Thundar Stormstrider's Arc

Chapter 4 of 10

Thundar stood inside the glass and felt the storm grow angry. It had given him back his shape, but it did not want to share the room. The clouds slammed against the walls. White lightning forked across the inside of the tower and made the panes ring like struck bells. Cracks spidered out from his feet. The storm wanted out, and it did not care if he broke with it. He turned and saw the door. A heavy brass padlock now hung on the latch, ornate and warm and old. It had not been there when he stepped in. He understood at once. The lock was the price. Stay sealed, stay whole. Open it, and the storm would tear free and leave him hollow on the dry ground again. The pulses came faster. Outside, pale rings of force bent the air around the tower and shook small stones from its base. One more surge and the glass would burst on its own, and the choice would be made for him. Thundar pressed his palm flat against the cold pane. He thought of the peak above all weather. He could not reach it as a kept thing. He gripped the padlock and twisted until the old brass split. The door swung wide. The storm rushed past him in a single roaring breath and was gone into the dry sky, dragging half his thunder with it. Thundar stepped out onto the cracked stones, thinner than before but standing, and faced the long quiet road ahead.