Something dark crossed the sea at altitude with their wings cutting through clouds and salt wind alike.

  From afar it could have been mistaken for a large migratory beast with its long and narrow silhouette. Their scaly wings extended in a steady rhythm that wasted no motion, the head remained angled forward with its rigid neck. A crown of backward-curving horns framed its skull, and beneath a ridged brow its slit-pupiled eyes watched the sea in cold silence. Nothing about its flight suggested haste.

  Below, the sea churned.

  Marine Dusk-creatures felt it before they saw it.

  The pressure shifted, the currents bent wrong and its waters vibrated with a presence that did not belong to depth or surface. Massive and half formed shapes stirred beneath the waves, creatures that had survived by dragging prey down and tearing it apart in the dark.

  A many-finned creature surged upward, its body armored in coral-like growths, its jaw split open as it launched itself toward the sky. Others followed, drawn by instinct and the promise of flesh on their fangs.

  The being adjusted its wings, though it did not make them wider to ride the air currents.

  Instead it folded them and dove straight into the sea.

  The descent was immediate and steep, its body streamlined as it pierced the surface without slowing. Water exploded upward, then closed behind it.

  Below the waves, the fight began on the Dusk-creatures' own ground.

  The first attacker lunged with its coils snapping shut around the intruder's torso. Rows of teeth scraped against blackened scales and failed to find purchase. The Winged Being twisted, its spine flexing far beyond what any terrestrial beast could manage, and closed its jaws around the creature's skull

  Its maw snapped shut.

  It tore free and continued its assault by going even deeper while dragging its prey. Another Dusk-creature struck from below with their barbed tail, raking across the Shade's flank. The wound opened, then sealed as muscle contracted around it.

  The Draconic being turned toward their next meal with malice burning in its amber eyes.

  Its wings folded tight against its body, and transformed massive fins that drove it forward in short, explosive bursts. It rammed straight through the second creature's torso, snapping its spine and ripping free a section of armored flesh as it passed.

  Blood clouded the water above and below.

  The remaining Dusk-creatures closed in.

  They were larger than the Shade individually. Slower, too.

  It moved between them with precision, never lingering, never committing to a prolonged grapple. When a maw opened, it avoided it by a margin too small to be chance. When a limb struck, it was met with a counter that targeted joints and soft connective tissue.

  One by one, the attackers were crippled.

  The Shade finished them efficiently.

  It fed without pause.

  Flesh was stripped, crushed, and swallowed in large segments. Bone followed, dense organs followed after that. It did not consume everything. What did not serve was discarded and sank into the dark.

  As it fed, its body changed.

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  Fins thickened along its spine and overlapped into rigid ridges. The chest cavity expanded into plates of hardened tissue that formed beneath their scales. Along its neck and ribs, gill-like slits opened and drew oxygen directly from the water. Its tail's muscle mass compacted and grew heavier.

  The changes did not slow it.

  When the last viable body ceased movement, the Shade rose.

  It ascended through the water column with controlled strokes, breached once more, and took to the air. Water streamed from its body and their newfound gills slit shut as its lungs reasserted dominance.

  It climbed up the air and as it did, redundant traits began to recede. Excess fin length shortened. Internal structures rearranged. The form refined itself, keeping what improved efficiency and discarding the rest.

  The Shade leveled out and resumed its course.

  Ahead, land stretched across the horizon.

  As it crossed the coastline, the air changed. Heat signatures multiplied. Life density increased. The ground carried echoes of older corruption, layered and concentrated.

  The Shade adjusted altitude again and flew lower.

  After flying for a moment, The Draconic being saw an immense four legged Dusk-creature walking on on the ground.

  Its head snapped downward and its jaw opened wide as it folded its wings and dove without hesitation, committing fully to the descent-

  "MMMMM It's so good!" Naro said after eating a mouthful of bolognese pasta.

  In front of him was a beautiful white haired woman with healed scars. Her hair was now loose and tied into a messy ponytail for the occasion.

  She wore a navy blue evening dress that draped elegantly over her onyx-black skin, the deep color contrasting beautifully with her white hair as the fabric flowed around her athletic frame, catching the warm glow of the restaurant's Rune-light.

  Rami touched the fabric. 'Such a perfect dress... I'm so glad he wasn't lying.'

  "I know, right? I knew coming here was the best idea for a date." Rami said with a warm smile as she twirled her fork on the pasta and took a bite. "mm Gafore's really the best!"

  She took another bite, then paused to watch the room instead of her plate. The waitstaff moved with practiced ease, gliding between tables. A couple laughed too loudly near the window. Someone toasted to something that clearly mattered a great deal to them.

  'Normal things...how I missed them so much.'

  Naro followed her gaze. "It's strange," he said. "Seeing all this, knowing what's coming."

  She hummed in agreement. "That's why I like it. It reminds me of what we're actually fighting for."

  They ate in companionable silence for a bit after that with no urgency, no looming speeches or god forbid strategies. Just the nice food, the warmth that clung to the restaurant, and the shared space between them.

  '...'

  Eventually, Rami set her fork down.

  "Naro?"

  He looked up immediately. "Yeah?"

  She didn't look at him at first. Her fingers traced the rim of her glass, slow and thoughtful.

  "If I found a way to be strong enough," she began with a calm voice, "strong enough to fight alongside you... everywhere."

  She finally met his eyes.

  "Would you approve of it?"

  The answer came without hesitation.

  "Yeah, Of course."

  Her lips parted slightly 'That was quick!'

  She hadn't expected it to be that easy... Still, Rami pressed on.

  "What if that method had risks?" she asked. "That I could hurt myself."

  This time, Naro didn't answer.

  The sounds of the restaurant filled the gap. A laugh from the next table. The soft scrape of a chair. The distant melody climbing and falling again.

  Naro looked down at his hands.

  One of them was a Gaonian's and the other... not so much.

  He stayed silent long enough that Rami wondered if she'd pushed too far — then he finally spoke.

  "Well," Naro said slowly, choosing his words with care, "if you're going to fight alongside me... you're bound to get hurt."

  He lifted his gaze back to her with the usual loving expression he wore when looking at her, though it seemed sadder somehow, maybe even painful.

  "It's something I accepted a long time ago. Anyone who stays near me gets dragged into things they didn't ask for."

  He exhaled quietly.

  "And if this method makes you strong enough to stand there with me like you said, really stand there... then go ahead."

  "As much as I don't like the idea of you hurting yourself for me..."

  He reached across the table, slid his hand underneath hers and gripped it softly.

  "It's your decision, Rami," Naro said with a warm smile. "And I respect your autonomy."

  She searched his face, looking for doubt, for fear, for an attempt to stop her.

  But she found none.

  The only things she found on the handsome face of the man that were hers...

  Was love and trust.

  Rami smiled softly and squeezed his hand.

  "Thank you," she said.

  Naro tilted his head. "For what?"

  "For not lying to me."

  A corner of his mouth lifted. "I promised myself to never do so."

  'That doesn't stop you from hiding the truth sometimes though.'

  Rami laughed quietly and picked her fork back up.

  "Eat," she said. "Your pasta's getting cold."

  He did, though his eyes lingered on her for a moment longer than before.

  Outside, the city of Almati continued to prepare.