Four nights after departing, Violet, Xaden, Mira, and their team crossed beyond the wards near Samara, feeling the uncontained surge of ambient power and noting Violet’s growing sensitivity to it. They reached the desiccated, drained village of Anca under dragon cover while aerial elements from their riot created a diversion to the south, intending a quick entry, retrieval of the Amelian Citrine from Amelia’s house, and exit before Violet’s separation limit from Andarna became painful.

On the ground, tensions flared: Aura Beinhaven distrusted their Poromish allies and carried a flintstrike, while Violet and Mira criticized Grady’s planning and the decision not to bring Cat. Grady, Mira, Xaden, and Captain Henson entered Amelia’s former residence to search while Violet and Aura stood watch. Despite strict orders not to wield in drained territory, Aura’s fear escalated.

When a door creaked across the street, Aura panicked and ignited a torrent of fire, accidentally engulfing Captain Grady as he emerged. Violet and Xaden tried to smother the flames—Xaden with shadows—but the blaze spread rapidly through the tinder-dry, drained buildings and interlinked bridges. Henson attempted to manage the wind while Mira used her power to split a collapsing burning bridge, but containment was impossible.

Xaden strained to suppress the fire with shadows until Violet forced him to stop and focus on survival. The team sprinted through burning streets toward the square for evacuation by dragons. Teine arrived to lift Mira out first. As Aura ran for extraction, a wyvern patrolling with a partner impaled her mid-run, killing her instantly and hauling her body into the sky.

Sgaeyl intercepted, dismantled, and killed the wyvern carrying Aura. Tairn extracted Violet and Xaden simultaneously using a coordinated grab, aided by Xaden’s shadow-binds holding Violet to him. When the second wyvern intercepted, Violet channeled lightning through her conduit and struck the wyvern from Tairn’s claws, allowing Sgaeyl to finish it. The survivors fled west, then south, re-entering the wards and reaching Samara with time to spare before Violet’s separation threshold from Andarna.

Back at Samara, Lieutenant Pugh blamed Xaden for Grady’s death; Xaden retorted that Aura had panicked and Pugh’s patrol had failed to cover the village. Mira revealed she had reached the display first and recovered the citrine, now cracked and smoke-hued, and produced a parchment addressed to “Lightning Wielder.” The note, signed “T,” was a direct taunt from Theophanie, asserting she could take Violet at will and inviting her to ask for answers—proof that Theophanie knew about their mission and had anticipated their presence.