Chapter 3: Complete

Chaplain Oran watched him then, the man that couldn't die, casually walking to his death. Johanna was used to such scenes but never had she shared one with an immortal. His stoic form striding with purpose towards the front lines, towards the sound of battle, the sound of men dying, the sound of death. Around her men stood stiff in prayer each man hoping Betsol cared enough for them to see them through, she rarely did. It wasn't that she neglected her worshipers, but they were all apart of something bigger then themselves. It was hard on the small mortal mind to see the grand picture of the immortal expanse. So it was put upon her shoulders to show them, to soften their worry at being unanswered and to shepherded them towards Betsol's purpose. These knights had removed their flat topped helms, they rested in the crook of black plated arms and each man or woman stared at the crest of Betsol rising above her shoulders. They had a haunted look, their faces furrowed and even the brightest of eyes seemed dark. She knew them by name, they had been in service with her for many years but she had not seen this look upon their faces in some many years. Just beyond the ring of knights seeking out Betsol, were wounded gathering to be healed, a great many wounded, some being brought over by comrades, others making the way on their own. She wondered if Betsol would give her the strength to help them all, often she did not.

Radiance guide her. Lady Light, Radiance, Keeper of the Dawn, find me worthy of your guidance. How can I lead these knights of yours to your will? She prayed.

Ahh, child of the light, we have work to do and little light left to do it by.
Well, that was something. It had been growing harder and harder to reach The Dawnbringer. What would you have of me?
I send a champion to this blasphemous army of yours. There is one among the enemy that we must secure, a child who weighs the balance of Elysium.
Sending a champion My Radiance? What is wrong with the one who is here already, I tended to him he should be strong enough. Perhaps Betsol was not aware her champion had already arrived, but that hardly seemed likely. Maybe a second would be necessary?

Kanis does not belong to me, he is a soldier of Minos and works ... Separate from our goals. You shall know my champion when you see him, he may need your help in securing the child. This is not a fight that could be won, so do not try so. Your Lord Marshall marches to defeat.
Not this again, Are you sure you cannot try to speak reason to him?
He is not a child of the light, he is beyond my help.
Then why not label him as such and move this army to your will!
We do not know how far this treachery runs, no we shall let this blasphemy continue. Unless you would offer yourself for command... I thought not.
Her, in command? Preposterous, she was a simple Chaplain, she guided the spirits of the army and healed those Betsol overlooked in battle. I am no so great piece of your plans My Radiance.
So you keep telling me, yet you continue to find yourself in place to be useful. These knights will follow you, I have made it so. Do not let the Lord Marshall stop you from your task, find the child among the enemy and bring her to the Temple of Dawn.
It will be so My Radiance. She broke her gaze from the sun, her vision white and unable to make out her hands in front of her. She blinked, letting the grace of Betsol to restore her eyes. Betsol give me the strength you see in me. Her eyesight restored she looked at those gathered around her. They had a new look to them, heads high, eyes set upon her, backs straight and grips firm on their weapons. She caught the gaze of the Knight wearing the badge of captainship, a sun with triangular rays on three of four sides, on her tabard of white with gold trim. The girl was dark of skin and eyes, her hair closer to orange than brown, she was a familiar face.

"Natal, you are in command here?" She posed.

"No Chaplain Oran, you are?" Natal responded with a raised eyebrow.

I see. "Good, how many Knights do we have, we have a task of most importance to see to." Oran looked over the Knights ringing her and to were the wounded had been gathering.

They were collecting themselves and their weapons, Betsol's Radiance had healed them all, apparently her Radiance thought Oran would need them all. At least they had been spared for now another chance for reaching the fields.
Natal turned, following Oran's gaze and found the standing Knights. "It appears twenty Chaplain. Twently Black Knights and Dawnsinger, Radiance blind us if we're caught in a prolonged engagement."

"We'll be seeking something in the Eternal Forest, Betsol seeks a child and we're to secure her and steal her away to Betsol's temple in Solace. We'll have one more joining us, a Champion.". Oran said while searching Natal for signs that she too thought this task above them.

Natal smiled and nodded to Oran, chuckling to her self. "Radiance shines upon us. With a Champion we'd be able to take on that army, we'll see this quest through Chaplain."

