Race Beneath the Winter Sky

The frozen field stretches beneath a pale winter sky, its hard ice glittering like silver. At the starting line, True Dave holds his raised light saber like a ceremonial standard.

Beside him, Astraya spreads her white wings, their feathers bright against the snow. A second marked course cuts across the ice toward a ring of wind-carved stones.

Laughter and murmurs ripple through the waiting onlookers gathered beyond the boundary stones. Some point toward the sky; others study the icy ground and the distant stone ring.

The raised saber remains motionless, a bright challenge above the frost. Astraya folds one wing slightly and glances toward Dyanara, while the crowd falls expectantly quiet.

Dyanara’s celestial wings burst open, black feathers flexing along stark skeletal frames. She launches from the starting line, boots leaving the ice as frost scatters beneath her.

The first powerful downstroke lifts her cleanly above the course. A sharp pull tears through her left shoulder, and one armored strap bites painfully into her collarbone.

Astraya springs into motion below, white wings opening as she races along the marked course. Her cyan eyes remain fixed on Dyanara’s rising silhouette.

Beyond the boundary stones, the waiting onlookers erupt into startled cheers. Dyanara clears the starting line fully, climbing toward the frozen course with her left shoulder throbbing.

The wind catches her dark feathers and yaws her briefly over the glittering ice, but the wings hold. She steadies above the course, airborne and moving toward the distant stones.