Scaling heat. Simmering air. The ground across the endless desert fusing to glass.
To Raziel, the shock of the other Marquis was irrelevant. He felt a surge of thrill as the impossible scene unfolded before him.
'Ah… there it is.'
The gigantic silhouette of a flaming figure rose into the heavens, its size dwarfing the entirety of the desert. But it was the implications that thrilled him.
Manifestation.
A mastery of will so profound that it was rarely seen on the Verge. Many had gone millennia without even a shred of hope of ever accomplishing it. Yet a boy who'd only been on the Verge for barely a year had reached it.
"So you finally stepped out!"
Raziel roared at the top of his lungs just as the flaming silhouette began to shrink and compress, until it vanished entirely.
'It vanished?'
His eyes cut through the thick smoke and landed on Atticus. Raziel's eyes widened in shock.
