The ground wept.
Hope stood on the cliffs above the harbor, watching the strange phenomenon unfold. Tears of water were seeping from the cracks in the earth. Not rain. Not dew. Actual tears, as if the land itself was mourning.
The sword at her hip pulsed with uneasy light. The blade had been quiet since the battle with the Primordial Warden. But now it stirred. Restless. Uncertain.
Kaelen appeared beside her. His hand found hers.
"The scouts are reporting the same thing everywhere. The earth is weeping. From the mountains to the coast. From the deep to the sky."
"What does it mean?"
"I don't know. But the people are scared. They're saying the realm is dying. That the land is giving up."
Hope's blood went cold. "Then we find out what's causing it. We stop it. We save our home."
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