Cosmic Sorceries

In the Valley of Eventide, a little less than an hour after the Insight Ritual.

Laemno sat against the oily black wall of an arched hill, listening to the cackle of the bonfire he had just kindled. The shadows moved eerily under the dancing flames, sprouting open slits and strange smiles out of the corner of his eyes.

He touched the silvery crown atop his head, feeling its cold and ancient carvings. Its weight was oddly familiar, and he found its presence soothing and logical, akin to the missing piece of a puzzle he needed to complete.

Before his weary gaze, the woman who had attempted to assassinate him lay unconscious still, covered in her own tattered robe.

Her right arm had been disintegrated, reduced to a stump of charred, reddish flesh, while her left one was covered in patterned bandages, displaying a language he could not read.