Women in armor that gleamed with metal rather than bone, their weapons catching the lightning's glow as they moved into defensive positions. An old woman whose presence radiated power that made his newly awakened senses ache with the strain of perceiving it. A young woman being protected at the center of everything, her features partially obscured but her eyes...
Her eyes held pupils shaped like white wings!
And floating in the air beyond the temple, suspended on clouds of Mana...
One wore white garments of impossible quality, his dark burning eyes fixed on the temple with an expression of pleasant menace that promised violence beneath its civilized surface. Damian's enhanced hearing caught the words that carried across the distance on currents of Mana.
"...Saint of Stone..."
"...Imperator Luddya..."
"...does the Hallowed Voice know you are here?"
