Rex stood there for a long time, a silent sentinel watching over the rebirth of his empire. He watched the wounded being tended, the debris being cleared, and the first sparks of a new, harder civilization catching fire in the eyes of the survivors.
He saw a people who no longer looked to the surface for salvation but looked to the man standing on the amber stone.
Finally, he turned. His cape caught the wind, a dark banner of sovereignty, as he began the long walk back toward the castle.
Behind him, the elemental constructs, the massive, terrifying engines of his will, began to settle. The fire construct's roar faded to a steady, ambient glow; the stone golem sank back into the substrate with a tectonic groan, returning to the earth from which it had been summoned.
The atmosphere shifted as he moved. Lilith fell into step at his right, her presence a graceful shadow.
