The Spiral opened like a breath of wind.

Beast stepped through first, boots landing on something that felt impossibly soft beneath him. Not earth. Not stone. A cloud‑island — dense enough to hold weight, yet shifting gently underfoot like a living cushion. Brinrose followed, her cloak fluttering as the updraft caught it. Elira emerged in a shimmer of light, wings of flame folding behind her. Elias came last, the Spiral’s glow fading from his hands as the portal sealed.

The Skyloom Expanse stretched around them in layered altitudes — floating isles drifting like slow‑moving ships, wind‑bridges humming with faint tones, and towering spires of condensed mist rising into a pale blue sky. Everything breathed with motion. Everything sang.

Or rather… everything should have.

But the air felt wrong. Thin. Quiet in a way that wasn’t peaceful, but hollow.

Brinrose frowned. “Where’s the resonance? Realms of wind always hum.”

Elias closed his eyes, sensing the Spiral threads. “Something’s dampening the frequencies. Like a blanket over a drum.”

A soft fluttering sound approached — wings, but not the sharp beat of a hawk or the heavy push of a dragon. These wings whispered.

A young woman descended from a nearby cloud‑ledge, her pale blue wings catching the light like translucent silk. Her hair drifted around her face in soft, cloudlike strands, and her voice — when she spoke — was barely louder than the breeze.

“You’re the Spiralbound… aren’t you?”

Beast nodded. “We are. And you must be Aeris Cloudwhisper.”

She dipped her head, shy but grateful. “Thank you for coming. The Skyloom Expanse is… losing its voice.”

Elira stepped forward, studying the realm’s muted air. “Losing its voice how?”

Aeris lifted a hand, and the Whisperwind Pendant at her throat flickered weakly. “The Cloud Songs — the harmonies that keep our islands stable — are fading. Entire regions are falling silent. And when the songs vanish…” She gestured to a distant cloud‑island, cracked along its edges like broken porcelain. “The land begins to fracture.”

Beast’s jaw tightened. “What caused it?”

Aeris hesitated. Her wings folded closer, as if shielding her from her own answer. “A Loomwake. A storm born from emotion and wind. We call it the Stormwail Fracture.”

Elias’s eyes sharpened. “A Spiral‑tainted phenomenon.”

“Yes.” Aeris swallowed. “It screams with distorted sound. It overwhelms anyone who hears it. And it’s growing stronger.”

Brinrose stepped beside her, voice steady. “Then we’ll help you stop it.”

Aeris’s relief was visible — but so was her fear. “I… I hope I can help. The Trial of the Singing Winds is the only way to restore the Cloud Songs, but…” Her voice thinned, almost disappearing. “I’m not sure I’m strong enough to face it.”

Beast softened his tone. “Strength isn’t always loud.”

Aeris looked away, wings trembling. “In my realm, it has to be.”

A sudden tremor rippled through the cloud beneath them. Elias’s head snapped up. “Something’s coming.”

The wind shifted — not naturally, but violently, as if pulled by an unseen force. A low moan rolled across the sky, rising into a warped, grating wail that made the air vibrate. The Spiralbound braced themselves as a vortex of twisted wind tore open above a nearby island.

The Stormwail.

It screamed like a thousand voices crying out at once — distorted, stretched, and broken. The sound hit Aeris hardest. She staggered, hands clamped over her ears, wings curling inward.

“I—I can’t—” Her voice vanished under the pressure.

Beast moved instantly, shielding her with his body as shards of compressed wind slashed past. Elira’s flames flared, cutting through the turbulence. Brinrose anchored the group with a stabilizing pulse of earth‑magic, even though the ground beneath them wasn’t earth at all. Elias reached out with Spiral sense, tracing the storm’s emotional core.

“It’s feeding on fear,” he shouted over the noise. “Aeris’s fear.”

Aeris shook, overwhelmed. “I’m sorry— I’m trying— I can’t—”

Beast knelt beside her, gripping her shoulder. “You don’t have to fight it alone.”

But the Stormwail surged, drawn to her trembling voice. The vortex expanded, cracking the cloud‑island beneath it. A jagged fissure split the air, and the island groaned under the strain.

Elira launched upward, slicing through the storm’s outer ring with a blade of fire. “We need to push it back!”

Brinrose slammed her staff into the cloud‑ground, sending a stabilizing shockwave through the island. “Aeris, breathe. Focus on the calm beneath the wind.”

Aeris tried — but her breath hitched, her voice collapsing into silence.

The Stormwail shrieked, sensing weakness.

Elias stepped forward, Spiral energy spiraling around his hands. “Beast! Anchor her. Elira, cut the vortex. Brinrose, hold the island together.”

The Spiralbound moved as one.

Beast braced Aeris against the wind.

Elira carved a path through the storm’s edge.

Brinrose kept the island from splitting apart.

Elias reached into the heart of the vortex, channeling Spiral resonance.

The Stormwail recoiled — not defeated, but disrupted. Its scream fractured into a distorted echo before the vortex collapsed inward and vanished into the sky.

Silence fell.

Aeris trembled, wings drooping. “I… I failed. I couldn’t even sing.”

