Kael did not stay on the riverbank for long.
For a few minutes, he simply lay there, soaked from head to toe, staring up at the gray dawn as if the sky might vanish and replace itself with another ceiling of stone, blood, or Vanitas darkness. Cold river water pooled beneath him. His clothes clung to his skin. His leather armor creaked whenever he breathed. The weight of the Tower was still on him, not physically, not entirely, but in that deeper way a place carved itself into the nerves after too many moments spent one mistake away from death.
Then the smile faded.
He had the Elixir.
That meant lying around was done.
