Tower of Ascension

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The fighting had been hard all day. Men and Women fell on both sides. The Githyanki did not cry out when they died. That made it worse.

She walked straight into them. The Gith. Still living. She cut them down one by one. No sound. No mercy. A minute later, the first one stood back up. Bones clicking. Empty eyes. Then another. Then more.

They turned the tide while we watched.

I don’t know if we won that night. Only that we lived.

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Rell Griggs, Sailor on the Sea Bitch, letter to his brother (never sent)

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They say I was spared. That Lady Zhao found me after her blade had done its work and the fire had taken the walls. I do not remember the first hour—only the heat and the silence. The silence was louder than the screaming.

She did not look like the others. She saw me and didn’t flinch. Her hand held a sword. Her other one reached out.

I was too young to hate her. Old enough to understand what mercy looks like. She called me Rin. Gave me a name. A choice. A future. Not all Gith get that.

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— Zhao Rin, Journal Entry, Year 10 of the Conflict

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“I woke to the sound of hulls breaking—like ribs beneath a giant’s tread. The mists arrived before their time: thick, pallid, and ravenous. One of ours cried out in the fog, but no face met my eyes—only the echo remained.

The Gith came bearing their cursed dreams once more. They do not tread planks as mortals do—they glide upon thought, seeping through the cracks of will and waking. I felt one brush the edges of my soul. It tried to take me. Nearly did. But Ossavel's voice rose louder in the dark. And I held.

So I called upon the drowned—those claimed by the deep. The sea, unquiet, returned them. Even the dead rose to defend what still breathes. We held the harbor. We paid in flesh and blood. And we shall pay again.

But Moonshadow stands still. That, at least, is something the sea has not taken.”

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—Alice Summerville, Combat Entry, Revenant Tide’s Quarter Log

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