Chapter 6: ACT I, SCENE 3

ACT I, SCENE 3Day 125 Minutes Since the Ash FellCathedral — CryptCLANGThe sound echoes even into the crypt as Vespar and Kendra land on a bed of dust in the absolute silence of darkness. Vespar knows that sound. Those whose shadows didn’t manage to push past the gates of the Cathedral of Light are now sealed outside... in the market... in the city.Even though the clang makes its way through the ground to Vespar, the howling of the ash storm doesn’t. The muffled screams don’t. Vespar’s ears ring from the silence. Taking a breath, he smells old stone, stagnation, and isolation. Her breathing bounces off the walls in the dark and comes back like an audience. The sound instinctively makes Vespar strain his eyes, tracing the walls for something lurking there.Every dark corner seems ready to unfold into that impossible smile. Vespar has to fight his instinct to send another arrow out into the empty room.A metallic drip weeps through the pipes, jumping into his head.Ting,Child,Ting,Arrow,Ting,Tears.How did she manage to smile? Vespar wonders as he glances at Kendra. Gone. No trace of the smile. She is curled in on herself, her cloak wrapped tightly around her as she stares into the crypt, seeing nothing.Vespar hears a voice coming from everywhere. It is so quiet that it seems not to be meant for the world.“He was just sick, Vespar. You shot him. You didn’t even try to talk to him... or me. You just... You just left him out there in the dark.”