The sky was an endless canvas of white, and the world beneath them had vanished, hidden behind layers of snow and mist. It was impossible to know what awaited them ahead. But Violet knew that the dark bearers moved in the storm like living shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

A roar echoed in the distance, low and guttural, causing Violet's chest to tighten. It was not the roar of a dragon.

"Did you hear it?" he asked Tairn, though he already knew the answer.

"I have heard it," the dragon's voice resounded in his mind, brimming with a blend of fury and anticipation. "Prepare yourself."

The storm seemed to part for a moment, and there, in the distance, Violet saw what she had been dreading: a dark silhouette moving with impossible speed amidst the snow gusts. The Venin. Its skin seemed to absorb the light, and the energy it emanated was so unnatural that Violet felt a shiver run down her spine.

"Ridoc, at three o'clock," he warned, turning Tairn towards the enemy.

Ridoc needed no further instructions. With a war cry, his dragon surged towards the shadow, its tail whipping through the air like a whip. Yet before they could reach it, the silhouette vanished, as if swallowed by the storm.