Fenric said. "Not without the proper tools."

"How's it supposed to hatch at all?" Eldin wondered aloud. "If it can't be broken like a normal egg."

"Perhaps the infant knows," Inpheria suggested. Eldin had relayed the contents of his "conversations" with the windwyrm infant to his friends, and the group was of the opinion that the creature was very intelligent, despite not technically even being born yet.

Eldin's eyebrows rose at the suggestion. "Good idea. I'll try." He walked alongside Fenric and placed his hand on the jagged shell, expressing to the windwyrm a feeling of weariness over carrying the egg and curiosity over the hatching of it. To his disappointment, however, the windwyrm returned a feeling of uncertainty--it didn't know itself how the hatching was supposed to happen.

When Eldin relayed this exchange to his friends, Inpheria groaned in frustration and pressed her palm against her forehead. "What is it?" Eldin asked her.

"Remember how I knew the windwyrm word for egg, and that I don't remember where I had obtained that knowledge? Well, I'm feeling a similar sensation now regarding the topic of hatching the egg. I know something about this subject, but from where I learned it I cannot fathom. Goodness, if I could just remember..." And she became silent and pensive for a long time.

With Inpheria quiet with contemplation and Fenric dedicating most of his energy toward hauling the egg, conversation died, so Eldin occupied himself with nothing but the next step, and the one after that. The remainder of the journey passed mostly silently, with Fenric and Eldin taking turns carrying the egg and the group taking breaks several times along the way to allow the men some rest. During these periods of recess, Inpheria also administered first aid to them, for their hands eventually blistered so badly that it became painful just to carry the egg.

Eventually, however, the exhausted trio reached the lower edge of the clouds at the peak of the mountain. Those thin, white wisps of cloud heralded the end of their journey, parting before Eldin's purewind as if making way for the group's return. Eldin held the egg at this moment, but despite the burden, he couldn't help but grin broadly, and two glances to his left and right showed similar smiles on the faces of his friends. Inpheria caught his eye, and for an instant, Eldin entirely forgot the distance between them. He decided right then that when this entire ordeal was over, he would make things right with her, and it was with that determination that he emerged through the uppermost edge of the cloudtop and into the clean, clear sky once more.

And there was the Ventus, circling the mountain's peak and slaughtering the windwyrm.

The scene was chaos. From a hundred holes in the port side of the ship, huge black balls were being launched at speed at the windwyrm. They didn't all fire simultaneously, but one after the other, with barely a second in between shots. Eldin had never seen the ship use anything like it before. One wayward shot crashed into the hard ground near him, sending a shower of rocky shards into the air, and the vibration it caused upon impact nearly toppled him over. The shots that didn't miss buried themselves into the huddled form of the windwyrm, who issued a deafening roar of pain with each blow sustained. As she had promised, she didn't fight back, instead merely dodging the attacks to the best of her ability, no doubt stalling as long as possible until the Zephyrs could return. Her gigantic and heavy body, however, did not lend itself well to agility, and she suffered more attacks than she evaded.

That sight conquered Eldin's fatigue and woke him into a furious alertness. The windwyrm had sacrificed parts of her own body for 700 years to keep humanity alive, and now the very humans she protected were butchering her. His teeth ground together, his face became hot with rage, and he was nearly about to snap when he felt the soothing hand of Inpheria on his shoulder.

She leaned close to his ear and shouted to be heard over the thunder of the Ventus's weapons. "Steady yourself. We must take the egg to the admiral and convince him to call off the attack."

Like magic, Eldin cooled at once. Inpheria and her calm, intelligent pragmatism had always been able to keep his more wild and spontaneous nature in check, and he felt a surge of gratitude to have her at his side. "Yes, you're right," he shouted back at her, and the three made their way toward the shuttle. Along the way, they narrowly avoided another erratic shot, and the windwyrm, upon noticing their danger, slithered slowly and with obvious pain along the ground until her body shielded them from the Ventus. Eldin spotted several holes along her body where she had been pierced. Strangely, it wasn't blood that leaked from those wounds, but torrents of purewind.

