The Ruler's chamber looked dim and calm, lit by soft light from somewhere hidden. Raizen remembered the pictures, the lanterns, the Ruler's warm, weak yet unwavering voice.
The chest was still open, its soft white inside visible. The sphere was gone.
Elin had taken it. Now she was on her dragon, riding the sky through a dark cloud that won't let you see a thing.
Raizen's mind tried to catch up with the day, but it kept slipping. The images didn't really line up properly anymore. Beast. Sky domain. Dragon. Cave. Dead forest. Alan landing like a joke on a platform. Him falling uselessly. The dark cloud. The Ruler's hands. The sphere. The darkness slamming away from him. The cold whisper in his head.
"Silence."
Raizen scratched his head. He still didn't know what that meant. He didn't know if he'd been spoken through, spoken at, or simply used as a doorway by something that didn't care what he wanted.
He stared at his hands, then at the window, then back at the fog.
