Chapter 87: The Aftermath of Silence
The ascent from the healed or perhaps reconfigured heart of the mountain was a journey through unraveling chaos. The unified, synchronized threat was gone. In its place was a fortress full of three hundred deeply confused, disoriented, and traumatized men.
They encountered the first group halfway up the stairs a clutch of soldiers who had been part of the advancing mob. Now, they huddled against the walls, some weeping openly, others staring at their hands as if seeing them for the first time. The grinding compulsion was gone, but the memory of it, and the gaping void of time lost to meaningless loops, was a fresh, psychic wound.
Kaelen shifted into a role he hadn't practiced in years: post-crisis commander. His voice, when he spoke, was firm but devoid of the old, imperial steel. It was the voice he used with Lyra when explaining a hard truth.