The windwyrm turned her colossal head toward their group and opened her mouth to speak, but only a wet gurgling sound issued forth. Eldin noticed several wounds around her mouth and neck where multiple shots had ruptured her jaw and throat, leaving her incapable of speech. His heart ached at the sight, as well as the knowledge that even now, close to death, the windwyrm showed selflessness for the humans she cherished. It only strengthened Eldin's desire to protect her from execution.

At the shuttle, they wasted no time loading the egg, engaging the engines, and taking flight. Fenric fumed as he managed the helm. "Those bastards," he growled. "They modified my pistol technology to make cannons!"

"Cannons?" Eldin said. He had never heard the word before.

"That's what they're using to attack the windwyrm. It's the same concept as my pistol, using purewind instead of gunpowder. But it looks like they're using actual cannonballs rather than windstone material. A year ago, some of the engineering team began work on a secret project, but I wasn't assigned to it, and I never learned what they were up to. They must have been developing the cannons and forging the cannonballs precisely for this purpose. Using my technology!" He breathed in and out through his nose with nostrils flared wide.

They had flown close to the entrance of the Ventus's loading bay now, and were nearly about to enter when the shuttle shook violently, sending Eldin, who had been standing by Fenric's chair, stumbling to the ground. Fenric was barely able to restabilize the shuttle and keep them in the air. "What was that?" he demanded.

Eldin stood and leaned forward, pointing out the forward ports toward the entrance of the loading bay. There, vigilantly guarding the entry, hovered a tall boy in a windsuit, equipped with the customary saber at his waist. He had a windstone in one hand and an arrogant grin on his face.

"Veric," Eldin said, ice in his voice. "He must have rocked our shuttle with purewind."

"Do you think he has orders from the admiral to prevent us from docking?" Inpheria asked.

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"Anders wouldn't order that," Eldin said with confidence. "No, this is personal. Draw alongside him, but slowly, and open the shuttle door."

Fenric obeyed, piloting the shuttle to hover just a few yards from the floating Veric. During the approach, Eldin went to his bag to equip the spiked vambraces he used for defense against cloudhawks. The door opened and Eldin stepped to the threshold, facing his rival across the empty sky. Veric's purewind, keeping himself afloat, tussled Eldin's hair, and he had to shout to be heard over it and the continued cannonfire of the Ventus. "You're in the way," Eldin said.

Veric's cocksure grin was permanently etched onto his face. "Join me out here and do something about it then."

"I think I'll do just that."

"I'll even let your friends dock."

Eldin's smile dropped. He couldn't keep the surprise off his face.

"My fight is with you," Veric said in response, "not them."

"That's more honor than I'd expect from you. Very well." Eldin returned to the cockpit where Fenric and Inpheria were waiting. "I've got to take care of something. The two of you take the egg to the bridge, where the admiral should be. Tell him there's another way to harvest windstones. He'll call off the assault."

"You got it," Fenric said.

"I'm counting on you both," Eldin said, and his friends nodded at him in unison.

He strode toward the open shuttle door, but before he reached it, Inpheria said, "El." He turned back to find her looking at Veric through the starboard ports. "He's serious about this. Be careful."

Eldin's only response was to smile. He turned back around, stepped to the threshold of the door, and took a single step forward to lean over and plummet from the shuttle, a windstone in his hand and thrill in his heart.

He'd been looking forward to this fight for a long time.

A mental pulse to the windstone produced a blast of purewind that filled the wings of his windsuit, countering his descent and sending him soaring back up. He flew with that purewind, his closest companion, spinning and twirling in the sky with a grace he knew matched that of Inpheria during her blade dancing. For a moment--only a brief, yet blissful moment--he was at peace. The fate of the ship, the danger to the windwyrm, even the miasma held no power over him at this instant. He let himself savor that serenity, until casting it aside to focus once more on his task. Another brief moment of soaring drew him close to Veric, where he stopped and hovered in place, close enough to not need to shout. Behind Veric, Eldin watched the shuttle as it entered the loading bay of the Ventus.

