@bloodedhearts
“Elgar’nan. Ghilan’nain. I am not better than them. We have all done what we believed necessary, and it has carved ruin in our wake."
His gaze drifts past her, past the walls, as though he’s seeing another time entirely. “Once, the Elvhen walked in eternity. The Fade was as the air we breathed, alive, vibrant, boundless. Cities like living dreams rose from the earth, and our people’s voices wove songs into the very fabric of the world. I remember the light on the spires of Arlathan at dawn, the smell of the sea winds on the high bridges, the way laughter could carry for miles...”
The faintest shiver passes through him.
“And I destroyed it. The Veil was meant to be a wall to keep tyrants from our throats… but it became a prison for us all. It drained the magic from our hands, stripped eternity from our spirits, and left the People to wither in bodies that would crumble to dust. Immortals, made mortal. Gods, made myths. A civilization, made rubble.”
His voice softens, but the weight in it is crushing.
“I told myself it was mercy. That the cost was worth the freedom it bought. But every night, in the Fade, I walk the streets as they were… and I hear them, My people.
Asking why.
And I have no answer for them."
