Sodden beneath fitful spits of chill autumn rain, the plain bore the stark, colorless grace of desolation: the rain had come much too late for the reedy clumps of drought-dried grasses. Pallid late afternoon light hinted at dark shapes perhaps mountains along the cloud-draped northern horizon, but the mist merged into the featureless flatness to the east and west. Subtle convections of vapor cast shifting shadows through every stony crevice and faceted surface of the plain’s central feature, ...

“Holy Absolute,” she prayed softly, “let this working be my last; accept my sacrifice in payment for my failure. Consume that which once was Drillian, and undo the evil I had not the will to oppose.” Sparks soared upward as the parchment caught fire from the candle flame and blazed; fiber and ink forever transmuted in the holocaust. With a soft exhalation, she sent the last fiery fragments heavenward, her long blonde hair and perfect complexion gilded by the light of her Magick. As the last e...