[After the Final Tournament—Same Night—House Karzath]
SLAM—!
SHATTER—!
Stone screamed as a table struck the wall and burst apart.
"AGGHHH—!"
Rakhane's roar tore through the chamber. Blood streamed down the right side of his face, thick and black under moonlight, his ruined eye weeping crimson as if the night itself bled through him. Half his face glistened wet; the other half lay caught in pale silver light—inhuman, twisted, monstrous.
Sareth-Min recoiled, "High Ensi—please. We must treat the wound before blindness takes you. The Urzan Temple—if we go now—"
SLAP—!
The blow cracked like a whip as Sareth-Min staggered, tasting blood.
"Did I tell you to open your damn mouth?" Rakhane hissed, breath hot and venomous.
"N-No, High Ensi, I only—"
Rakhane turned away, shoulders shaking. His fist clenched so tightly the veins stood like cords, his voice was low and certain, "This eye will never be healed; this broken eye will stand as witness—to what Zeramet Karash did."
