Blackwater Islands magisterial

ingram had always been iron; a blade forged in the blood and sinew of the unforgiving wilds, a soul like clear seawater under sunlight. fierce, bright, beautiful; fatal to the unwary.

now the blackness of the void crept in like inkblot clouds of disease, darkening him from within. his eyes, ever windows to his savage soul, glimmered with the void-magick.

and she was bare to him. seen, after so many moons, and

she shuddered

a deep,

bone-deep shudder.

and she knew her weakness. her folly.

the prophet sank to the floor, shaken. you are here to restore the balance, she knew it for the truth as she spoke. i have failed, i... i could not do it alone. her god had known. the unnamed god knew all, and had led her here.

her salvation, and her punishment. her long-forgotten husband, a creature of the void who had stepped into the realm of mortals with an ease, a knowledge, a serenity she hated and envied and adored.

i believed i was meant to do this alone. my... husband; do you come bearing the will of our god?

did he, in all his effortless power, hold the answers she so yearned to possess?