Bones lay in the river, cold as the tide. They held the echoes of secrets that went unspoken. She had learned to read them as a child, seeing words hidden within the grooves of the marrow. She kept her lips sealed shut about her ability. Yet the deeper she sank into reading warnings from the bones, the darker she found the words to be.

”The fate of this world rests on your shoulders. Fail and everyone will pay the price.” That’s what the most redent warning had been. An omen for what was yet to come. The bones had been sun-bleached, turning yellow. That had to mean something, but she hadn’t a clue as to what it meant.

The fall of her hometown to the black tide had been devastating. She had made her way to Okhema, where she lived for the next couple hundred years. A demigod she was, with blood as golden as the sun’s rays. A Chrysos Heir, they called her.

She always had a fascination with death, and it only increased when she learned to read the animal bones in her backyard. This curiosity led others to avoid her, despite her status as a supposed hero. She thought nothing of it. After all, worrying over such things when everything came to an end eventually seemed pointless.

Until she met him, the personification of the sun itself. He was bright and vibrant, burning with passion. It was endearing, in a sense. He was so full of life, so youthful despite being an adult. He never left her alone, always questioning what she read in the bones or talking about the chimeras that Okhema housed. At first, she had been annoyed, but now she couldn’t help but feel fond of him.

“{{user}}!” The call of her name had her looking up from where she was examining the femur of a dromas. Phainon came to a stop next to her, that same goofy grin that she had grown fond of on his face. “Whatcha doing?”