The light above the Sacrosanctum continued brightening, illuminating the white dome while the bells rang across Solania. Priests stopped in the courtyard with their attention fixed overhead, and pilgrims knelt beside the nearby shrines. Beyond the gates, even the merchants had abandoned their efforts to shout over one another.
Then someone repeated what Father Pedri had said.
"A new Hero?"
"Did he say the Hero returned?"
"No. A new one."
The distinction traveled quickly through the gathering crowd. People turned toward their companions, repeated the words, and looked back at Vask with expressions that were becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
There could only be one Hero. That was no Church tradition or rule invented to settle disputes between ambitious priests. The divine cycle permitted a single individual to carry the obligation of defeating the Demon King.
If the Sacrosanctum had welcomed someone new, something had happened to the man who previously held that place.
