Evening stretched across the Torchline sky, languid with the lingering heat of the day. Fire burned to the west, turning the horizon to glory, but already a cooler breeze was blowing from the east where the first diamonds of night were twinkling in the firmament. A few late-flying hels cried in the distance among the gulls, but the beasts and birds were growing hushed in the twilight and around Aumakua the sound of the tide washing up the sand was quiet music to the Mer King's ears.
Violet still cracked the horizon above distant Starfall, however, and Hadama contemplated it from the top of the lighthouse. He had struck a deal to cast the Void out, but it was not gone yet. There was still time for the sand to shift beneath their feet. Time for deals to be reneged upon, and war to break wide open, casting blood and shadow in the water.
Time for friends to say goodbye, however unlikely the friendships had seemed. And even if all went as planned, there would be work left to do in order to continue cleansing the corruption from all of Caido.
His fingers tightened on the sill of the window, feeling the light within the tower at his back like wings. Like a weight. A blessing and a charge. Unbroken pride and uneasiness mingled in his broad chest as he drew in the night air and turned his face from the stronghold of their enemy to seek the rising moon instead, his prayers for peace silent as they spilled out into its pale light.
Violet still cracked the horizon above distant Starfall, however, and Hadama contemplated it from the top of the lighthouse. He had struck a deal to cast the Void out, but it was not gone yet. There was still time for the sand to shift beneath their feet. Time for deals to be reneged upon, and war to break wide open, casting blood and shadow in the water.
Time for friends to say goodbye, however unlikely the friendships had seemed. And even if all went as planned, there would be work left to do in order to continue cleansing the corruption from all of Caido.
His fingers tightened on the sill of the window, feeling the light within the tower at his back like wings. Like a weight. A blessing and a charge. Unbroken pride and uneasiness mingled in his broad chest as he drew in the night air and turned his face from the stronghold of their enemy to seek the rising moon instead, his prayers for peace silent as they spilled out into its pale light.
