Looking around, I'ron suddenly spoke words that made Asher's heart still, words that cut through his storm of thoughts like a blade through mist.
"You humans…" the centaur said, his voice low, thoughtful, edged with quiet scorn, "you love to limit yourselves to certain rules. Do you truly believe it's over? That because your town is gone, you can no longer be a lord? That the resources of this realm are beyond your reach?"
Asher rose to his feet, his golden eyes sharp with renewed focus. He tilted his head slightly, as if to see I'ron more clearly with his right eye, reading not just the centaur's words but the weight behind them. "There's still a chance?"
"Of course there is," I'ron said, his gaze turning distant, fixed beyond the trees, beyond what the eye could see. His voice took on the quiet certainty of one who spoke of truths carved deep into the bones of the world. "It's right before you. Just take it."