"Radiance shine upon us." Oran said reverently while glancing up at the blazing sun, it certainly did at least feel brighter. "Then gather yourselves, we shall await the arrival of our Champion with the rest of that army. It appears Marshall Havsid is bringing up reinforcements now, Radiance enlighten him. We must be prepared to move at once, we are not alone in our quest."

Natal nodded then moved off, the Knights that had been ringed around joined her in step. Their plate's shine grimed by the soot of the powder from the discharge of their thunderstones. They gathered their now healed comrades and began to muster weapons for themselves, two runners sent back into the copse of trees where their former company still fought. Oran thought Natal was a good leader she was confident and skilled, the way she commanded others to action with simple looks or motions. She was no leader, she was a preacher and a healer. Radiance enlighten me, I will get them all killed.

No, I believe not. Not all.

That's not as comforting as she seems to think.

You're the right follower for the task.

But why me Betsol, why not a leader such as Natal, why not a soldier such as her?

Why do you question me so? Have I led you to darkness before?

No, Radiance, you have kept me in the light, Radiance shine on me. But why me?

You are the follower I have, as you always have been. You will see the next Dawn, my Champion approaches. You are stronger than you seem to believe you are. You are my light in a sea of darkness. I will see you through.
Radiance shine on me.

Yes, you said that child, now go.
Stronger. Who am I to question her? I am the light, and I will see this through. Oran stared at a field of white and realized she'd been staring at the sun again. Blinking away the blindness she found herself staring at a hulking man, skin dark as obsidian, hair brilliant as flame. He wore a suit of plate with pauldrons less exaggerated than that of the common soldier and without a tabard draped over the front. It was a dated look, one displayed on tapestries in temples but not scene by living eyes for some time. He looked out of history and indeed he was, this was the Champion Alaen. No wonder Betsol was confident in her, she'd sent one of her greatest champions to them. Alaen, before rising to the eternal fields, was known as the Singing Mountain for he was taller than even a Haddi and always humming. Indeed she could here a soft rumbling floating from him now. Behind him he dragged the longest blade she herself had witnessed, it scrapped against a buried rock and threw the tune Alaen had been humming. He sighed before flashing a bright smile at Orlan and inclining his head to the sun.

"It is a good day, I think" his voice stirred in her chest before reaching her ears, a sound like rocks underfoot.

"You think?" Oran inquired?

"Yes, it is hard to tell these days. My days are long with fighting when they should be filled with song. Today though, today we shall have plenty of song." His smile returned as he looked down upon her.

"I don't think that is right, we'll have plenty of fighting ahead of us for what Betsol's quest for us is."

Alaen seemed to think upon this for a moment, looking up into the sun before that disarming smile returned to him. His face was round, his nose broad, and his eyes gold and dancing in the sunlight. "Fighting yes, but the Vulk sing when they fight, yes I can hear it now." He howled then, an awful mimic of the horrifying battle cry of the Vulk.

"I do not think that is a song Alaen,"

"It is a beautiful song, one sang with passion and in defiance. I would not expect you to understand, for your life has been filled with the hymns of light and not the hymns of battle. Come, I shall show you." Without waiting for Oran's response the Singing Mountain passed her by, dragging the blade as thick as a man behind him.

The thudding of a thousand feet aligned in march heralded the arrival of the rest of the soldiers from the hill. Marshall Hevsid walked at the front with Lord Marshall Jhev. Where Jhev walked in powerful strides, Hevsid seemed to lounge as if he was on a stroll through his gardens. The soldiers behind them, levies pulled from across Jhev's provinces in Komak, wore yellow tabards on top of breastplates. Distinguishing them from the soldiers from the Keepers of Dawn, knights trained by the church as a part of their families duty to their goddess. Betsol was right, she could not trust the loyalty of these men, they were no more Keepers than she was a Marshall. As imposing a force as they presented, their spears tips gleaming in the brilliance of the day, she doubted that without the Keepers these levies would have managed to as win as many fights against this Vulk horde as they had. Jhev had spotted her and begun to head in her direction. What was he up to? What were his goals, who did he follow? It was possible he was simply taking Betsol's silence as acceptance of his plans, the Vulk had been raiding along Kamok territory after all. However, Betsol's insistence that he couldn't be reasoned with bespoke of him aligning with another god. Perhaps of their own pantheon, the Kamok were not so foolish as to ignore the rest of the gods despite having Betsol's patronage. However, to act against Betsol was blasphemous and punishable by incineration. Minos was likely involved, his champion was here after all and he was always one for starting war when there could be peace. Lunan was another possibility and one that wouldn't broker questioning from any Marshall, everyone knew that Lunan and Betsol were of single purpose these days and he had always looked less favorably upon the Vulk. Her line of thought was interrupted by the settling of feet around her as Lord Marshall Jhev and Masrshall Hevsid arrived.

