No buildings. No shadows. No shelter. Just wind-cut grass, broken stone monuments, and open sky.

It was a battlefield designed to strip away cleverness and reveal only power. There was nowhere to hide.

Gerbert and Rann had made it halfway across the plateau in practiced silence. Her steps were light, measured. His eyes scanned the horizon, fingers twitching near his conjureplate.

That’s when the air changed

A breeze swept past, thick with something out of place. Not smoke. Not dust.

Floral.

Rann’s body tensed. “It’s him.”

A patch of grass ahead exploded.