Editing Site 3: Diamond Hearth

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''I miss the safety of the Retreat.  No, I miss the Retreat when it was new, when our foes were few and disinterested, before I had made the second sacrifice and what was left of my family was still whole.  By the Sun it is cold here.''
 
''I miss the safety of the Retreat.  No, I miss the Retreat when it was new, when our foes were few and disinterested, before I had made the second sacrifice and what was left of my family was still whole.  By the Sun it is cold here.''
  
-- From the journals of [[Rivers Between Us]], twilight caste sorcerer
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From the journals of [[Rivers Between Us]], twilight caste sorcerer
  
 
==Kin==
 
==Kin==
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Rivers clenched a fist before him and closed his eyes.  Momentarily, wisps of blue essence began to flit from between his closed fingers and under his thumb, slowly filling the room with ethereal light.  Erkum looked at him with barely concealed envy, slowly stroking his beard.
 
Rivers clenched a fist before him and closed his eyes.  Momentarily, wisps of blue essence began to flit from between his closed fingers and under his thumb, slowly filling the room with ethereal light.  Erkum looked at him with barely concealed envy, slowly stroking his beard.
  
Rivers opened his eyes to the full glory of the hall, but he ignored the ornaments and architecture, instead focusing on the pentagram in the center of the chamber.  “That’s definitely no second-circle demon cage.  There must be god’s ransom in starmetal just in the essence transformer shields.  Maybe your story…”
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Rivers opened his eyes to full glory of the hall, but he ignored the ornaments and architecture, instead focusing on the pentagram in the center of the chamber.  “That’s definitely no second-circle demon cage.  There must be god’s ransom in starmetal just in the essence transformer shields.  Maybe your story…”
  
 
But at that moment, his voice was drowned out by two simultaneous sounds.  One was the sound of Unbreakable Faith screaming its song of doom.  The other was a voice that came from Erkum’s side, as the neomah’s head rotated to an impossible angle, tearing its own flesh and bone as it did so.  Its mouth opened so wide that the jaw ripped loose as a blast erupted from its open jaws, nearly deafening them and causing the fragile walls of ice around them to crack and groan.  Indeed, it spoke, if such a tearing in the fabric of air could be called speech, the howl of a mad god-maker from beyond the edge of creation.
 
But at that moment, his voice was drowned out by two simultaneous sounds.  One was the sound of Unbreakable Faith screaming its song of doom.  The other was a voice that came from Erkum’s side, as the neomah’s head rotated to an impossible angle, tearing its own flesh and bone as it did so.  Its mouth opened so wide that the jaw ripped loose as a blast erupted from its open jaws, nearly deafening them and causing the fragile walls of ice around them to crack and groan.  Indeed, it spoke, if such a tearing in the fabric of air could be called speech, the howl of a mad god-maker from beyond the edge of creation.
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With those three words the demon burst into black, oily flames, and then collapsed to the ground.  Erkum watched in horror for a moment before the ceiling shattered and a block of ice the size of a small house turned him into a thin red sheet.  Rivers took to his heels once more.
 
With those three words the demon burst into black, oily flames, and then collapsed to the ground.  Erkum watched in horror for a moment before the ceiling shattered and a block of ice the size of a small house turned him into a thin red sheet.  Rivers took to his heels once more.
 
==Duty==
 
 
“Why do you hate me?” asked the ghost of Xing Lai.  He regarded [[Leaf Shakes the Wind]] with a tilt of his head.  “I have done nothing to you.”
 
 
“I don’t hate you.  But your presence in Creation is improper.  You should have rejoined the cycle.”
 
 
“How is it improper to do one’s duty?” Xing Lai gestured to the cave mouth behind him with his translucent spear.  “After my death, no one else was willing to guard this cave.  I wounded the beast gravely, but it is not dead.  If I leave, more will die.”
 
 
“You truly care what happens to the living?”
 
 
The ghost laughed loudly, throwing back his head.  It was the most human sound Leaf Shakes the Wind had heard yet in Diamond Hearth.
 
 
“How could I not care what happens to the living?  I took on this duty in life to protect the people of this city, though the beast had slain two other dragonblooded warriors before me.  And now, the living are all that sustain me.  Or they were, until you arrived.” 
 
 
Xing Lai's eyes moved to the overturned bowls of blood behind Leaf Shakes the Wind.  “Do you think I somehow coerced those from the people here?  I can’t step more than a dozen feet from the spot where I stand now.  They offer their Essence to me because they know why I am here, and they honor me for it.  Who are you to judge that honor as improper?”
 
 
“I am the Dagger of Heaven.  I protect the people from that which cannot stand the light of the day.”
 
 
“If that is truly so, then your business is not with me.”
 
 
"I suppose it isn't."
 
 
Leaf Shakes the Wind stepped past the ghost and into the cave behind him.
 
 
 
----
 
 
 
''From here on, I’m going to try writing some of my entries in Draconic.  [[Bones Like Jade]] gave me a small book made of crystal which allows me to write or speak words in Old Realm and have them translated.  It helps, but still the language is strange on my tongue and my brush does not flow naturally when I write.  If I’m to keep this up, I may have to be frugal with my words.''
 
 
''There’s something wrong with Rivers.  His reasons for leaving Rathess were half-truths at best, but I can tell by the look in his eyes that he wouldn’t, or perhaps couldn’t, put words to what’s bothering him, no matter how I confronted him.  His health is getting worse as well, which for Rivers means it’s very, very bad.  The climate here in Diamond Hearth can’t be helping either;  I can feel the cold even through my [[Panoply of the Sun|armor]].  Living here is like living on the bones of the world after the flesh has long rotted away…''
 
 
-- From the journal of Leaf Shakes the Wind, Night Caste spymaster
 
 
----
 
[[Heaven's Mandate]]
 

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