The Legacy of the Uncharted

~Chapter 70 ~Sky vc war begun

Greywater Cove still trembled from the ambush hours earlier. The cliffs bore scorch marks, broken blades, and blackened stone where enemy pirates had struck with deadly precision.
If Kraidren hadn't arrived when he did, the meeting never would've happened.

Now, the four captains Galen, Elara, Eli, and Kraidren sat inside a wind-carved cavern lit by torchlight. Rain pounded outside like fists against the rocks, and the sea roared as if sensing the coming war.

Galen stood near the entrance, staring into the storm with a dark scowl.

"Elara's scouts should have returned by now," he muttered.
"They're hours late."

Eli looked up sharply. "Theo and Lucy should've returned too. They were supposed to meet us at the Reaches."

Elara lowered her hood. "No contact. No signal. Nothing."

Silence settled across the meeting.

Kraidren stepped forward then the hood removed for the first time revealing sharp amber eyes and a scar that cut across his jaw like lightning.

"I know why your trackers vanished," he said quietly.
"Sky magic swallowed them."

Eli stiffened. "You're telling me the Navy caught them?"

"No," Kraidren said. "Worse."

He stepped closer to the bonfire, shadows flickering against his coat the old symbol of Mordeclai's former brigade partially burned away.

"I worked for Mordeclai long before you ever crossed him," he admitted. "I know his routes, his hideouts, his old sky-lift stations. And the only reason a tracking team vanishes without a trace..."

He lifted his eyes to theirs.

"...is because they were pulled above the clouds."

Galen's jaw flexed.
Elara froze.
Eli took one step forward.

"Are you saying Theo and Lucy were taken to the sky?"

Kraidren nodded. "Yes. And Sophie is there too—with the twins. If you want them back, you'll have to go above."

Elara slammed her fist against a nearby crate.
"Then why didn't you say this sooner?!"

Kraidren didn't flinch.

"Because knowing is not the same as reaching it. And until now, none of you were ready."

The cavern shook slightly as thunder cracked outside deep, unnatural, almost like something moving inside the clouds themselves.

Galen's eyes narrowed.

"What aren't you telling us?"

Kraidren hesitated for the first time.

"Mordeclai isn't hiding Alex. He's preparing her."

Eli's expression darkened instantly.

"Preparing her for what?"

Kraidren met his gaze.

"For the thing that's been chasing her in her sleep."

Eli blinked, confused. "What sleep?"

Galen and Elara exchanged a look. They had no idea either.

Kraidren sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"You haven't seen her visions, then. The nightmares. The warnings. Alex has been calling shadows for weeks without meaning to."

Eli took a step back, breath catching.
"What nightmares? Alex never—"