Rosewater Oasis eat our young

Nokht gave a firm nod, his stare unwavering; his conviction assured. He was to train beneath the Alay-basi, the beastly, marbled shadow of a man who'd arrived some days prior. Nokht still had some pounds to put on before he could've matched such a warrior.

It was an innocent thing, surely, to wish to defy a fate set all too early.

And if the gods did not want for it... Well, then they would've killed him beneath starglow skies. Or perhaps another of the dozen times he'd found himself walking the sands between life and death.

Everything from here on out was sanctioned by them, a natural consequence, in a series of consequences.

Violence begets violence.