The forest woke in screams.
Flames tore through the trees, devouring bark and leaf alike. Great branches snapped under the fury of fire, sending sparks scattering like stars ripped from the heavens. The night was drowned in the roar of engines—human engines.
I was already moving.
From the canopy, I saw them descend: ships larger than the ones from before, their hulls blackened by war, their bellies vomiting fire upon the land.
Dropships opened, unleashing AMP suits and squads of armored humans. Drones swarmed overhead, scanning, targeting, burning.
The Sky People had returned.
And they had come for war.
"Storm!" Neytiri's cry reached me from below. She sprinted through the chaos, her bow loosing arrow after arrow. Each strike found its mark, but it was a droplet of water against a wildfire.
"Get the people to safety!" I shouted, landing beside her with a crash that shook the earth.
"And you?" she demanded.
I met her eyes, my voice like steel. "I'll hold them back."
She hesitated, her anger warring with fear, before finally nodding. She vanished into the smoke, guiding clansfolk away from the flames.
The AMP suits lumbered toward me, weapons blazing. Bullets rained down, tearing through the forest floor.
I stepped forward.
Each round that struck me flattened against my skin, falling uselessly to the dirt. The soldiers shouted in confusion.
"What the hell is that?!"
"Not Na'vi—too big—"
Before they could finish, I moved.
One breath, and I was among them. My fist struck the first suit, crumpling metal like paper. The pilot inside didn't even have time to scream. Another swing, and the next machine was hurled into a dropship, the explosion rattling the skies.
The humans broke, their formation shattering in panic.
"Fall back! FALL BACK—"
Their retreat was drowned by the shriek of a ship overhead. Its cannons swiveled toward me, glowing with lethal fire.
I looked up, eyes narrowing.
Then I rose.
The world blurred as I launched into the sky, the flames below shrinking beneath me. I struck the ship midair, tearing through its metal hull with a sound like thunder.
The explosion lit the night like a second sun.
I landed amidst the wreckage, smoke curling around me, the forest silent except for the crackle of fire.
And then I heard it.
A faint cry, not human, but Na'vi.
I turned to see Tsireya, struggling to pull two children from the debris of a fallen tree. Her strength was fierce, but the trunk was too heavy.
Without thought, I was there. One hand, one effortless motion, and the tree shattered apart. She stared at me, breathless, bioluminescent markings glowing in the firelight.
"Storm…" she whispered.
I met her gaze, my chest rising and falling with the fury I could barely contain.
"They're not here to talk," I said. My voice was low, steady, unshakable. "They're here to burn everything."
She nodded slowly, eyes fierce despite the fear. "Then we fight."
Above us, more engines screamed through the clouds. The Sky People had only begun their assault.
And I—storm born, storm unchained—knew this was only the first night of war.