Location: Glimmerroot Town – Outer Walls
In-Game Time: 05:03 – 18 Hours Before the Siege
Thunder cracked across the mists.
Ashen stood atop Glimmerroot's battlement, his elemental cloak rippling in the force-laden air. The Root Pulse Towers hummed with verdant energy, their light piercing the fog like watchful sentinels. The tension in the camp below was thick. Every player, construct, and NPC militiaman knew what was coming.
But Ashen didn't wait for battles to come to him.
"I'm going out."
His voice cut through the war-room silence behind him.
Michael stepped forward. "Alone?"
Jaecar scowled. "This isn't the time for a stunt."
Heqet simply knelt beside the sigil stone, continuing her elemental hymn. "He walks the line not out of pride," she whispered, "but to reshape it."
Ashen turned toward them. "If they've brought their strongest to strike first, I want to greet them before they get close. Keep the walls reinforced. You'll know when to open fire."