She gestured respect, a grasping of the right forearm while the right hand clenched in a fist slightly out in front of her. The heralds said it showed solidarity and solidity, though the motions were rote by now she never felt comfortable with the martial gestures. Preferring the divine to the secular, such as the gesture Hevsid returned her now. An unveiling of an open hand before him while lowering his eyes. Jhev, helmetless returned no gesture instead he looked around at the empty expanse around her and then to the back of Alaen.

"I see there's already been a melee, likely testing out presence beyond that smoke before sending a stronger force. They won't be prepared for the levies just outside that bank of smoke. Marshall ready the spearmen, we'll need be set for their charge." Jhev's voice was smooth as silk and had the air of someone used to not being questioned.

"Right away Lord Marshall, Radiance shine on us." Hevsid was deeper with a richness to it that hinted at a warm laughter.

Hevsid slipped away from the pair and began barking orders as if he'd been born to it. His deep voice brokering no wavering dissent and sharp sets of orders by captains relayed down the lines.

"Now then, what was it that our Champion wished to urgently to speak with you about? Word from Betsol perhaps?" Jhev's amber eyes held her, he looked at her a crease upon his brow. What was that look, worry?

"No words of wisdom from Alaen, rather just a song and an invitation to join him. Betsol has been absent from our minds today. Perhaps she is busy nudging spears and arrows?" Oran spoke with her preaching tone, an air of the divine or power behind it. She sought to dissuade this man from the truth but did not want to bring about his suspicion.

"Perhaps..." Jhev eyed her coolly, then glanced to the sun. He blinked after mere moments before returning his gaze to her. "We won't have her radiance for much longer, pray for enlightenment Chaplain, we may need it before the day is dark. We have much work ahead of us if we're to seize those Sunbelchers from them so that our armada might be free to sail. See if you cannot corral that Champion and set him upon our enemies. The quicker we break their flank, the less blood we'll shed and warriors we'll lose."

"It will be done Lord Marshall" She said while holding his gaze, before looking to the sun herself and gesturing respect before turning to leave.

"One more thing Chaplain, they may have a Bloodfury among them. It would be best to make sure the Champion finds it before our soldiers do."

Oran nodded before continuing towards the copse, following the small trench that Alaen's sword had dug behind him. A Bloodfury, blessed of Klanae the goddess of carnage and rage. While Betsol had kept her from ever encountering one herself she had been there for a companies return from one. Fifty dead twice that number missing limbs or severely wounded half that had died anyways. The heralds said demi-gods no longer walked the mortal realm, but she imagined if they did even they would struggle with a Bloodfury. The soldiers from that day had described a beast larger than a Minotaur with four arms like a Haddi, each one wielding a different barbed weapon with skill finer than a champion. It's wounds were said to have closed around weapons, and what blood dripped burned through armor and skin. Faster than a Windwalker, stronger than a Stoneheart. She'd better warn Alaen,

She found the mountain of a man humming to himself in a small clearing in the midst of the copse. She realized with a start it wasn't a natural clearing, he had cut himself a circle with that monstrous sword of his. In the dim light under the sentinels a glow that she hadn't noticed before became apparent, as if his obsidian surface had been cracked and revealed a luminous interior. Natal sat on one of the fresh stumps cleaning out the barrel of her rifle with a patch of cloth, her helm on the ground near her foot. Looking past the clearing Oran saw the rest of her knights taking cover against trunks vigilant against another Vulk charge. Natal' smiled at her as she entered the clearing, nodding towards Alaen. He was standing stationary in the center of the clearing, sword hefted across his shoulders, he was looking up to the sun which was now visible above the trees. Oran found herself a suitably sized stump and settle down, glancing at the Alaen before turning her attention to Natal.

Oran's divining stones slid out from her plated sleeve. She found the familiar grain of the stone for Betsol. "Jhev expects another Vulk charge he'll order a counter charge after if he follows his usual stratagems, once we hit those woods we'll break for their backlines to find that child. Betsol says that they'll have a Bloodfury."

