Chapter B5: Survivors
With each step Elsbeth took, crystal shards crunched underfoot. The ground was littered with them, broken from the larger clusters that burst through the ground, rising as high as a house at their largest. To think that crystallised magick, a precious resource over the mountains, was so absurdly abundant here.
It sickened her.
She cast her gaze across the plains and barely recognised her own world. There were almost no trees, no grass or greenery of any kind. Instead, a blasted wasteland of crystal shards and sandy, dry soil extended in every direction she turned, only terminating at the Barrier Mountains, scraping the sky to the east.
When they had finally been forced to flee through the mountains, a part of her had been filled with hope, dreaming that life away from the Empire would be better than it had been before. Reality was not so kind.
A presence within her spirit stirred, and the Priestess clasped her hands before her chest and closed her eyes. Slowly, the sensation grew as a being so much greater than herself reached out to speak into her heart.
A hard land will make a hard people. We will pour out our blessings on the worthy and upon this land. Fear for the people, and we will not fail to judge them.
The touch of The Three receded and Elsbeth released a shuddering breath. More often than ever before, the Old Gods were willing to speak to their Priesthood, taking a more direct hand. Perhaps they had foreseen this future all along? They intended for the western province to be wholly destroyed so that they could create a new land, carved out of the wilds for their followers to inhabit?
That wasn’t for her to worry about. The Gods knew her heart, knew what concerned her the most. She would continue to fear for the people and hold them up in prayer. Then, they would be judged, but there was nothing else she could do.
Footsteps approached from behind, easy to hear thanks to the crunching of crystal.