THE ALTAR WE BURNED
She sat motionless beneath the obsidian tree at the Root’s edge, eyes wide, lips parted but silent.
Catherine's voice echoed in her mind, a faint reminder of betrayal and forgotten lullabies. The Sorrowing Choir had been crafted precisely for this—songs twisted from memories that once soothed, turned against the heart that bore them. A mother’s lullaby, inverted. A father’s blessing, tarnished. Every note was a needle sewn with grief.
Suddenly, a shadow stepped from the firelight behind them.
A child.
Or what looked like one.
She was barefoot, skin pale and veined with ash. Her eyes were voids, black and endless.
Bab Populer