That distraction was a mistake. The brief instant his attention had been drawn to the shuttle, Veric drew his saber and flung himself forward with a blast of purewind, swinging the blade in an arc intended to split Eldin's skull. He only barely dodged in time by summoning his own purewind to hurl himself to the side.

Eldin cursed--only partly in anger, the rest in surprise--for Veric was completely disregarding the traditional rules of the wind duel. The usual objective was to cause your opponent to drop his windstone, rendering him unable to fly and fight. The victor is then expected to use his own windstone to keep the loser afloat, so he doesn't fall beneath the clouds. Veric, however, seemed to be actually trying to kill him. That put Eldin at a disadvantage, as he wasn't intending to kill Veric, and would be forced to hold back to avoid doing so.

That'll make victory all the more satisfying, he thought with a smile.

That smile seemed to anger Veric, because he rushed forward again upon seeing it, showing signs of fury on his face as he approached. Instead of pushing himself away this time, however, Eldin sent a gust of purewind upward from below Veric, catching his opponent's wings and sending him careening high above Eldin's head as he passed.

While Veric was recovering from the abruptly shifted trajectory, Eldin soared toward him, prepared to swipe at Veric's arm with his bladed vambrace and cause him to drop his windstone. Veric, however, released control of the purewind holding him aloft, and he dropped at once, just in time for Eldin to soar above him, missing entirely.

These were the strategies typically used in wind duels--controlling purewind to maneuver not only yourself, but your opponent as well, seeking that one moment when you have an opportunity to wrest your foe's windstone from his grasp. Eldin and Veric clashed like this, over and over, each of them more masterful in the air than a cloudhawk. With every pulse of his windstone, whether to fling himself or his opponent, Eldin hoped to create that opening he sought, and Veric did the same. Each of them came close to suffering a cut several times, but neither was quite able to strike the other, and soon, the two men were breathless from exhaustion. In unspoken, mutual agreement, they stopped to spend a moment recovering, heaving giant breaths and staring at each other icily.

We're evenly matched in ability, Eldin thought during this interlude, but he doesn't need to refrain from killing me. That blade will score a hit eventually. I need some kind of advantage. But his skill is superb; he has no weaknesses. Then he smiled to himself at his next thought: At least, not in Windchasing ability.

"Veric," Eldin said.

"What?"

"Has your sister been lonely during my absence? I'll go pay her a visit after I'm done with you here." He punctuated this comment with a wink.

That did it. Veric's face turned red at once, and he inhaled a massive, furious breath. Eldin prepared himself for what he knew was coming: a reckless, rage-fueled, head-on charge.

He wasn't wrong. A pulse from Veric's windstone and a blast of purewind launched him forward, blade raised. But in his anger, he sacrificed poise for strength, and it was only too easy for Eldin to shift his body to avoid the careless saber slash. Before Veric could recover from the missed swing, Eldin dragged his vambrace blades across his foe's arm, forcing a cry of pain from the man and the release of his windstone, which became lost forever in the clouds below. Veric--no longer able to keep himself aloft--dropped at once, and a second later became caught in a net of purewind formed by Eldin, who raised his defeated foe back up to eye level.

Eldin felt his nerves relax a bit, now that Veric was without a windstone and powerless. "Now," he said, "I've got pressing business aboard the ship, so let's--" His words were abruptly cut off when he was hit by an immensely powerful blast of purewind that struck him head-on. It caught his wings and flung him forcefully backward. He recovered as soon as he could, but it wasn't fast enough to completely avoid Veric's follow-up attack, who had taken advantage of Eldin's disorientation and somehow chased after him. A single, vicious swipe of the saber drew a long cut from Eldin's shoulder down to his opposite hip. He had dodged just enough to prevent the blade from cutting deeper, but it was a grievous wound regardless. Desperate to escape danger and to reassess the situation, Eldin forced a skyward-blowing gale of purewind to hurl him directly upward.

