Hours had passed since the Covenant of the First Stone shook under the weight of what had occurred within its white walls.
Night had settled over the Citadel, and in that darkness, two figures floated in the sky above the Cathedral of the First Dawn and lit the dark better than the stars behind them. Damian's beast body remained above the floating Cradle far away, but his human form burned here, verdant tattoos pulsing against the night air, wing-shaped pupils blazing with blue-gold and green light that threw the white towers of the Covenant into sharp relief below.
Beside him, Serala's white-gold and verdant wings held their full span, the threads of evolved radiance woven through each feather glowing in the darkness with the steady warmth of something that had decided it was permanent.
They looked like something carved into the sky.
Below them, the Covenant had stopped mourning and started moving.
