Skybound: The Atlas War

The Cloudreaper sailed in solemn silence, wings of the Watchers drifting far behind like fading memories. But Kairo's gaze stayed locked on the black wing in the distance—darker than shadow, unmoving in the glow of the spiral.

No one spoke for a while. Even the ship creaked more quietly, as if it too was trying to listen.

"Velka," Kairo finally asked, "what was that?"

Velka's fingers drummed the hilt of her blade. "I don't know. But if the Watchers didn't react to it… either it's one of them turned rogue, or it's something older. Something they no longer control."

Cinder cleared his throat. "Cool. Very comforting. Love that. Definitely not going to have nightmares."

Below the deck, the Atlas pulsed again—stronger this time. Kairo unhooked it from his belt and set it on the nav table. Its glow intensified, spilling like ink across the surface, forming rivers of light that twisted and reformed.

Lines. Curves. Patterns.

A map.

Velka stepped closer, squinting. "That wasn't there before."

"That's not the same layout," Kairo agreed. "It's showing something new."

The spiral route behind them faded, replaced by a web of light that branched out in a dozen directions. In the center was a spired city suspended on a circular platform—part ruin, part temple. It pulsed with the same color as the Atlas itself.

"Is that…" Cinder's voice dropped. "The Lost Skycity?"

"No doubt," Velka said. "But look—"

Where the map touched the wooden table, the surface began to smoke. Faint red veins crawled across the grain. Kairo leaned closer—and gasped.

It wasn't just displaying a path. It was carving it.

The map was burning itself into the ship.

"This thing's alive," Kairo murmured. "It's rewriting our course."

Velka's eyes narrowed. "No. It's binding the Cloudreaper to its destiny."

From the corner of the hold, something shifted. A creak. A whisper. The black shard they'd taken from the reef—once inert—had begun to hum.

Cinder pointed. "Um, that wasn't vibrating before."

The shard cracked.

And bled light.

It wasn't like sunlight, or lightning—it was molten memory, flickering with images from another time. Skyships made of bone. A sea of clouds turning red. Something vast and unseen moving between worlds.

And in the center of it all—a man in a feathered cloak, his eyes like twin suns.

Kairo staggered back. "I saw him in the wing. In the reflection."

Velka clenched her jaw. "The First Watcher."

The shard dissolved into dust, leaving behind a sigil scorched into the deck: a circle with six wings, one of them crossed out.

The black wing.

Suddenly, the spiral began to distort.

"Something's coming," Cinder said, running to the deck.

They all followed—and saw it.

Not ships. Not creatures.

Storms.

But not ordinary ones—these moved with intent. Shaped like beasts. Their mouths howled with thunder. Their eyes glowed with the same red light as the shard.

"They've awakened," Velka whispered.

Kairo tightened his grip on the helm. "Then we fly."

As the Cloudreaper veered toward the coordinates burned into its wood, the winds behind them howled louder, like the roar of a thousand forgotten skies.

And somewhere far away, the black wing stirred.

END OF CHAPTER 13