He was its living embodiment, the very man who had dared to defy the cosmic order and brought down the wrath of the Mother of Heavens upon his entire bloodline.
"It's finally time," he muttered, his voice carrying the weight of centuries of planning, of waiting, of enduring the slow agony of watching his bloodline suffer for his sins.
In the next instant, he vanished from the room entirely, leaving not even a hint of disturbance in the air. The sacred chamber fell silent, the painted eyes seeming to watch the empty space where he had stood.
He reappeared high above the village, suspended in the evening sky like a dark star. From this height, the settlement below looked pathetically small—ten or twelve humble huts scattered across the barren landscape. Each dwelling served as a reminder of how low they had fallen.
