The morning mist hadn't yet lifted over the jagged peaks and frostbitten valleys of Iron fang Country, a harsh land etched in silver steel and black stone. From the narrow mountain holds to the deep-forged valleys, the homeland of the Iron fang Clan was a place of resilience, tradition, and warcraft. But that peace shattered when the sky wardens screamed. All across the clan's territory, ancient totems—obsidian obelisks topped with glinting iron wolf fangs—shook with keening alarm. Qi flames ignited at their peaks, sending signals across the land. The Ghost Ship had come.
Elsewhere, across the Country...
Torren storm fang was training shirtless in a snow-patched valley, he paused mid-swing Torren's gray-blue Storm fang fur bristled.
His massive steel glaive buzzed with residual chi as the warning echoed in his bones. "...Sky intruders? Now?" His wolf companion, ''bullet'' growled beside him, sensing the unnatural stir of wind. Soren shadow blade, perched high on a ruined watchtower, narrowed his eyes. "There's a ship alright. Made of...Phoenix wood..." His qi-sight flared, "And someone on board is laughing." He transformed into a shadow panther then leapt from atop the tower, traveling at high speed to warn the others.
Kaelin Wind slash, now the gale force tactician, traced the flight path with her long fingers across an arcane map. "It's descending toward the Iron vein gorge. They'll see the kilns if they keep that course." Lira razor wing dart through the sky, she smiled bitterly. "If it's Red-Cap's enemy, they're our kind of problem." And in a high stone monastery, Taryn frost bear, whose animus was carved from glacial calm and war-born restraint, rose from silent meditation.
"So. He's come back to Beast Vein after all," he whispered, sensing a ripple of presence—Ash.
The Star bite breached the low clouds, I stood at the prow of the star bite, the floating ghost-ship now descending through sheeting mist and brittle sky winds. Beneath us, the frozen ridges and scorched black hills of Iron fang stretched out like the back of a sleeping beast. Behind me, Felicity, Marla, and Faeluxe flanked silently—each aware they were being watched by far more than one set of eyes. Felicity flicked her tongue against her teeth, "Wolves stirring in their den... They've already loosed their spears."
I didn't blink. "Wait till they get a load of me." The star bite hissed down from the skies like a fallen god, her hull of steel-cloud and storm-wood grinding gently against the craggy gully below. Frost-lichen crumbled beneath her weight. An unnatural hush fell over the land, only broken by the faint, residual hum of qi-reactors cooling beneath the deck. A ramp unfurled from the side of the ship, steaming from residual battle-heat. I descended first, wrapped in wind-hardened travel.
Behind me came Felicity, tail flicking, eyes sharp for danger; Marla, silent and terrible in her blade-armor with viper hair slithering in the breeze she and Faeluxe, eyes bright practically glided down behind us, a tempest of elegance; and the rest of the crew—Hammerhead, Snake Man, deckhands, mimic-chests and all. The land welcomed them with silence. The gully they'd landed in was a hidden vein of stone and snow—a secluded cut between Iron fang cliffs, perfect for an unscheduled arrival. No scouts, no war cries. Not yet. But I could still feel them. Eyes, Watching. I placed one hand on the cold rock wall. Its pulse was familiar.
Iron fang country. My birthplace. The land I had bled for as a boy,and left behind to chase the power that now coiled beneath my skin.
"So whats it been? about five months" I murmured. My voice cracked—not from weakness, but from the sheer surprise of the number. In my mind, it hadn't been more than one. At sea, under Felicity's guidance and with the chaos of the Crimson Typhoon and the inheritance war…time had melted. "Red Cap's war forge... the War Engine..."
I remembered the explosion—the atomic qi Detonation that, had flung me beyond the warfront, and into the river of cursed blood. It had momentarily ended the first half of the war effort in a single blinding flash. My old life had ended there, or so I thought.
"I thought I died. They must've thought so too."
The crew spread out, securing the gully perimeter. Marla stood beside me, scanning the cliffs. Felicity leaned in and whispered, "You never told me you had friends worth returning to." I didn't respond—my eyes were fixed on a ridge above. A flicker of qi, like a slow snowfall of memory.
Then—He stepped forward. Taryn frost bear, draped in his heavy glacier-woven cloak, spear across his back, eyes still and deep as a winter well. His presence stopped even the winds. His gaze passed over the Star bite crew—then settled on Ash. Not on his clothes. Not on his face. Not even on his hair or gait. But on his aura. The glow beneath it all—the fractured crimson animus laced with tempest breath, the lingering life core warmth, and the bound spirit shadows he now wore like armor.
He knew.
"...Ash." His voice was quiet, sharp as a flake of ice. "You're alive." I blinked. For a moment, the storm in me stilled. "You recognized me that fast?" "You're louder now," Taryn said "And heavier. You're a landslide where once you were a ripple." Behind him, others began to arrive. Sliding down the cliffs. One after another:
Torren Storm fang, now broader, beard-thick, and laughing already even as his feet hit the stone. Lira razor wing, twin blades gleaming, eyes narrowed in amused disbelief. Kaelin wind slash, notebook in one hand, already charting qi fluctuations around Ash. Soren shadow blade, appearing from nowhere, only the faint flicker of shadow to hint he had ever moved. They all stared at Ash. Time did not wait. But neither did memory die. And just like that, Ashriel ember coil—the ghost returned—was home.