The wind changed.

The shadowy clouds, previously hidden beneath the shroud of Melucia's tempest, slowly unrolled, strand by strand, like the initial slivers of light pushing themselves into a memory of dawn. The fire that had leaped walls and consumed the fortress dwindled and disappeared. Ash fell upon shattered stones. The world breathed a sigh of relief.

And so did the earth.

The haunted forest that encircled the fortress exhaled as one, leaves shuddering as though they'd emerged from a ...