Following half a diurnal cycle spent within the green mist, Mel felt vastly superior to the preceding diurnal cycles whilst anticipating his evening rations. He possessed the capacity to pay heed to the occurrences unfolding within his environs, and the inaugural detail seizing his scrutiny was the absence of wooden bowls before the members of the First Ward who had returned from the Inner Circle.
The identical reality applied to the Twentieth Ward—trailing in their wake—who had failed to harvest a sufficient bounty of Energy Crystals during the weighing ritual; they would be compelled to endure starvation until the morning rations were dispensed in the inaugural hours of the morrow.
