Noctisardor Bypass teach me to be a better man than I am now

He could leave this place. Find Ophelia. Run. He could leave and never look back. They could find a way far from the Gilded Sea. Find their way along the real ocean, where visions still led him. They would never have to think of their parents or anyone again.

But Everett only took that one step forward. His second step hovered above the path both Ophelia and Tybault had taken before him and his brow furrowed, gaze fixed on the ground.

And Evander called out.

Evander.

Evander.

Sing for me, brother.

And he did. His voice rose quiet and low in the softness of the moonlight.

Oh, my brother,
for long we have waited
for long we have called out for the dawn.
The fire of the morning,
the rush of evening rain,
to dance and sing through every earthly pain.

A new song is starting,
a new routine begun,
I see it in the shadows of the dawn.
There's freedom in the morning,
there's promise in the rain,
to dance and sing without our kindred's chain.