Chapter One: Return from the Quiet Sky
The wind carried rumors long before it carried ships.
In the trading hub of Vael'Thara—once a shattered shard of the old empire, now a bustling haven for the free skyfolk—tales of a cloaked man walking beneath the aether-lanterns had begun to circulate. A man with silver-streaked black hair, a quiet gait, and eyes that knew too much sky.
Kaelen Vire had returned.
But not to reclaim thrones or seek old allies. He returned for one reason: her.
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Chapter Two: Mask and Flame
Sylrae Nerin sat in her quarters aboard the Starwake, the ship once Kaelen's, now hers by blade and will. Maps scattered across the table. Her gloves lay beside a half-empty bottle of cloudwine. She stared not at the charts, but at the mask on the wall—black leather, brass-filtered. His mask.
A knock. Then silence.
"Enter," she said, voice low.
Kaelen stepped in, shadowed by flickering lamplight. He looked older—gaunter, but anchored by something deeper than bone.
"You're late," she murmured.
"I didn't know the skies kept time," he replied.
She rose, stepped toward him until only a breath separated them. Her fingers brushed the edge of his mask hanging on the wall.
"You left without a word."
"If I said goodbye, I wouldn't have left."
The tension between them rippled. Old battles fought in glances, not gunfire. Then, she reached into a drawer and pulled out something unexpected: a black velvet pouch.
"What's that?" he asked.
She smirked. "A relic of the old world. Found it in a Zephyrite vault. Said it was used in Skyborne 'initiation ceremonies'... role play, they called it."
Kaelen arched a brow. "Ceremony?"
"Strip and kneel, Skycaptain," she said, tossing him the pouch with mock formality. "You'll follow my commands, or be cast from the hull."
He caught it midair. Inside: a silk blindfold, a silver chain, and a sky-blue ribbon once used to mark high-blood heirs. "You always did have a flair for the dramatic," he murmured.
She stepped behind him, fingers brushing his shoulders as she whispered, "Tonight, we play who we were—so we can become who we must."