"Just advance through their charge, slay their Bloodfury and then continue to their rearguard. with twenty odd knights and an Immortal, should be easy enough" Natal leered, still working the barrel over despite it looking clean.

"Indeed it should, with Alaen and Betsol's protection. Though I'm not sure I have your confidence on the matter." Oran glanced to Alaen after mentioning the man, he continued on as if he could not hear them.

Natal frowned at her, "I was... Never mind Chaplain. If it need be done, we'll see it through. After all we do have him" she thumbed in the direction of the Immortal.

"I am not so great a tool that I could defeat that army by myself. If that is our task then I will do it, but there will be losses." His voice resonated in her adding weight to his words that added to their grimness.

Losses, she looked to Natal who had replaced her smile with a determined scowl. Betsol would protect them wouldn't she? These knights who've given themselves to her task. Oran would see them through, she was a Dawnsinger and Alaen was an Immortal. This was not too great a task, it was just the sort of task you gave an Immortal.

"Betsol will see us through, this is the quest she's given us and our failure would be hers." Oran said with more confidence then she felt while gesturing divinity.

Natal snorted in reply, before returning the gesture. "I've been in many battles for Betsol before, and it's never stopped Knights from dying before."

"So far she has seen you through safe this far, perhaps for this very moment." Oran glanced up through the clearing to the sky hoping to the see the sun but it was hidden by other trees.

"Betsol is not Alumas, she's not all seeing." Natal said in a tone that was more questioning than accusing.

Oran sighed, shaking her head as she returned the divining stones to her sleeve. "You are right Natal, but that just means Betsol didn't know what she was protecting us for yet, merely that we could better serve her alive than dead."

There was a rumbling and Betsol realized Alaen was laughing. "Better for you that way I think, but I'd prefer to think Betsol did not let me die simply because I was more useful to her this way."

She blushed then, Immortal as he was, Alaen had probably died several times for Betsol's purpose. She gestured apologies to his back, the mountainous man still gazing at the sky. "Forgiveness Alaen, I"

"There is no need child, I have long come to peace with my Immortality. You are right though, I think. We are being guided by Betsol directly this day."

Natal's smile returned as she laid the rifle across her lap and drew her falchion from it's sheath. It was a crude thing, a heavy chunk of metal weighted to the tip to add force to her swing. A Useful weapon for cutting through the hide of many enemies, or limbs from a Vulk. While the Rising Sol taught a graceful style with the weapon, most soldier's she knew simply used a violent style of brutal blows as if butchering their opponent for the nights meal. Natal began cleaning this weapon of her too, despite the cloth being black with grime and the sword looking fresh polished. There was a quiet calmness to the woods, the birds and critters fled or hid. She felt a weight pressing down on her, the giant disk of Sol pressing down more than usual. Her Knights were fidgeting in their own positions, some had water and tack out, another was carving the tree he leaned against, others maintained their air of vigilance by keeping their eyes out in the billowing clouds of smoke the Black Knights continued to belch out from their position further ahead in the copse of woods.

You will see these knights through won't you? she prayed while sighting Sol through the canopy of pines. I know you believe I have the strength to do this, but I have yet to find it. I fear for these lives you've placed in my hands. How am I to protect your followers if you give them to me to send to their deaths?

Betsol did not answer, but that wasn't an unusual occurrence. She was after all, Queen of the Divinities. There was also a battle of some importance being waged in her name that she should have been preoccupied with. Oran wondered for the first time that day how the battle was going, it was easy to forget that this was merely the flank, the front had been exchanging skirmishers when she had last had a chance to look down on them. They were likely now a mass of dying bodies.

A howl pierced the serenity of the clearing, startling Oran from her thoughts. Natal stopped her polishing and looked out towards the billowing smoke at the front of the copse. The lone howl was then joined in chorus, a shiver ran down her spine as she listened to the eerie call through the smoke. She gathered herself and stood preparing for what would come next.

There was a warm hum from Alaen, as he stopped looking to the sky and smiled at the two in the clearing. "Yes, they have a wonderful song. One should not fight without song."

Natal grinned but shook her head at the mountainous man, hefting her self off her own stump and sheathing her sword. She gathered her rifle and withdrew a thunderstone from her pouch and used the latch on the side of her rifle to load it into the rifle. She then thundered up to a thick tree at the edge of the clearing and hunkered down behind it taking site at the smoke.

