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Wind whipped against Elijah’s wings, threatening to send him plummeting to the roiling sea below. However, he’d spent enough time practicing flight to adjust accordingly. Still, he knew that if he got much closer, he’d be in danger of being tossed from the sky.

But he kept going.

The enormous storm was still at least fifty miles away, but it stretched from one end of the horizon to another, looking like an enormous, black wall. Periodically, lightning arced through it, illuminating those swirling clouds, but that only made the sight that much more ominous.

Because there were things in there.

Elijah could only see shapes and shadows, but what he could see was enough to make any sane person turn around. Huge forms slithered from one end to another, putting him in mind of flying serpents. But there were other, much smaller shapes as well – and those were even more concerning, because they didn’t confine their movements to the clouds. More importantly, as Elijah drew closer, he recognized them.

It had been more than four years since his plane had been ripped to pieces by some sort of giant bird, but Elijah knew he’d never forget that brief glimpse he’d experienced as he fell toward the ocean. And that memory confirmed that he now beheld the same species.

And there were hundreds of them, all riding the wind like fish swimming through the ocean. Elijah could only hope that, one day, he could emulate their grace.

At least that was the most pervasive thought in his mind right up until he felt something rocket into range of One with Nature. That brief warning was barely enough to allow him to tuck his wings close to his body and begin a dive that narrowly let him avoid the outstretched talons of one of those immense birds.

Elijah glanced up to see a mass of slate grey feathers. The thing’s wingspan was more than twice Elijah’s own, and its talons were larger than his entire torso. More importantly, he could see light glinting off those feathers, implying that they were metallic. So were its claws and beak, though that was as much as Elijah saw before the thing wheeled around and began another attack.

He dove, gaining speed with every foot of lost altitude, but the huge raptor had gravity on its side as well. The towering waves drew ever closer, and the wind threatened to rip Elijah to pieces. Yet, he waited until the very last second – when he was only a few feet above the water – to throw his wings out wide and level out. He glided through the trough between two waves, and over the wind, he heard a loud splash as his pursuer hit the water.

But Elijah’s victory was short-lived, as a moment later, with a few furious flaps of its great wings, the creature threw itself back into the air. Thankfully, though, Elijah’s maneuver had bought him a little time, and he used that to great advantage as he stuck dangerously close to the sea’s surface.

He kept just ahead of the giant bird, though the thing was clearly bigger, faster, and more coordinated than he was, so it was only a matter of time before it caught him. So, Elijah reluctantly pushed his adventurous spirit aside and turned his thoughts toward escape.

He’d just begun to speed back toward his island when another bird appeared.

Then another.

Before Elijah knew what was going on, he was surrounded by a flock of those feathery monsters. Desperately, he dodged one while flapping his wings to gain altitude in order to avoid another darting attack that would have ripped him to pieces. He used every point of his Dexterity attribute to his advantage, and for the first time, he truly let his instincts take over.

And it was glorious.

For a few scant seconds, Elijah was untouchable. Even as a dozen birds the size of fighter jets attacked, he twirled, climbed, and dodged.

But it couldn’t last.

There were too many. And they were far too skilled.

Elijah knew that, but he was too caught up in the high brought on by his avian instincts to heed the warning in his mind. And in the end, it cost him. It was a small mistake – barely a few inches off in one of his maneuvers – but it was enough to allow one of the raptors to clip Elijah’s wing. That, in turn, slowed him just enough that he couldn’t avoid the next attack.

Or the next one after that.

Even as they ripped him to shreds, Elijah shifted back into his human form, intending to use Roots of the World Tree to teleport back to his island. However, two things prevented that. First, the concentration necessary to cast that spell was impossible in his current situation. And second, he didn’t have time, because the moment his body completed the transformation, he was whisked away by a strong gust of wind.

Then another took him in the opposite direction. Over and over, the swirling winds pushed him back and forth. The erratic nature of his fall was the only thing that saved him from the birds, though they still got in a few good hits, even if they failed to snatch him up into their enormous talons.

The wind also served to slow his fall just enough that when he hit the water, he didn’t do so with terminal velocity. It still hurt, but he managed to avoid breaking anything terribly important. Only a few ribs and what felt like a small fracture in his ankle. More distressingly, just because he’d fallen into the sea didn’t mean he was out of the proverbial woods.

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Indeed, there were three issues with his current predicament.

First, the birds had already proven they had precisely zero problems with diving into the ocean to get to their prey, and it was only a matter of seconds before they resumed their assault. Second, the rolling waves were the size of skyscrapers, which was enough to strike fear even into his heart. Facing down monsters was one thing. But looking up at a wall of seawater was something else entirely.

And finally, he could sense gargantuan beasts swimming beneath him as well. Elijah didn’t think he was lucky enough that they would prove peaceful.

So, he furiously cast Roots of the World Tree, hoping to complete it before the myriad dangers of his circumstances asserted their claim on his life. But as he’d expected, he just didn’t have enough time to finish the cast before one of the birds came screaming down out of the sky. Elijah dove, twisting and pushing himself through the water as quickly as he could manage.

