Chapter Fifty-Eight

Violet's section explores a cave in snow-covered mountains searching for energy signature boxes in a competitive dragon-rider exercise. Inside the cave, they discover an ancient dragon named Solas with one eye, who attacks the group, killing Visia and trapping them with no clear escape route.

Violet leads a hiking expedition with Cat, Sloane, Visia, and their dragons Andarna and Kiralair down a snowy ridgeline to explore a cave as part of a sectional competition. The group struggles through deep snow while Tairn flies ahead scouting. Once inside the narrow cave entrance, they encounter complete darkness. Cat reveals she carries emergency torches and trading runes with other riders—a practice Violet finds brilliant. Violet uses her conduit to channel lightning energy and lights a torch, demonstrating her control over her signet despite the strain. The group jokes as they venture deeper into widening tunnels. When Visia asks about second signets, Sloane mentions that Cruth bonded Quinn despite her being only a great-niece of a previous rider, causing gravity to shift momentarily around Violet—an unsettling sign she internally notes but cannot address. The team locates the metal chest they were searching for. Cat, gaining Violet's trust, counters the summoning rune protecting it. Visia announces plans to fly to Navarre's border to convince her cousins to leave, which Cat surprisingly respects. As they approach the tunnel fork to exit, a massive one-eyed orange dragon named Solas rounds the corner. The creature's presence causes immediate panic. In the chaos, Violet yanks Cat backward, but Visia is struck by Solas's claw and crashes into the cave wall with fatal impact. Solas prepares to breathe fire as Violet mentally screams for Tairn's help.