Chapter 3

AZAVATH'S EAGER EMBRACE

"You, of us all, have suffered and survived, brother.
"To many, your severing is a mark of shame.
"To many, you should have fallen to dust before returning to the depths in defeat.
"My ire, as echoed by my Song, would challenge these claims.
"Those who demean you…
"Akrazul, the Severed Knight.
"Akrazul, the Shamed.
"The Weak.
"The Undone.
"They are one and the same with those who never dared face the undying Light.
"They are the enemies of our promised morrow.
"Those who watched from the shadows while your bone shattered and your limb was cast into the hollowed dark beneath this Moon's scarred surface.
"I too see the sin in our dear sister's words.
"More so in her intention.
"But I also see a pride in all we were meant to be—all we were promised.
"Why, then, give thanks to 'heirs' come to offer salvation, when such a gift is beyond their giving?
"I am with you, dear sister.
"I am with you, dear brother.
"Let us each suffer to ensure the path—till dust or ash or Gods standing high upon eternity, burdened by our sacrifice.
"For are we not worthy?
"If not by ancestral right, then as those wretched few who would never seek power, but to keep its disease from the hands of the corrupt?"