A cold wind rustled the nearby flags, bringing the sound of flapping. Ropeni Ge'lan raised her head and quietly observed the ancient castle in the distance.
The two-hundred-year-old Riftstone Castle sat silently on the hilltop, with sheer cliffs alongside the castle standing like a blade on the horizon. The setting sun shone on the rugged rocks and the tall castle walls, casting a layer of pale golden light upon those lines.
It was a stone mountain, one side of the mountain steep and treacherous, with Riftstone Castle perched atop that sheer cliff, like it was crouched on the blade's edge. The ancient castle's outer walls had long been mottled, with many places showing signs of cracking. When the setting sun shone on the castle from just the right angle, parts of its outer walls even let through the light from the opposite side, displaying vein-like bright fissure lines on the walls.
