[There are two paths. On one lies safety. The other, deep-grieved and needless death.]

one + dredgen hope + accepts + shatters his animus

[The system is at peace. A city under a paracausal sky rests, hollow and still, its towers in disuse. The people are placated, cared for, without want—ruled by a king called Dredgen Hope and his Imperium, who brokered peace. It is a city without Lights: they are buried and named on every street, a cost of peace. One of the streets reads: Weapon. The city has no queen; she would not stand beside a Dredgen. The king lives in hate. Of himself, of his crown, the power it bestows, and the ochre god who gave it to him. That god, now bound to a compliant tool, is thus allowed to step into the paracausal sky, free.]

two + dredgen hope + refuses + embraces his fate

[The system in upheaval. War in heaven. Hope begs, in regret, for small mercies, knowing he chose this. A paracausal death. Many doors open.]

brother in rings + gambits for himself + but still there is hope + for all + of us