Nyla's eyes flashed with anger and through gritted teeth she inquired, "Precise number."
"Seven hundred and forty-three thousand Explorers, among their number were, five hundred and twenty-five Explorers at the Heroic Rank, two hundred and ninety…."
The numbers faded to a dull droning at the edge of her mind, and she closed her eyes, reciting the mantra of her creed within, and for the first time the words that had given her so much strength in the long years felt so meaningless, and her mind could not leave the singular image of that monster on the beach.
The details of his appearance in the ill-fated events were branded in her mind. He had dropped out of the sky in the body of a mortal, but only those who had never been mortal before would be deceived by his appearance. He was perfect, and the one thing that every mortal was not, was perfect.