It wasn’t enough, though. The bird hit the water like a missile, the shockwave alone enough to stun him. And when its talons wrapped around his waist, Elijah knew he had no choice but to act, and decisively so. He initiated the much quicker transformation into the lamellar ape form, and the second it completed, he let out a roar and slammed his fists into the bird’s talons.

It screeched, and by reflex – or perhaps because Elijah’s blow had broken some bones – it released him. By that point, the creature had already climbed dozens of feet into the air, and when Elijah fell, he did so in such a way that he was slammed by one of the massive waves as it rolled past.

It was like getting hit by a moving brick wall, and for a moment, Elijah was disoriented. However, because he still had the Ring of Aquatic Travel equipped, at least he didn’t have to breathe.

More importantly, the birds seemed to have either written him off or decided he wasn’t worth the trouble, because when he finally surfaced, they’d begun to fly away. For Elijah’s part, he had more important issues on his mind.

Because there was something speeding toward him from the depths. And it was enormous.

Elijah braced himself for another fight, but it was one that never manifested. A dolphin the size of a mini-van burst through the water, did a somersault, then dove back into the side of the wave. Then, it returned and, before Elijah could react, started nudging him away from the storm.

It wasn’t until a few moments later that Elijah made the connection. There were many instances of dolphins having saved humans in the pre-World Tree past, and it seemed that this mutated version hadn’t completely discarded those instincts. On top of that, Elijah’s experiences suggested an explanation for how he’d survived the plane crash four-plus years before.

After all, he’d fallen from an altitude of thousands of feet. There was no way that, in his condition at the time, he should have lived through such a fall. Yet he had. That led him to believe that, perhaps, his fall had been arrested by the chaotic gusts of wind. Then, maybe he’d been saved by a dolphin or some other helpful beast.

Strange things had happened, and given his nature attunement, that seemed a far better explanation than a one-in-a-billion chance that he’d fallen in just such a way to avoid having all of his bones broken and then miraculously drifted hundreds of miles to the island.

Or maybe he was just grasping at straws.

Either way, the explanation was good enough for him. Not that it mattered overmuch. The past was the past, and though he was grateful for his own survival, he didn’t have the leeway to give it much thought.

Once the dolphin had guided him a couple of miles away from where he’d been attacked, Elijah managed to say, “You probably can’t even understand me, can you? Well, on the off chance that you can, thank you.”

The dolphin did not answer.

Because it was a dolphin.

In any case, the creature seemed to sense that Elijah was out of danger, so it gave him one last nudge, then dove beneath the waves. After that, Elijah finally completed his cast of Roots of the World Tree, teleporting back to his grove.

Once he was back on solid ground, he fell to his knees and vomited a gallon of seawater. Of course, that brought Nerthus’ ire as well as an explanation for how bad saltwater was for plants. Elijah didn’t need the spryggent’s admonishment, but as he collapsed onto his back, he gratefully endured it.

Because his brush with death had banished the thread of apathy from his heart. He had a lot to do before the Trial of Primacy, and he couldn’t afford to waste more time challenging the tower.

So, after lying there for a few minutes, Elijah pushed himself to a sitting position and looked inward. For the past months, each time he’d had a few extra minutes, he’d spent it cycling his core. However, just because he had plenty of practice didn’t make the process any easier. At times in the past, he’d likened it to having his spirit waterboarded.

But he persisted, and he managed three cycles – each one like trying to stir molasses – before he felt Carmen arrive on the island. More and more, she spent her nights in Ironshore, presumably working.

When she returned to the grove, Elijah opened his eyes and said, “You’re quite a workaholic. Working on a new project?”

“Sort of,” she admitted, holding out her hand. Elijah took it, and she hauled him to his feet. “I’m preparing to start that project you suggested back in Argos. Right now, I’m just calling it The Forge. A bit early to start naming things, considering we haven’t even laid the foundation yet. But it feels right.”

“What kind of preparations do you have to make?” Elijah asked.

To answer that question, Carmen eagerly explained that they were currently gathering enough blood tin – which was the ore they’d found in the mines – for the structure, but also for any tools they might need.

“It’s all going to work together,” Carmen said. “It has to. I’m also going to need some help getting enough of that Dragonstone back here. It’s the most powerful stone I’ve ever seen.”

“Just let me know when, and I’ll help. It just needs to be done soon, because I have a promise to keep back in Seattle,” he said. Then, after a second, he reached into his Ghoul-Hide Satchel and pulled the Bark of the Mother Tree out. As he did, he said, “Oh – I also got this from the tower.”

“Whoa.”

“That good?” he asked as Carmen took it.

“Can I buy this from you?” she asked without answering his question.

“You can have it. What do you have planned?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” she answered. “Something for Miggy, though. It feels like him. Like you, too, but you don’t need anything I can make.”

Elijah said, “That’s probably true.”

He’d rather Miguel have something special than to take it for himself. After that, he discussed his plans with Carmen. She only made a few comments, but she did ask a couple of poignant questions that helped him solidify his intentions. So, once the conversation was over, Elijah felt a lot better about the future.