CHAPTER 187: THE SOLWYN PEOPLE

Aelin

A moment passed in complete stillness.

Then—like sunlight breaking through fog—they all smiled.

Dozens of golden-haired, blue-eyed people smiled at me. Some raised their hands in a gentle wave, others pressed them over their hearts in what felt like a greeting, reverent and kind. The silence that had held its breath now felt warm, expectant. Welcoming.

I stood there frozen, my hand half-raised in awkward uncertainty. Was I supposed to wave back? Bow? Say something?

I wasn’t sure. My chest felt tight—not from fear anymore, but from sheer disbelief.

Then, behind me, a voice called out—deep and warm like sunlight through stone.

"Aelin."

I turned.

A man approached, walking with the quiet confidence of someone who belonged to the mountain itself. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with a golden beard that caught the light and long hair tied in a high ponytail that swayed with each step. He wore the same white and gold robes as the others, but his presence was different—steadier, heavier. Like he’d seen centuries and remembered every one.

He smiled as he came closer. "Don’t be scared," he said gently, his voice like a steady river. "They’re just excited. We all are. It’s not every day our descendant finally shows up."

I blinked. "Descendant?"

The word echoed in my mind, rolling over thoughts that hadn’t yet taken shape. And then, like a thunderclap in clear skies, it hit me.

"You’re... the Solwyn tribe?" I whispered, my voice barely carrying over the breeze.

The man reached the edge of the platform, placing his hands on the railing beside mine. His smile deepened as he looked out over the city. "We are," he said.

I turned to face him fully, excitement beginning to surge in my veins. My fingers tightened around the stone edge. "Can I... ask you questions?" I asked, breathless. "There’s so much I don’t understand."

He glanced down at me, eyes kind and clear as the sky above Eldaria.

"Of course," he said, placing a hand to his chest. "My name is Tala. And you can ask me anything."

My heart was racing now—not with fear, but with a strange, bubbling excitement that I hadn’t expected. A thousand questions surged through my mind all at once, tangled and breathless.

My mouth opened, but nothing came out. Just a faint, squeaky breath of confusion.

"I—um—wait, I... I don’t even know where to start," I stammered, my hands flailing for emphasis. "I have so many questions. Too many. I don’t know which to—what if I ask the wrong—wait, no, I didn’t mean—"

Tala just chuckled.

It wasn’t mocking. It was warm and amused, like a father watching a child discover snow for the first time. He didn’t interrupt. He let me spiral, and when I finally just stood there blinking at him like an overwhelmed sparrow, he gave a small shake of his head, smiling.

"Still so much fire in the blood," he said softly, then turned and gestured to someone nearby.

A young woman in white and gold—she couldn’t have been more than a few years older than me—nodded and disappeared through an arched doorway.

Tala looked back at me with a raised brow. "Let’s sit. Questions are easier when your feet don’t feel like they’re about to float off the mountain."

I let out a nervous laugh, realizing only then how tightly I’d been gripping the railing. My knuckles were white.

"Right. Sitting. That sounds... good."

***

Draegon

This wasn’t Reagan anymore.

The man I had been fighting had become a creature of ruin.

Towering above the shattered forest, Reagen’s body had fully morphed into a colossal beast of writhing tendrils and obsidian flesh. His torso was thick like a fortress wall, his arms elongated into massive, armored limbs, his legs sinking deep into the earth, cracking it under his weight.

A demon wearing a man’s ambition like a crown.

And I was a speck in his shadow.

I flared my wings hard, wind bursting from my back as I dodged a falling tree—no, a limb—he had thrown it like a child tossing a toy. It shattered the boulders beside me. Earth rumbled with each of his footsteps.

I couldn’t meet him blow-for-blow anymore. Not like this.

The moment I tried to strike him directly, my claws barely punctured that mutated armor of his. Every inch of him now oozed Abyss magic—resistant, reactive, consuming. The sheer density of his mass made even grazing attacks feel useless.

From the air, I circled wide, keeping my altitude, breath heavy in my chest. Below me, the forest had become a battlefield. What remained of the mansion was now splinters beneath Reagen’s feet. His head tilted up to find me in the storm-gray sky.

"Run all you want," his distorted voice thundered. "It won’t matter. You’re only delaying the inevitable."

His arms extended—tendrils like whips lashed through the trees, reaching for me.

I banked sharply to the right, avoiding three of them, letting the fourth brush against my wingtip—searing pain shot through it. Abyss-tainted, alright.

No more stalling.

I hurled downward like a comet.

Flames roared from my maw, spiraling around my body, heating the air until it cracked and shrieked. I slammed into his upper shoulder with the force of a meteor—fire exploded across his flesh, and this time, I heard a sound. Not a scream—more like a groan. The sound of something ancient being tested.

Smoke hissed upward, and the tendrils nearest me burned away.

I didn’t stop.

I spun off the strike and began carving down his arm in rapid, calculated slashes, igniting every wound with fire. The bigger he was, the slower he moved. That was my edge.

But even that had its limits.

One massive hand slammed upward like a wall, and though I veered back in time, the impact shook the sky, sending me tumbling. I steadied midair, wings beating hard, but not before three tendrils shot toward me again.

I blasted through them with a breath of fire and shot higher into the clouds. Thunder rumbled above. Perfect.

"You’re nothing but a parasite!" I shouted down.

He turned his grotesque head toward me, a cavernous grin stretching across his malformed jaw.

"And parasites survive, Draegon. Kings die."

Then—he roared.

A sound that made the trees wilt. That made birds fall from the sky. That shook the air like thunder tearing the heavens.

I felt the weight of it—of the Abyss echoing through him. It wasn’t a human’s voice anymore.

I steadied myself in the air, and for a breath, remembered Aelin—her laughter, her defiance, her fire.

No. I would not let him win.

"Then come try and kill me," I growled.

And with that, I dove again