"Get those rifles up! Don't shoot at any shadows until I tell you too!" Natal barked the orders in a near snarl.

Alaen lifted the man sized sword off his shoulders and held it straight before him with one hand, the light seeping through the cracks in his skin growing brighter. His humming grew louder as he began taking steps forward. "Hmmmmm... They come, we should go and meet them."

Did you tell an Immortal what to do? Oran wasn't sure, but she didn't think this the time to test it. "Those are our allies up there, lets not let them face this foe alone. Natal we move up."

The Captain nodded her agreement to Oran, then moved from her tree out into the copse and headed towards the smoke. "You heard the Chaplain, advance! Hold your fire until you can make out your target."

Like a shadow the company of Knights detached themselves from their trees and grew into the copse. Oran could hear the cracks of rifles being fired just mere meters in front of them in the smoke. The howling had grown in volume and Oran could feel her heart thumping in her chest, anxiety rising in her.There was a vibration urging her to action, a rumble in the pit of her chest that spurred her forward into the smoke and to battle. The first forms took shape in the smoke, trees with incongruous bulges near their base where Knights took cover from absent volleys. Their own rifles continued to put out smoke after each crack, what they were firing at Oran did not know, perhaps the presumed horde that sounded as if it was already upon them. Alaen stood in between trees unhindered by their branches and the threat of being seen by an enemy.

Natal took up a spot behind a tree near Oran's and leveled her rifle before barking at the Knights around her "Hold your fire! Wait until you can make your target out in the smoke!"

Her challenge was met by the crack of a nearby rifle, yet this one was answered by a yelp. Shadows in the smoke, streaming towards them the howling replaced by snarling. Oran could make out the Vulk simply by their size. Tall figures with elongated limbs and snouts loping towards them, a few fell in response to thunderstones but more and more poured forward. There were too many, they'd be overrun before Jhev commanded the counter charge! The rising in her crescendod then stopped suddenly, a moment of stillness before a booming voice resounded through the woods.

"I am the Lightbringer! I am the Dawnbreaker! I am the Rising Sol! Radiance Illuminates Me! You should not have chosen this day! For this day the light shines upon the blessed of Sol! Come forth you shades, come in to the light, and let Radiance shine on you!" Alaen's sang in a deep tenor the opening lines to Lightbringer.
The Vulk poured forth from the smoke, black fur adding to the illusion of shadows being belched forth from Shadesmere. Many carried spears, others had wielded axes with wicked looking spikes others heavy headed maces. Their yellow eyes searching out the voice challenging them. The lead Vulk fell to a crack from Natal's rifle, but three more replaced him, approaching Alaen in a wide arc. The middle Vulk feinted advancing while the two flankers attacked. Alaen was mid chorus of Lightbringer and seemed to have no intention of stopping. His sword was still held out in front of him, but with a grace that seemed profane from one his size the blade sliced through a tree to its right and then through the flanking Vulk on that side, in the motion he twisted with the attack his left foot connected with the skull of the other flanking Vulk. He continued in the spin bringing his monstrous blade up above him and then back down into a point facing the central Vulk who hadn't had time to react. It's died snarling, the massive blade splitting it in two, each half spilling gore as it slumped to the ground. Oran felt her gorge rise, but was forced to pay heed to the Vulk that continued to charge them. Her company's position was full of them as Knights stood from their positions and entered armed combat with the beasts surrounding them. Natal roared as she barreled out from behind he tree and planted her falchion into the back of a Vulk who was sparing with another, she spun and heaved the point off a spear with her blade before head butting that aggressor in the snout resulting in whimper as it fell away from her.

