The ruins of the Warren were silent, except for the sound of fire. The air was thick with the smell of wet ash and the sharp, metallic tang of ozone. Drogo Payne sat in the dirt, the shattered wood of his home all around him. He did not feel the cold mud on his knees. He did not hear the distant shouting of the Solaris Guards.He only felt the woman in his arms.Elara Payne was as light as a handful of dry leaves. Her skin, once gray from the slag-sickness, was now a ghostly, translucent white. The shard of Holy Glass in her chest continued to pulse with a soft, cruel light. Every time it glowed, Elara’s body shook with a small, painful tremor.Drogo looked at his own hands. They were huge. They were made of obsidian stone. The violet fire in his veins made his skin look like it was cracked and burning from the inside. He tried to adjust how he held her, but his stone-like fingers were clumsy. He was afraid that even a small movement would break her brittle bones."Mama," Drogo whis

The great white light of the Sun-Ships had finally faded. For a long time, there was only a terrible, heavy silence. The Slum District was gone. Where there had once been narrow streets, crowded shacks, and the smell of cooking fires, there was now only a flat, gray desert of ash. Smoke rose from the ground in thin, lazy lines, like the ghosts of the people who had lived there.Deep beneath the center of this ruin, miles under the dirt and the stone, a purple crystal sat in the dark. It was quiet. It was still. Elara Payne was safe inside her tomb of time.But on the surface, the world was still full of hate.Drogo Payne stood in the center of the gray wasteland. He was alone. His obsidian skin was cracked. One of his black wings was broken, hanging from his shoulder like a torn sail. His violet eyes were dim, the fire inside them flickering like a candle in a storm. He was at the very end of his strength. His mana was gone. His mother was gone. His sister was gone.[VITALITY: 4%.]

The gray ash of the Slum District was still warm. Small embers of wood and silk glowed like dying eyes in the dark. Drogo Payne stood in the center of the ruins. He was holding Brother Valerius by the neck. The Inquisitor’s white robes were torn and stained with mud. He looked like a broken bird in a giant’s hand.Drogo’s hand was made of obsidian stone. His fingers were long, black claws that dug deep into Valerius’s skin. The Inquisitor was gasping for air. His face, which had been so handsome and arrogant just minutes ago, was now blue and twisted with pain."Where... is... my... sister?" Drogo asked.His voice was a deep, terrifying growl. It did not sound like a human boy talking. It sounded like the earth itself was hungry. Every word made the air vibrate.Valerius tried to laugh, but it came out as a wet, wheezing sound. "You... you think you won, rat? You killed a few guards. You broke a staff. But the Sun-King... he has her now. She is with the High Masters."Drogo squeeze

The Glacial Sentinels froze. They had seen many things, but they had never seen a man who walked through solid matter as if it were a curtain.Lady Sylas stood at the far end of the room. She was clutching her staff so hard her knuckles were white. The disgust on her face was being eaten by a growing, frantic terror."You..." Sylas stammered. Her voice was high and thin. "You are a Null! You were born in the dirt! You are supposed to be nothing!"Drogo stopped in the center of the room. Every step he had taken left a cracked, melted footprint on the sapphire floor. He looked at the beautiful ballroom—the silk tapestries, the crystal dome, the silver decorations.He thought of his mother, buried in the dark, cold earth.He thought of the people in the slums, turned to ice by this woman’s "beautiful" magic."You are right, Sylas," Drogo said. His voice was a deep, vibrating chime that made the crystal dome above them rattle.He took a step forward. The violet-and-white fire on his wings

The Manor of the Winter Rose was dying. It was a slow, loud death. The beautiful white stone walls were cracking. The sapphire floors were splitting open. The crystal dome that had shown the stars was now just a rain of sharp, transparent glass falling into the ash. Drogo Payne stood in the center of the ruin. He was a giant of black stone, his obsidian skin glowing with a faint, violet light.He had just turned Lady Sylas into soot. He had eaten her blizzard. He had devoured her magic. But he did not feel satisfied. The hunger in his chest was quiet for a moment, but the emptiness in his soul was getting larger.He looked at the pile of black ash that used to be a High Noble. The wind caught it, blowing it away."System," Drogo said. His voice was a deep, heavy sound that made the air vibrate. "I need to know where they are. I need to know how they move."[ABYSSAL ARCHIVE: PROCESSING REQUEST.][NOTICE: LADY SYLAS WAS A MEMBER OF THE WAR COUNCIL. HER PRIVATE STUDY CONTAINS HIGH-LEV