low Creek came

the last of the generation I' d grown up with. Their grandchildren now ran the t

d. Not with clouds,

us. I had only seen him in Elara' s rare, fleeting descriptions, but

a look of profound disgust crossed his perfec

s voice echoing through the valley.

to me. He was spe

led out from him. It wasn't fire or wind. It was a bligh

s turning to dust. The grass blackened an

man, woman, and child in Hollow Creek died in that single, silent

lara' s "gift" of long life protected me fro

the dead earth. He was going to kill me him

for me, a flash o

n Caelus' s chest. She looked distraught, her fac

pleaded with h

ger softening slightly. "He

rs. But they weren't for the dead people of Hollow

hisper. "His power... it' s volatile. He gets these rages. The liv

rifice. My frie

heir lives," she said, as if that expla

chless with a grief s

ion hardening with resolve. She grabbed my arm,

the corpse of my home, from the graves of every

ethelgard. To her gild