ack in a blur of g

ungs that, moments ago, fe

he scent of pine and wet

stice R

s snapp

ugh the canopy, the sa

the s

e the

ir Luminary, their hope,

it her, a ph

d not with divine light

ders,

her eyes wide with

ction to the Vale' s sacred en

id, an eternity of c

d up, her li

was

her was peaceful

orning of th

und Micah with Seraphin

rt of t

g, warred with the crushi

ad a

, impossib

had doomed them all, was to run

o

had f

d feigned immolation. Micah, believed to h

nched he

Spirit Core was a phantom

e would not b

, palm-sized stone used by Shepherds to recor

or it, her fi

o

und the retreat grounds, items of subtle power the She

eraphina. He wouldn't

deep, stea

ghtmare, but it w

nfront them dir

, evi

d, st

r steps quiet, her senses heigh

head. She could he

. Ser

mmered again

se thicket offe

the Resonance Crystal,

pturing the sounds, the subt

atche

beauty like a p

o dedicated to his path of pu

ached for Seraphina, the

pulsed, reco

owing poison to wa

held her

not the

scattered in a future that, gods

had captured enough, she dea

k was to fin

er past life, from idle explora

the touch, hidden beneath

ing with faint earth energy, tuck

l and silvery, growing in the

ments efficient, her mind a

small piece of armor ag

at would

ould face E

he would have