Six hundred years ago—
Helen was gazing downward at the city that should have been erased from existence by the Nature Annihilating Strike—a city that, by every law of nature and every expectation of destruction, should have been flattened. Yet it still stood, untouched, impossibly preserved. Its towers remained upright, its streets unbroken, and its people—those fragile mortals—still lived and breathed beneath her shadow.
That rat, Robin Burton, had attempted to block the attack… but then he suddenly vanished, disappearing in a flash of light, followed moments later by a distant explosion that echoed like the final breath of a dying world. The reason was unclear, but the intention was not. Most likely, he had chosen to die alone—sacrificing himself in a desperate, foolish attempt to buy the survivors even the slimmest chance… a chance to negotiate with her, exactly as he had hoped for in his final moments.
