SAGE

“Justice! Justice! Justice!”

The chant rolled through the arena like a living thing, rising and falling in waves, thick with relief, rage, and triumph. I heard it. Of course I heard it.

The sound vibrated through stone and bone alike. But I found myself only half-present in it, because the four towering beasts surrounding me were far more engaging.

Their minds brushed against mine—not words exactly, but impressions, images, emotions layered atop one another in a strange, shared mental platform that felt as natural as breathing.

Congratulations pulsed warmly from them, deep and rumbling like distant thunder. Beneath that was something else. A question.

Why did you take so...