Oran then lost her, forced to focus on the two Vulk who advanced towards her, she drew her own blade, a slender piece with more curve than bulk to it meant for slashing rather than hacking. She felt it's weight suited her better in the Rising Sol and she instinctively entered the first pose holding the sword with two hands above her, left palm resting on the dull edge. A Vulk with gray fur approached first, thrusting a spear at her exposed stomach, she swept the sword in a smooth motion deflecting the spear to its side while spinning towards it's holder and continuing the circle of her sweep into a down stroke across its chest. Before it fell she was spinning back away in a retrace of her motion, coming to the first stance again in front of the remaining Vulk. It bore yellow fangs in a snarl then charged her with an Axe, a chop angled at her side forced her to sweep the swords in an opposite motion and block the strike, before redirecting her swing into a swipe across the front of the Vulk. It back stepped the strike and then brought down its Axe overhead forcing her to use assuming Rising Sol to catch the blow and hold under the beasts strength. Struggling under its weight she spun underneath it and towards the beast, slipping the block and sweeping the blade around her and to the front of the Vulk. This time it was forced to block, it roared a challenge to hear, yellow eyes searching her fangs bared. She reversed her sweep as the Vulk looked to power through its block, looking to bring the sword down across it, however before she could the beast tackled her. So much for grace, she rolled on her back, large Disk of Sol keeper her flat on her back. The Beast knelt atop her, one arm keeping her sword arm to the ground while raising its own axe above him. It's eyes taunted her, it's snarl looking oddly like a grin as a bit of of the froth sitting around its gums dripped onto her visor. She tried to pry her arm free but the beasts weight lent it strength.

Now would be a good time for this strength of mine Betsol. She prayed.

The Vulk spun the axe in it's hand, the wicked spike now being brought down to her face. She turned to avoid looking at her impending death and heard the screech of metal as the spike raked across her fullhelm, Betsol's protection pushing the blow just across the front of her helm. She heard the thud as the spike impaled the sod next to her face. Her visor was a ruin of metal and she could hardly see her attacker but she felt the violence of him pulling the axe out of the ground for another blow. There was a crack and then a sudden weight pressed down on her.

"Chaplain!" Natal's voice said.

The weight was lifted off her, and Oran fumbled with her helm eventually prying the wreckage off. She still couldn't see too well, but she could make out Natal looming above her and feel her hands aggressively working at Oran's face. She blinked against the assault but could suddenly see after doing so.

"That'll leave a nasty scar, but you'll be fine. We'll have to bandage that or that blood will get in your eyes again." Natal said while fumbling with her pack and pulling out a strip of white cloth barely discolored with smudges.

"Radiance shine on me." Oran mumbled while gesturing Divinity.

Natal looked at her then, grinning. "That's one way of looking at it I suppose, I guess her keeping me alive all this time did work out for her." She wrapped the bandage around Oran's head, the cloth being pulled tight and causing a noticeable throbbing.

"Betsol is watching us, she won't let us fall before we accomplish our quest." Oran said while retrieving her sword. The Vulk's yellow eyes were still glinting at her, despite the back of its head leaking black ichor.

"Well that's comforting." Natal said her grin growing into a broad smile.

"Yes, yes it is."

Natal wrinkled her brow "No... Never mind." Her face setting into a serious look as she returned her attention to the battle raging around them.

Oran started towards a pair of knights dealing with a handful of Vulk"I had not known you to be of such faith, Captain."

She merely grinned, setting into a run as she barreled into the side of one Vulk and carried him into another, bringing down her sword onto each in turn. Oran swept her blade across another the group being dispatched.

"That's me, favored of Betsol, who am I to question her Divinity" Natal said while accepting a hand up from one of the knights.

"Who are we indeed, Radiance Enlighten us." Oran sought out a new quarry but it found her instead. A frothing hulk of a beast barreling down on her with a cluster of axe wielders.

The hulk's spear sped forward with divine speed, yet Betsol guided it aside while Oran spun along its shaft and up to the beast, sweeping her blade across its chest. It merely snarled at her before bringing its wrapping the spear around her back and pressing her into him pinning her to him. Its fangs inches from her naked face, its foul breath hot on her cheeks. Betsol willed the spear to break and it did, freeing Oran from the Hulks grasp and allowing her sword arm free to sweep across its throat. Its yellow eyes widened while it clawed at its throat before falling. One down, three, no two to go. Natal had just dispatched one of the axe wielders and was now turning on another. Her own Vulk howled before moving to help his kin by flanking Natal. Oran cursed inwardly then moved to intercept, her tired legs moved too slowly so instead she lept at the beast. She fell flat on her stomach, air knocked out of her, but her sword nicked the heal of her Vulk. It stumbled and by Betsol's grace caught the back swing of Natal's stroke to it's head. The final Vulk died with Natal's blade embedded halfway through it's shoulder. Oran let herself lay for a moment, closing her eyes to the pain in her stomach. She heard it then, a soft deep voice like snow falling from a roof.

"The Sun is set, the day is won, her Radiance shines on me. The light is low, the battle wages on, her Radiance shines on me."