Radeon felt it before he saw it, a pressure that made his soul tremble. Death rose like a tide. Void answered it.
Space split open around him. Above, dark crimson tentacles speared up past the ceiling.
The ground boiled with hands. Pale. Grey. Some still wore rings, with bits of sleeve clinging to them.
The incense altar stayed where it was. Everything else went wrong.
'I played myself.'
His debt was not paid. He knew it like a gambler watching his last coin roll away.
Then a chuckle slid through his soul.
"Sky. Earth. Sea. Dying. Where I stood among the stars. Half consumed. Not an omen. Only information. Attend. Be warned."
His debt was paid. The phantom burn that had ridden his bones like a second skin went quiet, as if it had never been there at all.
Then the altar came into focus. The huge stone statue's arm reached out toward him, palm up, offering.
Resting in that hand was a bottle no bigger than his thumb, clear as a tear.
