The last seed slipped from his fingers like a secret, vanishing into the sand without protest. Dorian lingered a moment longer, crouched beside the hollowed skull of some long-dead beast, his pale hand resting lightly on its sun-bleached jaw as if offering it a final benediction.
Then he rose.
The motion was smooth, unhurried, as if he had all the time in the world—and perhaps he did. He brushed his hands together, letting the fine grains of Hak Etme’s future scatter from his palms and drift back into the desert wind. No ceremony. No drama. Just the faint hiss of sand falling through fingers and the subtle shift of linen in the heat.
His work was done.
Not in the way others might mark it—no monuments, no battle cries—but in the way that mattered. Quiet. Precise. Irrevocable.
The desert stretched before him, still beige and silent. Still pretending it hadn’t changed.
Dorian smiled faintly, the expression barely touching his eyes.
~FIN
Then he rose.
The motion was smooth, unhurried, as if he had all the time in the world—and perhaps he did. He brushed his hands together, letting the fine grains of Hak Etme’s future scatter from his palms and drift back into the desert wind. No ceremony. No drama. Just the faint hiss of sand falling through fingers and the subtle shift of linen in the heat.
His work was done.
Not in the way others might mark it—no monuments, no battle cries—but in the way that mattered. Quiet. Precise. Irrevocable.
The desert stretched before him, still beige and silent. Still pretending it hadn’t changed.
Dorian smiled faintly, the expression barely touching his eyes.
~FIN
He'll rekindle all the dreams
it took you a lifetime to destroy
it took you a lifetime to destroy
