I stood silently, gazing at the sky for what felt like an eternity. But I knew it was time to move. I had to check the situation in the palace, and my friends were most likely growing worried. It had been too long.
It's time for me to go back.
Still, I appreciated their restraint. They hadn't come to interfere, and for that, I felt a flicker of gratitude. Perhaps they were finally beginning to truly understand me.
It took only a moment. I used Space Shatter, stepping through the void and reappearing in the smoldering remains of the palace. Everything was in ruins.
The ground was littered with corpses, carefully lined up in neat rows. Cloths covered their faces, but I could no longer sense their souls lingering within. Soul Harvest was no longer an option.
For some reason, that realization unsettled me. It shouldn't have mattered, but I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that I'd wasted a valuable opportunity to grow stronger.
