Piers looked around numbly. She was gone. He didn't know where, but the rune stone he'd brought to her had ceased to be. The sapphire brilliance had exploded into a hundred thousand shards of light, and then... she just wasn't there anymore.
His shoulders slumped and he fell to his knees as he realized he'd been defeated. He would have stayed, if that was what she had wanted. He would have stayed with her wherever she went, or even remained here in the Forest of Beginnings if that would have made her happiest. But she was gone, and he was alone.
He rose and slowly made his way back through the mazes of the Rune Prana and out of the tower, then stumbled his way across the plains towards Selphia.
It was a little while before dawn, just as the blackness was becoming slightly less dense to the distant east, when he reached the town's gates and passed through. He stopped in the courtyard and stared at the wide doors to Venti's reception chamber, his chest tightening in his grief. Then he turned slowly towards his rooms.
Closing the door tiredly behind him, he started to reach to turn on the light, then shrugged and left the room in darkness. It didn't matter, after all, if it was light or dark. When you're alone—truly alone—it makes no difference. Heaving a deep sigh, he tugged at his heavy mail shirt, letting it fall to the floor with a clatter.
"You should take better care of your equipment," a silken voice murmured in the dark, and he whirled and crouched, his muscles tensing instinctively.
"Who's there?" he called, reaching his hand slowly to the hilt of his sword.
"One whom you seek," the voice replied.
Then a flicker of light, and the lamp besides the bed flared up, casting a pool of radiance all around.
Seated on the edge of the bed was a strange woman. Young—perhaps 19, perhaps even younger—with pale silver hair shimmering in the lamplight and brilliant sky blue eyes. She wore a small headpiece, shaped like horns curving back from her head, and a short, feathery cape hung at her back.
"Who are you?" Piers asked again, watching her suspiciously. He didn't know her, and though she appeared to be no threat, he still was cautious when it came to strangers in his bed chamber.
"Don't you know me, Piers?" she said, her voice exquisite and sad. She stood, and her cape spread out—except they were wings, not a cape, and the feathers were pale and shimmering with the colors of the rainbow—and a shard of glowing blue stone hung from a slender cord around her neck. "I'm hurt that you could forget me so easily, after all you've done for me."
"You... is it really you?" and his eyes brightened, and he took an eager step forward, holding out his arms to her.
"Yes," she smiled, looking up at him as she allowed herself to be wrapped in his embrace. "A god died that day, Piers, but in answer to your prayers and hers, I have returned to be by your side."
