The Aftermath – Veils of Fate

The fires are out.

What remains is devastation. The merchant district smolders, half its buildings reduced to ash and rubble. The acrid smell of smoke hangs over the city. Citizens wander the streets in shock, some searching for loved ones, others simply staring at what was lost.

The death toll is still being counted. Dozens confirmed. More missing.

But the worst part—the part no one wants to talk about—is how the attack ended.

It just… stopped.

The shadow creatures vanished as suddenly as they appeared. The cold fire burned out. One moment, chaos and destruction; the next, silence. As if whatever caused the attack achieved what it wanted and withdrew.

You find yourself in the square where the ceremony was held. The gem still stands, its light still flickering but stable now. The crowd is gone. The banners hang limp and singed.

Your ally finds you there.

Your ally approaches, exhausted and dust-covered from the long night. They’ve been helping where they can — with the wounded, with the search, with the grim work of counting the dead.

“What was the point of it?” they ask quietly. “All that destruction. All those people. And then it just… stopped.”

Either way, the same question hangs in the air:

What was the attack’s purpose?

Not just destruction. The shadow creatures ignored easy targets, focused on specific areas. Not just terror. The attack ended before it could spiral beyond control.

It was a message.

A demonstration.

And you were at the center of it.