Page 74 of The Last Remaining Light

Lora moved to the archway and looked toward the lower terraces. “I think…” Her voice lowered. “Gods,” she whispered.

The bridges ahead had begun filling with people moving toward the central lower district. None of them hurried, yet each strode with quiet purpose, speaking to no one as they crossed.

Scholars, merchants, attendants, and travelers gathered along the suspended, descending walkways overlooking one of the public resonance squares below.

“What is happening?” Elowynn whispered, though only Lora could hear.

Lora hesitated before leaning toward Elowynn, whispering. “A sentencing.”

What did that mean? A strange heaviness began to find itself in the pit of Elowynn’s stomach.

“Come on,” Lora said, leading them down even further.

The crowd thickened the lower they descended. The lack of conversation was unsettling. Lantern light flickered against wet stone while silver-cloaked Vigil members lined the square below in eerie stillness.

At the center stood a narrow, elevated platform. That hadn’t been there before, had it? She would have absolutely noticed such a thing.

It was then that Elowynn felt unease travel up her spine, her neck; her very scalp prickled.

The bells rang once more, then were cut off after a few breaths. It was not allowed to finish its peal.

Then a prisoner was brought forward.

He looked younger than she had expected, perhaps only a turning or two younger than her twenty. Light copper hair hung in damp clumps across his forehead. He was thin, his threadbare clothes clinging to his skin, and his left eye was swollen shut, purple and bloodied.

He looked defeated. Exhausted.

His hands were bound behind his back with black metal restraints threaded with muted astrylite veins. They pulsed in time with his heartbeat—rapid and uneven.

The moment he stepped onto the platform, every lantern surrounding the square flickered. Their light faltered, and several extinguished altogether.

Uneasy murmurs rippled through the crowd.

Elowynn forgot to breathe.

No. No!

He was a Null.

Her breath hitched, and her heart stuttered. She could feel her face draining of all color. Beside her, Lora folded her arms tightly around herself.

“I had heard rumors this morning,” she whispered to Elowynn.

The prisoner lifted his head, and his expression was terrified. He was not monstrous nor corrupted. He was human. Just a human.

Her stomach lurched. Hot nausea climbed into her throat, and she swallowed hard against it.

“He destabilized the dormant Starway gate in the eastern quarter,” someone nearby whispered. “Three people died. Three!”

“They should have executed him at that moment!”

“Can they really feel the Dimming?”

“They say his kind can hear things beneath the earth. Not like the Astrari, something else.”

His kind. Like he was a creature instead of a person.

He was shaking uncontrollably as rain slid down his face, mingling with his silent tears.