When Temude stepped out from the Initial Firestove, what appeared before him was a corridor of World Snakes lining both sides in welcome, stretching off into the distant darkness.
Though all these World Snakes looked more or less the same, he still recognized at a glance that the two at the very front were Kas and… Flament?
Since when did this thick-browed, earnest fellow defect as well? No—that's not right. I'm on Kas's side now; for Flament this ought to be called forsaking darkness for the light.
At the instant he crossed the threshold, he felt his body gradually slip out of his control. He could still feel every sensation rising from his flesh, yet he could not command it, as though a gulf had opened between spirit and body.
The music he had heard during his battle with Gwyn had vanished without a trace; what echoed in his ears now was boundless silence, and Kas's voice breaking that silence.
The other's tone was saturated with the satisfaction of a wish fulfilled.
