The heavy, suffocating silence of the courtyard was broken only by the soft rustle of Renard's patchwork coat.
The five gods stood in absolute, terrifying stillness around their Warlord. Kael's heavy fists were clenched, a dangerous, localized heat radiating from his knuckles that threatened to singe the silver grass. Silas had his silver and black eyes locked perfectly onto the fox's throat, ready to plunge the merchant into a flawless, inescapable twilight at the slightest provocation.
Valeria rested her hand gently on her swollen stomach. She looked at the small, glowing silver leaf resting in Renard's palm. It was the exact same leaf she had given him a decade ago, completely untouched by time, still humming with the pure, absolute creation magic of the World Tree.
"You traded for that leaf ten years ago," Valeria stated calmly, her melodic voice completely masking the sudden, sharp spike of anxiety in her chest. "You said you needed it to restore a lost memory."
