Something was tapping lightly against his head.

He opened his eyes with effort and saw the beak of a swallow pecking at his forehead.

He sat up with a jolt, confused, his heart leaping into his throat.

The endless horizon of the sea was gone.

In front of him stretched a golden beach.

Damp sand, remnants of seaweed, and behind him a wall of dark green trees forming a natural barrier.

“Shark!” he shouted, shaking his companion.

“Wake up! We’ve reached land!”

Shark opened his eyes, disoriented, and slowly sat up.

“What…? Where the hell are we?”

They looked around.

The boat was stranded on the shore, and there was no sign of life anywhere around them.

Only wind, sand, and the rustling of leaves.

They climbed down from the boat unsteadily, the chains still locked around their wrists, forcing their movements to be awkward and painful.

They walked along the coast, following a sharp, acrid smell coming from the north, until they came across a rusted discharge pipe plunging into the water.

Shark crouched to examine it.

“A discharge pipe. If we follow it, it’ll probably lead us to civilization.”

Sky wrinkled his nose.

“It burns just breathing this stuff in. But first, we have to get these cuffs off. They don’t just block our powers—if anyone sees us like this, they’ll think we’re criminals.”

They got to work, desperately trying to break them.

They slammed their wrists against rocks, searched for sharp edges, tried to force them open in every possible way.

Hours passed with no result.

Sky, consumed by frustration, kept striking a rock with all the strength he had left.

His hands were covered in cuts and bruises, but he didn’t stop.

Shark, exhausted, collapsed to the ground and lost consciousness.

Not long after, Sky gave in as well, slipping into a deep sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer on the beach.

He stood in a vast meadow, wrapped in a warm, welcoming light.

The grass was soft beneath his feet, a gentle breeze brushing against his face.

Above him, the sky was a perfect blue, streaked with white clouds drifting lazily by.

There was something unreal about it.

Too perfect to be real.

“A dream?” he whispered.

His voice sounded distant, as if it didn’t truly belong to that place.

“I’ve never had one this vivid… where am I?”

He took a step forward.

The air shifted.

A shadow slipped behind the trunk of a nearby tree, too fast to follow with his eyes.

Sky barely had time to tense up.

Something struck his ankles.

The world flipped upside down.

The ground crashed into him, knocking the breath from his lungs.

Sky’s eyes flew open—

He woke up with a jolt.

He was back on the beach, his body aching… but something was different.

The cuffs were shattered.

“I can’t believe it!” he shouted, raising his arms toward the sky.

He felt the wind again between his fingers, his power flowing back into his veins like a released storm.

He rushed to wake Shark, who stared at him in disbelief.

“Sky… how did you do that?”

“I don’t know!” Sky laughed, almost crying with joy.

“But look!”

Focusing a mass of air into his fingers, he struck Shark’s chains with precision, shattering them.

Shark stared at his freed wrists, then burst out laughing.

“Finally! We’re rid of these damn cuffs!”

He reached into his pockets and pulled out a lighter.

He flicked it on, and from the small flame burst forth a surge of fire that wrapped around his hand like a burning glove.

Sky gaped at him.

“So… you control fire?”

Shark gave him a sarcastic look.

“Brilliant, genius. What gave it away?”

“You can’t create it from nothing? You need a starting flame?”

Shark shrugged.

“I can’t yet… not properly. But I know it should be possible.”

Then he glanced around, frowning.

“Either way, before we move on, we need to clean ourselves up. We’re a mess.”

They headed farther north until they found a clearer stretch of sea.

The water, however, was freezing.

Shark snorted and, without a second thought, blasted a jet of fire across the surface.

The water boiled instantly, releasing a cloud of steam.

Sky jumped back.

“It’s boiling! How are we supposed to wash like this?!”

“Just wait for it to cool.”

Shark stepped straight into the steaming water without hesitation, completely unfazed by the heat.

Sky, on the other hand, had to wait a few minutes before diving in.

When they were done—clothes cleaned, faces refreshed—they set off again, following the discharge pipe.

They passed through a small grove and suddenly found themselves atop a rise.

A massive city sprawled out before them.

Steel and concrete skyscrapers pierced the sky, dark, irregular masses that seemed to challenge the light itself. Between their shadows, an endless web of elevated roads, metal walkways, and suspended rails pulsed with life. Artificial lights flickered everywhere, cold and tireless, while the constant roar of engines, sirens, and machinery wrapped the city in a mechanical breath.

Sky stopped.

He had never seen anything like it.

“It’s… enormous!”

His eyes shone with wonder, like a child witnessing magic for the first time.

Shark, instead, remained unimpressed.

“Relax. It’s just a city.”

Sky clapped him on the shoulder.

“First thing we do is fill our stomachs. I’m starving!”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Shark shot back, frowning.

“We don’t have a single coin. No one’s going to give us anything for free.”

Sky looked at him, puzzled.

“What do you mean? Back in my village, people always offer you something before you buy.”

Shark rubbed his forehead.

“Does this look like a village to you? And we don’t even know if it’s under Imperial control. If it is, they might already be hunting us. We need to be careful.”

The sun was setting, bathing the city in shades of gold and crimson.

The two companions stood silently on the rise, gazing at this new world.

They didn’t know what awaited them.

But one thing was certain:

no one would stop their path toward the creation of their Clan.

—

Next Episode — The Price of Mistakes