Chapter 71 - SHATTERED COVENANT.

The first light of dawn crept slowly across the broken horizon, as if even the sun hesitated to rise over what remained of the council's once-proud stronghold. The sky bled in muted shades of rose and grey, the colors sluggish and heavy, spilling reluctantly over charred courtyards and shattered halls. Pale beams filtered through the lingering haze, casting long, spindly shadows that clung stubbornly to the wreckage. Where once proud banners had hung from gilded poles, embroidered with the sigils of power and authority, there now dangled only tattered scraps of fabric, their colors muted by soot, their edges curling and frayed. The wind that moved them was not the triumphant gust of victory, but a cold, thin breath that whispered through gaps in broken stone.