Chapter 41: The Cost of the Schism
Morning seared with an unnatural stillness that crept over the Vale like a shroud. It was thick, heavy with the smell of something approaching. Kael recognized it from experience. The Void within him moved, a far-off drumbeat that paced itself to the rhythm of the first Pillar. His head was weighted, heavy with the choices they had made. The farther they drifted from each other, the tighter the gulf gripped him in its grasp. The closer he stayed to Elira, the more confining the tie that bound them, the stranger change—the very nature of who they were slowly distorted.
Kael sat near the fire, watching Elira as she packed their gear. She moved with deliberate slowness, her brow furrowed in effort. He could feel the tension emanating from her, could feel the fear she would not voice. She felt it too—the growing divide between themselves and the world they had abandoned.
