"Nivalis," she said softly, her voice carrying faint weariness, "Shadow.Q isn't the same as before. She's one of Eclipse Vanguard's eight deputy legion commanders now."
The dragon's crystalline eyes flickered, like she hadn't quite expected that acknowledgment.
Shadow.Q let out a laugh—light at first, then settling into something steadier. She drifted forward, wings catching the fading sunlight, until she hovered side by side with Rita. For a moment, the three of them—human, dragon, politician—cut through the dusk like a constellation torn from the sky.
But Rita's gaze did not shift. Her eyes stayed locked on the battlefield sprawling beneath them: tens of thousands of players, battered but cheering, and the countless tiny blue sprites flitting among them, reborn souls glittering like fireflies after rain.
