The dragon kept circling.

Ukai sat in front of them like a dark crown, its lanterns engulfed by a ring of dark cloud. The rest of the sky was just normal, flat grey - only the city was wrapped in that heavy cloud of black.

"Ok, that is NOT weather" Alan muttered.

His voice sounded small from inside the dragon's claw.

Raizen tightened his grip around Elin's waist, despite really not wanting to. The dragon rode a current, four wings spread wide, keeping them just outside the dark.

"What does it look like from there?" Elin asked.

"Like someone wrapped a blanket around the city" Alan answered. "Clouds don't hug platforms like this. They don't sit still."

Raizen squinted.

From here, he could see the upper platforms almost clearly, their shapes half blurred behind the black. Some lanterns still glowed faintly through it - weak, orange points swallowed by shadow.

No flicker of fire inside.

No smoke rising from below.

No lightning in the cloud itself.

Just a solid ring, thickest where it wrapped around the civil level.

"Do you smell anything?" Raizen asked.

He expected fire. Burnt wood. Oil. Something.

Instead, the air carried only wet wind and a the faint but sweet scent of sap and leaves.

"No ash" Elin said quietly. "No heat either."

She reached out with her free hand.

Her fingers hovered just above the surface of the dark, as if there was a wall there they could not see. The dragon flexed its wings, holding position.

Raizen felt something hum inside her.

Thin red threads slipped from her skin, barely visible. They drifted forward, brushing the edge of the cloud.

For a second, nothing.

Then the threads twitched.

Elin frowned.

"Well?" Alan shouted.

She pulled her hand back.

The red Eon faded.

"It is not smoke" she said. "Or fog. It feels like... Condensed Eon. Thick. Controlled."

"Nyx?" Raizen asked.

"No way" she answered at once. "Nyx signals feel unstable, sharp and hungry. This is heavy. Smothering. It sits. It doesn't move unless someone tells it to."

Alan shifted in the claw, trying to see more.

"Someone did this on purpose" he said.

"Yes" Elin replied.

Her eyes narrowed.

"And whoever did it knows exactly where Ukai starts and ends."

The dragon angled closer.

Not enough to pierce the cloud, but close enough that Raizen could feel the edge of it on his skin.

The air cooled suddenly when he touched the dark mist.

The hairs on his arms rose.

The cloud wasn't just a color. It had weight. Presence. Standing this near made your whole body feel heavier.

Raizen's chest tightened.

"I don't know what this is" he said, "But it's doing a very bad job at making me feel unsafe."

"It's not for you" Elin said. "Or for me."

"Then what-"

"Later" Elin cut him off, just like she had done with Raizen multiple times.

As a response, Alan almost groaned.

Behind them, the dragon gave a low, uneasy sound that vibrated through its body.

Elin patted its neck once.

"I know" she murmured. "I don't like it either."

Her back was tense under Raizen's face now, every muscle ready.

Alan tried to twist around in the claw to get a better look at the lower levels.

"Be careful..." Elin said.

"I am being careful!" he shot back. "Just try hanging from a dragon's claw while your city disappears into a weird cloud and tell me how relaxed you are."

He shifted again, trying to lean out.

The dragon's wings adjusted, catching a new air current. The motion jerked him sideways.

The claws tightened to hold Alan.

"Elin" he grunted, breath short. "Can you ask your little pet here to move a little closer? If that cloud isn't natural, we need to know if it reacts."

"That is exactly why I'm not flying straight through it yet" she replied.

"Do you not trust me?"

"I don't trust anything that looks like that, in general."

He couldn't argue with that.

The dragon began a slow, cautious approach.

Each wing beat pulled them a bit little closer to the ring of dark.

The world beyond the cloud vanished now. All Raizen could see ahead was darkness - not complete, night black, but a deep, layered shadow where hints of light tried to survive and failed.

The dragon didn't push through the dark cloud too much.

It held there, hovering, four wings working hard to stay in place.

Raizen could feel the barrier now. Not with his skin or flesh. He could sense the Eon.

His own channels felt... Pressured. Like something in front of them wanted to confuse them, not letting anyone sense any other Eon signature or signal. Both from the inside or outside of this strange barrier.

He swallowed.

"We aren't going in there, are we?" he asked.

"Not blind" Elin said.

Her voice had gone flat again.

She reached out once more and brushed her fingers along the edge.

This time she didn't send threads in.

She just listened.

"...It's trying to hide something" she said slowly. "The way Ukai hides its lower levels behind leaves and branches. Except this is a lot more desperate."

"Desperate how?" Alan asked.

"It is too thick" she answered. "Whoever made this used more Eon than they should have. It's overpacked. Sloppy. It will break on its own soon."

"Break how?"

"Either it will thin out and vanish" she said, "or it will snap open all at once. I hope for the first one."

None of those options sounded particularly good.

Alan blew out a breath.

"The Ruler didn't say anything about this" he muttered. "He only said time was short."

"Maybe this happened after you left" Raizen offered.

"Yes."

The pressure on Raizen's bofy rose and fell with every small shift, from the dragon's wings.

He tried to focus past it. To watch the city shapes below. To find any sign of movement.

Nothing.

No beasts cutting through from the inside. No platforms shifting. No flares.

Just that dark.

"How long can your dragon hold us up like this?" Alan asked.

"As long as needed" Elin replied.

"You say that like you've never tested it."

"That is because I haven't. Never needed to, really."

Alan cursed under his breath.

The dragon tilted one wing to adjust.

The motion rocked Alan sideways again.

He grabbed for the claw on reflex.

But his fingers slipped on smooth scale.

"Hold still!" Elin snapped.

"I'm trying..." he hissed.

Another adjustment.

The dragon's body twisted to overcome a violent wind current.

The claw dipped for half a second.

It was enough.

Alan's weight shifted.

His feet swung out too far.

The grip of the claw, careful not to crush him, loosened just enough for his torso to slip.

For a heartbeat, Raizen saw it as a slow, inevitable tilt.

Alan's body slid through the dragon's hold.

His coat caught on one curved talon, hung for an impossible moment.

Then tore free.

"Alan!" Raizen shouted.

The wind grabbed Alan all at once.

His arms flailed, trying to find anything to grab.

Raizen moved on instinct.

His right hand tore away from Elin's waist, reaching out. His channels flared, the start of a dash already forming in his legs, even though there was nowhere to push off from.

"Raizen!" Elin shouted.

He ignored it.

Alan's eyes met his for a split second.

There was no panic there.

Just a sharp awareness, a flash of annoyance, and something like grim acceptance.

Then the dark cloud met him.

It didn't even ripple where he hit it.

It didn't flare or spark, like a barrier normally would.

It simply... Swallowed him whole.

The surface gave way around his body, taking him in, swallowing the shape of him like he had never been there.

His outline blurred.

His coat vanished.

His stretched hand.

Raizen's fingers closed on empty air.

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