The hollow erupted—not in destruction, but in creation. Flowers of glassy ice bloomed beside roses that shimmered with frost. The stream ran clear, half-warm, half-cool, and fish of silver and gold swam side by side. Vesper’s wings, for the first time, felt the warmth of a thread he had denied for centuries. He stumbled back, tears freezing on his cheeks.
“Treason,” Vesper hissed. “You’ve broken the First Code. You’ve merged your essence with a Warm-Spring. Your wings are no longer pure. You are cast out.” secret of wings cast
Kael had never questioned it. Until the night he found the injured Skimmer. The hollow erupted—not in destruction, but in creation