ISAIAH
There was a chill in the air that seemed to seep into my bones. I was in the clearing, with the rock altar behind me throbbing gently with ancient power. It was still in the forest, as if all the creatures had sensed the darkness and had fled. My fingers brushed the edge of the altar to center myself as I waited. And then he emerged. Azure solidified out of the darkness as some kind of presence, his form seeping in and out through the external blackness. With his choking presence-a pressure that weighed on the soul-his eyes flashed with unnatural brilliance. "Isaiah," he whispered, his voice rumbling deep like some kind of resonance through the earth itself. "You look excellent for a man who's lived ages in failure. I forced myself to look him in the eye and straightened. "Azure",
