Isaru returns to the top of his tower. The last of the storm is gone, leaving only cold air, old stone, and the wide hush of height.
Below, the distant city flickers in scattered bands of gold and smoke, small as embers against the darkening land.
The Exiled Lord
So this is what he watches when the mountain grows quiet.
The Exiled Lord stands near the edge, hands folded behind his back, humbled now by the stillness more than the storm.
The Exiled Lord
I spent years guarding a prison I did not understand. I see now it was a promise.
Isaru
The city is far below, but its lights still climb the dark.
The rune-line at the cliff base glows faintly, a quiet path traced in ancient light, no longer urgent, only waiting.
The Exiled Lord
Tell me, Isaru, when you look down from here, what do you see first?
“"The young are the ones who shape the world. All we old ones can do is help them not stray into our mistakes."”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled -1)
The Exiled Lord does not answer at once. He turns to the drop instead, as if weighing the city against the cold stone beneath his feet.
Isaru
The lights below move in clusters, then apart again, like breaths.
Isaru keeps his distance, the tower’s edge between them, while the faint rune-line below glimmers like a patient seam in the cliff.
The Exiled Lord
I see hands at work, even from here. Miners. Bakers. Watchmen. Children running errands before the dark closes in.
The Exiled Lord
They shape the world by repeating it, until repetition becomes custom, and custom becomes law.
Isaru
It is a small city from this height. It is still many lives.
The Exiled Lord
Then perhaps age is only this, seeing the pattern and fearing the mistake enough to speak of it aloud.
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep watch over the city below