The bronze coin trembled in Clek's palm.
He stood on the outskirts of the city, his eyes fixed on the ground beneath his feet. The earth was cracking, thin fissures spreading across the surface like veins of darkness. The survivors had gathered behind him, their faces pale, their weapons ready. They had felt it too—a tremor that seemed to come from the very heart of the world.
Aria's presence flickered in his mind, sharp with alarm. "Clek. What's happening?"
"I don't know." His voice was flat, hard. "But I'm going to find out."
He knelt, his hand pressing against the cracked earth. The bronze coin blazed in his grip, its light pushing back against the darkness that seeped from the fissures. He could feel it—something ancient, something vast, something that had been sleeping beneath the