Veric didn't follow. He simply hovered in place, looking directly up at Eldin and smirking victoriously, savoring this moment fully. Eldin looked at his free hand to confirm that, indeed, he held no windstone. How is he using purewind?

Eldin's face must have expressed the question in his mind, for Veric answered it by way of presenting the hilt of his saber. Despite the distance of his higher elevation, Eldin could clearly see that a windstone had been embedded into the grip, giving Veric the ability to wield his blade and maintain skin contact with a windstone at the same time. He carried that stone in his off-hand to trick me, Eldin realized. He concealed this advantage until I lowered my guard, when I had thought to have won, then hit me with a surprise attack. The bastard has gotten clever.

The situation was dire now. His wound, though not immediately fatal, presented a different danger in the form of blood loss. He was already feeling the onset of dizziness, and that, coupled with his fatigue from carrying the windwyrm egg up the mountain, handicapped him immensely. A long, drawn-out fight was no longer possible. If he intended to survive this battle, he'd need to be a bit clever himself. He needed to hit Veric with a single attack--something just as unexpected, ensuring to deliver a decisive blow. Something reckless.

Perhaps even stupid.

Between finger and thumb, Eldin held his windstone down toward Veric, still directly beneath him, then summoned the strongest blast of purewind he could muster. He compressed that wind into a small, pinpoint size, then aimed it downward, striking the windstone he held and launching it out of his grip.

Imperceptibly fast, the windstone blasted toward Veric, who barely had time to widen his eyes in surprise before it struck him in the forehead. He lost consciousness at once, and with it, the purewind holding him aloft. He plummeted toward the clouds. Eldin, no longer in possession of a windstone, dropped as well, and drawing his arms to his body and his legs together, he was able to dive at a faster rate than Veric's unconscious, twirling body. The windstone-embedded saber, still in Veric's hand, was his goal. It was their only salvation from the sizzling orange death below, and it nearly doomed them both when the wind resistance from Veric's fall tore the blade from his fingers, sending it spinning erratically away in the air.

Opening his wings just enough to give him some control over his descent, Eldin navigated toward the saber. It spun so quickly that Eldin's first attempted grasp of it missed the hilt entirely, catching the blade instead and giving him a deep slice in two of his fingers. He grimaced and pushed through the pain, making another grab for it and barely managing to snatch it by the pommel. He wound his fingers around the hilt at once and sensed the familiar, gusting power of purewind within the embedded windstone. He looked down at Veric's plunging body and hesitated only for an instant--wondering if he should save the weasel at all--before casting the thought from his mind and summoning several small streams of purewind to stabilize Veric's body and slow both of their descents to a stop.

With the danger passed, Eldin exhaled a breath he didn't realize he had been holding, and felt his body relax. Ferrying Veric to the ship was easy, though it took several minutes of flying to catch back up with the Ventus, which had continued circling the peak of the mountain while the two Windchasers dueled. Once inside, he laid Veric's still unconscious form on the deck, checked to make certain the man was still alive, then hurled his saber from the threshold of the loading bay to sink beneath the clouds, lost forever to the miasma.

He strode purposefully away, intending to go straight to the bridge, where Inpheria and Fenric should be negotiating with the admiral, but realizing that he no longer possessed a windstone, he instead stopped at their shuttle. He expected Fenric and Inpheria, in their haste, to have simply left without their belongings, including a storage of windstones that should still remain within.

He was right. There, he found nine stones, intended to be used for emergencies for the purewind stabilizer and the engine of the shuttle itself. He pocketed one, then spent a quick moment clumsily patching himself up, wishing he had Inpheria with him to do it properly. After finishing, he stood to leave the shuttle when a sudden thought froze him in place. He had underestimated Veric, paying for the mistake with blood--and almost his life. He didn't know what else to expect today, but he wasn't going to allow himself to be surprised again. He returned to the storage compartment to collect the remaining eight windstones.