{"They call it madness when a woman dares to carve the world in her image. Let them. I was never born to obey."}
NERISCA'S POV
The Emerald Gulf winds howled through the obsidian spires, rattling stained-glass windows and stirring the flame basin that lit the council hall. The green fire cast jagged shadows over the rune-carved columns, stretching my silhouette like a specter across the sea-worn stone. I stood alone beneath the high arch of the council dome, where kings once whispered oaths to the ocean and gods bled on altars now lost beneath coral and ash. This hall had known power. And it had known failure. It echoed both now as if unsure which I had brought.