Alistair handed the reins to Ezra. She pulled them and the cart creaked back into motion. He fished a small pipe and tinderbox from his coat, glancing at them, "You mind if I puff a bit?"
Anna glanced at Ezra. She gave a slight nod. "It's fine."
"Right then," he said, lighting his pipe. Smoke curled around him and his voice deepened. "Then hear the true legend of the Last Emperor.
"In the ancient days, Solus was united, but not in harmony. Under the Emperor, everything looked perfect.
"The fountains ran with wine, the nobles wrapped themselves in silk and the merchants districts overflowed with exotic spices and cheerful songs.
"But behind the curtains?" He let the question linger for a few seconds.
Anna almost spoke, but he continued.
"Behind the polished marble, glowing with holy silver light, there was rot and corruption. A poison spreading from the hearth of the empire, slow and deliberate, like venom finding its way through veins."
He leaned closer to them, his eyes catching the faint glow of dusk.
"Blood turned the rivers red. The Emperor, obsessed with balance, sought to purify the Divine Source itself. And his solution was drastic but definitive.
"Every solar, adult or child, touched by an Aspect, he saw as a flaw. An ink stain on his perfect silver empire.
"Whether they healed or destroyed, it made no difference. The Enlightenment was a death sentence. The Silver Empire devoured its own blessed."
The wheels clattered over stones and his fingers started drifting across the lute, playing a mournful tune that hummed through the air.
"But the pressure," he said, "builds."
He smiled thinly. "And eventually it bursts.
"A Great Vizier rose, wise, cunning and terribly patient. A solar of the Aspect of Insight. And under him, the solari hiding within the empire united for the first time. A rebellion that started the Divergence."
He inhaled, then exhaled a thin stream of smoke.
"The Great Vizier was the spark that lite the fire."
He paused, puffing once more. The scent of bitter smoke drifted around them.
"This would mark the beginning of what common folk now know as the Inquisition of Reapers. The first time common folk learned what true fear is.
"Black Reapers descended upon the silver lands. Hunting for rebels. Faceless killers beneath their dark veils. They wielded war scythes black as night, tools meant not just to kill, but to harvest souls."
Sharper tons came from the lute.
"But even the Reapers met their match." His voice grew darker. "The first victory for the rebels happened in the now aptly named No Return Pass, connecting the north to the rest of Silver Empire.
"No way around. No way out. Just one thin passage cut through the mountains, a few meters wide.
"No one knows what truly happened there. The tale says hundred Solari of Insight ambushed an army of at least a thousand Black Reapers.
"When the sun rose, the pass was red, but not one one solar had fallen. That night, the Harbinger of Death took only the Reapers."
"A hundred?" Anna asked before should could stop herself.
Impossible. She had seen Medan move with unbelievable precision, but even he would be overwhelmed by such numbers.
"That's what the tale says," Alistair answered, knocking the ash from the pipe against the cart's side. "Legends never care much for reason, but that day, the Emperor suffered his first loss."
Ezra leaned forward. "And the Black Reapers, were they solari too?"
He shook his head. "No. The Emperor despised the blessed. The reapers were what he would call pura, 'the pure'."
Anna frowned, hearing the term for first time. Even without lumina, they must have been formidable since they served the Emperor.
She thought of the Seer's covenant, a single Pillar and a handful of Predictors. Even if every dominion held similar numbers, there wouldn't be a hundred solari of Insight across all of Solus.
Only the golden solari of Restoration grew in numbers, blessed by the Sanctity of Healers. The Pillar once mentioned they cold be counted in the thousands.
A strange silence lingered, occasionally filled by the creak of wheels and the rush of nearby river.
Alistair continued, his voice soft but deepening. "When the word reached Caerum, the Emperor raged. He had sat on his marble throne comfortably for far too long.
"So he descended from it to end the rebellion with his own hands."
He started playing dramatic notes on his lute. "The rebels sent a letter, simple yet polite. They wished to meet, to speak and to negotiate."
"Did he believe it?" Ezra scoffed, while Anna remained silent, pondering.
"Oh, he believed himself untouchable," Alistair said. "He wanted to pluck the rebellion out at the root."
He increased the pace of the notes on his lute. "They met on a vast hilly plain, between what's now the Northern Free Lands and the fallen Central Dominion.
"And there, the battle began. For seven days and six nights, they say the skies wept fire.
"On the first night all moons appeared together, each burning a different hue, one for every Aspect. And they never set. Not once.
"On the second day, the nearby forests burned to ash, and where they once stood, a desert was born, filled with lakes of blood.
"On the third night, the hills were torn apart, leaving only a vast crater."
Anna felt a shiver crawl up her spine.
"On the fourth day, the sun refused to rise. Only the moons gave light to Solus.
"On the fifth day, storms came. Lighting set the Silver Empire aflame. The world flooded, then burned, then flooded again.
"On the sixth day, the sky cleared. The moons vanished and a rainbow stretched across the sky, full and perfect, like a mockery.
"But on the seventh day, silence fell. The land was dead. They say the final clash lasted only a single heartbeat and the Emperor turned into dust.
"When the dust settled, only handful of solari still breathed. The Great Vizier was among them. And he proclaimed: the Emperor had fallen."
Alistair raised his hand, pointing to the northwest.
"The land where it happened is now called the Dead Sands. The largest desert on Solus. Lifeless. Solus's largest graveyard of solari.
"The mountains around it rise like teeth, jagged and unmoving, guarding the place where the Emperor was put to eternal rest.
"And in the heart of the desert," Alistair said, lowering his voice to whisper, "lies the Glass Desert. The very centre of the Dead Sands, completely melted into crystal during the final clash.
"It's said the lumina there is so thick you could achieve enlightenment just by breathing there."
He loot at her, his eyes narrowing. "But breathe too deep," he murmured, "and you'll feel the Emperor's rage instead. Still raging, still undefeated."
Alistair stopped playing the lute and the cart fell silent. Anna stared at him, thinking about the story.
Alistair took a final draw from his pipe and blew out smoke in a grey ring.
"So," he said, his voice suddenly cheerful again, "Who's hungry?"