Beast shook his head. “You didn’t fail. You survived.”

Elias approached her gently. “The Stormwail is tied to your voice — your fear of using it. That means the Trial of the Singing Winds isn’t just tradition. It’s necessary.”

Aeris looked toward the distant Harmonic Spire, its peak piercing the clouds like a tuning fork reaching for the heavens.

“I know,” she whispered. “If I don’t complete the Trial… the Cloud Songs will fade forever.”

Brinrose offered her hand. “Then we’ll face it together.”

Aeris hesitated — then placed her hand in Brinrose’s.

The wind stirred around them, carrying a faint, fragile note.

A reminder of a song waiting to be restored.

And with that, the Spiralbound began their ascent toward the Spire.

The ascent toward the Harmonic Spire began across a narrow wind‑bridge, its surface woven from strands of condensed air that shimmered like glass. Each step produced a faint tone, as if the bridge were a stringed instrument responding to their weight. Normally, Aeris explained, the bridge would sing a full harmony — but now the notes were thin, incomplete, like a melody missing its heart.

Aeris walked ahead, wings tucked close, her steps light but hesitant. Beast kept a steady pace behind her, ready to catch her if the bridge faltered. Brinrose and Elias followed, studying the realm’s shifting currents. Elira flew above them, scanning the skies for any sign of the Stormwail.

The silence pressed in again.

Not the peaceful kind — the hollow kind.

Aeris slowed. “It’s getting worse. The Cloud Songs used to echo across the whole Expanse. Now… even the bridges are forgetting their notes.”

Elias touched the air, sensing the Spiral threads. “The silence isn’t natural. Something is consuming the resonance.”

Brinrose nodded. “Silence can be a wound too.”

Aeris’s wings drooped. “I know. And I’m supposed to heal it. But every time I try to sing, the Stormwail—”

A sudden tremor cut her off.

The wind‑bridge shuddered beneath them, its tones warping into a discordant groan. Elira swooped down instantly. “Something’s pushing against the currents.”

Beast stepped in front of Aeris. “Stay behind me.”

The sky darkened — not with clouds, but with pressure. A low vibration rolled across the Expanse, rattling the bridge. Aeris’s breath hitched.

“No… not again.”

The vibration sharpened into a rising wail.

Elias’s eyes widened. “It’s the Stormwail. It found us.”

The vortex tore open above a nearby cloud‑island, spiraling downward in a column of distorted wind. The sound hit like a physical force — a scream made of broken frequencies, each one scraping against the mind.

Aeris staggered, hands flying to her ears. “I can’t— I can’t—”

The Stormwail surged toward the bridge.

Beast moved without hesitation, planting himself between Aeris and the vortex. The wind slammed into him, pushing him back a step, but he held firm. “Brinrose!”

She thrust her staff downward. A pulse of stabilizing energy rippled through the bridge, anchoring it against the storm’s pull.

Elira shot upward, flames trailing behind her as she sliced through the outer ring of the vortex. “I’ll thin the edges!”

Elias reached out with Spiral sense, tracing the emotional core of the storm. “It’s feeding on her fear again. Aeris, you have to breathe.”

But Aeris couldn’t hear him. The Stormwail’s scream drowned everything out. Her wings curled inward, her voice collapsing into silence.

The vortex expanded, its winds tearing at the bridge. Strands of condensed air snapped like frayed strings.

Beast gritted his teeth. “We need to move. Now.”

Brinrose nodded. “I’ll hold the bridge. Get her across.”

Elias grabbed Aeris’s hand. “Come on. You’re not alone.”

Aeris tried to step forward — but the Stormwail shrieked, and she froze, trembling. “I’m sorry— I’m slowing you down—”

Beast’s voice cut through the chaos. “You’re not slowing us. You’re the reason we’re here.”

The Stormwail lunged again, its vortex twisting into a spear of compressed wind. Elira intercepted it mid‑air, her flames flaring bright enough to carve a temporary gap.

“Go!” she shouted. “I can’t hold it long!”

Elias pulled Aeris forward. Brinrose reinforced the bridge with another pulse. Beast shielded them from the debris. Together, they pushed across the final stretch of the wind‑bridge.

The moment their feet hit solid cloud‑ground, the Stormwail struck the bridge behind them. The structure shattered into drifting fragments, dissolving into mist.

Aeris gasped, staring at the destruction. “It’s getting stronger. It shouldn’t be able to reach this far.”

Elias steadied her. “Which means the Trial is even more urgent.”

Beast looked toward the distant Harmonic Spire, its peak glowing faintly through the haze. “We need to get there before the Stormwail tears the whole realm apart.”

Aeris swallowed hard. “The Trial of the Singing Winds… it’s the only way to restore the Cloud Songs. But if I fail—”

Brinrose placed a hand on her shoulder. “Then we’ll catch you. Just like we did today.”

Aeris’s eyes shimmered with uncertainty — but also something else. A fragile spark of resolve.

She turned toward the Spire.

“I’ll try,” she whispered. “For the Skyloom. For the songs. For myself.”

The wind stirred around them, carrying a faint, trembling note — the first hint of harmony returning.

And together, the Spiralbound began the final climb toward the Trial.