The biting mountain wind swept across the high canyon ridge, howling through the jagged granite needles of the northern border.
Behind them, the deep crater where the Bleeding Gorge once stood smoldered in silent ruin, buried under millions of tons of collapsed stone and ash.
Squad 25 laid Rika down on a folded wool blanket beside Lira's field litter, the frost crunching beneath their heavy iron boots.
The alchemical corruption had been purged from her blood, but decades of toxic brews and forbidden experiments had taken an irreversible toll on her mortal vessel.
Without dark bio-wards sustaining her heart, her vital channels were gently winding down like an extinguished candle in the breeze.
Sagiri knelt beside the dying elder, his fingers resting gently on her wrist to monitor the slow, fading rhythm of her life pulse.
Kiana knelt on the opposite side, her dust-rose eyes shining with quiet sorrow as she held Rika's frail, cold hand in both of hers.
