Time/Date: TC1853.01.22 – Late Afternoon
Location: Imperial Palace → Central City Streets → Craftsman Quarter
The afternoon sun felt different as Raven stepped through the palace gates.
Not warmer or colder—just different. Like the light itself had shifted frequency, revealing truths that had always been present but carefully hidden. Behind her, the massive jade doors swung closed with a finality that resonated through her bones, sealing away the shattered throne room and everything she'd just unmade.
The guardian lights were fading now. She could feel them withdrawing—not disappearing, but releasing their hold on families that had finally, irrevocably, failed to deserve their service. Eight centuries of covenant dissolving in moments. A thousand years of spiritual support simply... ending.
And with that ending, reality itself seemed to exhale.
