The silver grass of the courtyard was incredibly warm. It was not the gentle warmth of a spring morning. It was the residual, vibrating heat of a newborn sun. Kael stood beside Valeria near the center of the estate. His golden armor had cooled from a blinding white plasma to a steady, comforting glow. The heavy Paladin-Standard Glaive rested easily in his right grip. He looked up at the golden dome of Sanctuary.
The magical barrier was no longer just Valeria's creation. Kael's ascension had fundamentally altered the defensive matrix. Thick veins of liquid sunlight pulsed heavily through the golden energy. The World Tree absorbed his solar radiation and pushed it outward. The dome was twice as thick as before. It hummed with a deep, resonant frequency that rattled the teeth of the Bear militia guards standing on the stone battlements.
