(Meanwhile, The Eternal Garden, Kaelith's POV)
Now that his self-imposed ninety-day mourning period had finally come to an end, Kaelith stood before the tombstones of Soron and Raymond, reflecting on how profoundly the universal order had shifted over the past three months and how those changes would reshape the ambitions he intended to pursue in the years ahead.
Revenge against the Cult remained at the forefront of his mind, yet he no longer viewed it through the lens of raw emotion, but rather through cold calculation, carefully weighing whether it could be executed in a manner that was decisive and controlled rather than reckless or impulsive.
The Universal Government had crumbled, and with its fall the once-cohesive Universal Army had fractured beyond recognition, leaving behind under his nominal authority not a disciplined war machine, but a scattered and diluted force stripped of its former unity.
