Evening settled over Nareth'Qel the way breath settles in a chest—slow, inevitable, warm.
Nocth walked beside Imius as the city softened into night. The stone beneath their feet still held the day's heat, radiating upward through the thin soles of his shoes. The streets were narrow here, winding in gentle bends as if the city had been shaped by wandering hands rather than careful planning. Tall buildings leaned toward one another overhead, their surfaces carved with unfamiliar reliefs—beasts frozen mid-stride, figures caught between human grace and something older, heavier.
Light bloomed gradually.
Lanterns embedded in archways awakened one by one, their glow neither fire nor crystal, but something in between. Pale at first, then deepening into amber and gold. Threads of faint luminescence ran through the stone like veins beneath skin, pulsing softly as night took hold.
Nocth's gaze moved constantly.
Not searching—absorbing.
Women passed in flowing garments that reminded him of old statues he felt he should recognize. Fabric draped across one shoulder, cinched at the waist with metal clasps etched in symbols he didn't know. Their jewelry chimed softly as they walked—bone charms, polished teeth, small rings of dark metal shaped like claws.
Men wore layered tunics and fitted leather belts, their attire practical but ceremonial, as if every citizen here lived half a step away from ritual.
Food stalls lined the street edges. Skewers of roasted meat hissed as fat dripped onto heated stone. Flat rounds of grain bread were brushed with something sweet and amber-colored, steam curling upward with a scent that made Nocth's stomach tighten before he realized he was hungry. People laughed, argued, bartered. A city breathing in unison.
He felt like a visitor who had wandered into a place that never expected him.
Imius, on the other hand, fit perfectly.
"So picture it like this," Imius said, suddenly stepping ahead and spinning around, nearly colliding with a passing couple. He threw his arms wide, eyes bright. "Anu stands there—right? Totally calm. Like this."
He squared his shoulders and lifted his chin, adopting what he clearly thought was a divine expression.
"And then the Above Alls go—" Imius hunched forward, fingers crooked, voice dropping into a dramatic growl. "'You dare defy the order of existence?'"
He waved his hands wildly, almost knocking over a basket of dried fruit. The vendor swatted at him with a scowl. Imius dodged, laughing.
Nocth reached out and tugged him back by the sleeve before he could cause more damage.
"You'll get us chased," Nocth said quietly.
"That's part of the experience," Imius replied cheerfully. "Anyway—Anu doesn't even yell back. He just looks at them like they're… ants. Boom. Laws shattered. Heavens screaming. Very poetic."
A group of younger boys nearby attempted to mimic Imius's exaggerated poses, collapsing into laughter when one tripped over his own feet.
Nocth watched them for a moment longer than necessary.
The street widened ahead, opening into a broad stone plaza. The noise softened as they stepped into it, as if sound itself respected the space. The stone beneath their feet was smoother here, worn not by time but by reverence.
At the plaza's center, a symbol was carved directly into the ground.
Simple.
Deep. Unadorned.
Candles ringed it, their flames steady despite the evening breeze. No statue stood above it. No figure claimed form. People knelt quietly around its edges, heads bowed, hands resting against the stone.
Across the plaza, set into a raised frame of dark metal, stood a depiction of a figure—tall, feminine in outline, yet unmistakably altered. One arm bore the shape of a beast's limb. Horns curved backward from an indistinct crown. The face was deliberately unfinished, as though the sculptor had refused to decide what she truly was.
Offerings lay at her feet.
Nocth felt something tighten in his chest.
Imius's voice dropped without him realizing it. "This place," he said, "is sacred. Whole Thaleon Sanctrum, actually. People come here before big decisions. Or after mistakes."
Nocth didn't answer.
He stared at the ground symbol, at the hands pressed to stone, at the absence where a statue might have been. The feeling wasn't fear. It was closer to… recognition. Like standing in a room you swear you've entered before, even though you know you haven't.
They moved on as the plaza's rhythm swallowed them back into the city.
Music drifted from side streets now—deep drums, irregular but purposeful. Lanterns were strung overhead in long arcs, bobbing gently.
Groups of teenagers weaved through the crowds, laughing too loudly, daring one another to sneak offerings or try festival games set up along the alleys.
Imius dragged Nocth toward one such stall, where wooden tokens were tossed at stacked targets carved in the shapes of snarling beasts.
"Come on," Imius said. "You look like you're about to disappear again."
Nocth almost smiled.
As Imius bargained with the stall owner, Nocth's attention drifted. His eyes caught on a window set into a nearby building—glass smoother than the others, reflecting lantern light in a way that felt wrong.
For a moment, the noise faded.
He saw something else.
A room. Quiet. Soft light. A window framed by straight edges, looking out onto a darkness that didn't glow. He couldn't see what lay beyond it, only felt that he had once stood there, unmoving, staring out as if waiting for something to return.
The image fractured, slipping away before he could grasp it.
"Hey," Imius said, shoving a token into his hand. "Your turn."
Nocth blinked, grounding himself in the weight of the wood, the press of the crowd, the smell of roasted meat and oil.
He threw.
The token missed.
Imius laughed, loud and unrestrained, and slung an arm around Nocth's shoulders. "See? Definitely still human."
They moved on together as lanterns drifted upward into the darkening sky, small points of light rising toward something vast and unseen.
Nocth walked with him, quiet as ever.
For now, that was enough.