Chapter 11: The Trial of Air

The next sigil was not in a easy spot nor was it an easy trek.

The wind howled across the Skyreach Cliffs, tugging at Mo’s cloak and whipping her fiery hair into a frenzy. The cliffs rose like jagged spires into the heavens, their peaks lost in swirling clouds that danced like spirits. The air was thin here, sharp with altitude and charged with something ancient—something watching, something that couldn’t be contained if you weren’t the right fairy.

Somewhere above, hidden in the breath of the sky, lay the third sigil: the Aetherband.

I stood at the edge, my feet planted firmly on the stone, my heart fluttering like a trapped bird. The Aquacrest and Emberstone pulsed in my satchel, their energies mingling—fire and water, passion and surrender. But air was different. Air was freedom. Air was chaos. Air was truth.

Aine stepped beside her, her wings shimmering in the pale light. The wind didn’t touch her the same way—it flowed around her, as if recognizing one of its own.

“This trial will not test your strength or your surrender,” Aine said, her voice barely audible over the gusts. “It will test your spirit.”

I nodded, though my throat was tight. “I’m ready.”

Aine gave her a long look, eyes full of memory. “Air doesn’t care if you’re ready. It will strip you bare and see what remains.”

A gust of wind surged upward, lifting Mo’s feet off the ground for a heartbeat. She gasped, then steadied herself. The wind wasn’t trying to hurt her—it was calling her.

I stepped forward.

The moment my foot left the cliff’s edge, the world vanished.

I was falling.

Or flying.

Or both.

The sky wrapped around me, vast and endless. Clouds swirled like living beings, whispering secrets in languages she didn’t know but somehow understood. Lightning danced in the distance, and the stars blinked like ancient eyes, watching her descent—or ascent.

She spun, weightless, suspended in a realm where direction had no meaning. The wind roared and whispered, a symphony of contradiction.

Then came the voice.

“You seek the Aetherband.”

I turned mid-air, searching. “Yes.”

“You carry fire and water. But can you carry nothing?”

Mo frowned. “Nothing?”

“Air is not held. It is not owned. It is trusted.”

The wind surged, and Mo was thrown into a spiral. She tumbled through memories—her first escape from school, her sprint to Milo, the feeling of being hunted, unseen, unheard. She saw herself hiding in plain sight, shrinking herself to fit into spaces that didn’t want her.

She saw herself in the halls, surrounded by Talon, Zeke, Yuel, and Narrin. She saw her fear, annoyance and her silence. Her longing to be invisible.

Then she saw herself in Aeloria—dancing with fire, surrendering to water, standing tall.

The wind whispered: “Who are you without fear?”

I closed my eyes.

I let go.

I let the wind take me.

I stopped fighting.

I stopped hiding.

I opened my arms and let myself be carried.

And the wind responded.

It lifted me.

It sang to me.

It wrapped around me like a promise.

She felt herself rising—not just through the sky, but through herself. The layers peeled away: the girl who ran, the girl who burned, the girl who wept. What remained was something raw, something real.

I was not just Mo, I was not just a sister, I was not just a caretaker, guardian, I wasn’t part fairy, I was….

I was motion.

I was momentum.

I was breath.

I was free.

When I opened my eyes, I was standing on a floating platform of cloud and light. It shimmered beneath my feet, held together by nothing but belief, before I hovered a silver circlet, delicate and glowing—the Aetherband.

I reached out and took it.

It pulsed with energy, light as breath, strong as a storm. It didn’t weigh me down—it lifted me, even as it settled into my palm. It didn’t even feel like I was holding anything, but I was because I could see it.

“You have passed,” the wind said. “You are flame, flow, and flight.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

She descended gently, the wind cradling me until my feet touched the cliff once more. Aine was waiting, eyes wide with awe. “Thank you, brother wind.” I feel the wind give a small gust of what could only be described as an acknowledgement of my thanks.

“You flew,” she whispered.

I nodded. “I trusted. This is the most unique thing I have ever experienced. I swear with every test and trial,, I can see my mom and me as I was a child.”

Aine placed a hand on her shoulder. “Three sigils. One remains.”

I looked out over the cliffs, the sky now calm, the clouds parting like curtains. But the wind shifted.

“I don’t imagine the last one is going to be a cake walk?” I mutter as I watch the dark clouds gathering in the distance.

“You would be correct, the last is the hardest, but you have managed to handle these three with complete ease. I am sure the last will be the least of your worries. Those clouds, on the other hand, may present a little more of a challenge,” Aine says quietly

The sky continues to darken, and from the last rays of light shining down, a shape begins to descend.

Not an Eerie.

Not a shadow.

Something else.

Something ancient.

Something watching.

It didn’t speak. It didn’t move. But its presence was undeniable—a pressure in the air, a silence that screamed, and those dark, glowing eyes once again staring at me. It was my personal mission, and it would do anything to make me pay.

I clutched the Aetherband, placing it with the others, as the three sigils touched my body, tingling with power that I had never experienced before. Looking at Aine, she huffs out a breath before taking my hand and pulling me back down the cliff.

The final trial awaited.

And the veil trembled.