Chapter 62: Ch:62 The Silence That Follows
The moon hung high in the ink-black sky—silent, cold, and watching.
A soft wind drifted through the empty village streets of Exonory. Lanterns swayed gently on their hooks, casting faint golden flickers on the cobbled ground. The air was still, the kind of stillness that only came after something terrible had passed. No voices. No footsteps. Not even the rustling of animals.
Just... silence.
In the middle of the darkened road, a bruised figure shifted.
"Ahhhkk..."
Sarios groaned, his voice barely more than a breath. His gauntlet scraped against the stone as he crawled, dragging his broken body forward. Blood matted his black hair, dried and crusted near his temple. His once-polished armor was now dented, cracked—unrecognizable. Plates bent in awkward angles, some torn clean off. The red cape behind him had long been shredded.
He winced as his muscles screamed with every movement, but he kept going—inch by inch.
The veil of silence, the dark barrier that had swallowed the area, had lifted an hour ago. But it was too late. No one came. No one knew. The battle had ended long before Exonory even realized.
Now only the stillness of midnight remained.
Sarios gritted his teeth and pushed himself upright, one hand bracing against a wall of a closed bakery. His other arm hung limp—bruised black and blue. He coughed, a string of blood trailing from his lips.
His voice cracked.