Khalan 14 Botmaba 2250

To dear Dula,

I apologise for the lack of letters; misery has festered here in the snow. I wished not to worry you. How is Uha? I am proud of her even if she will not hear it. Accomplished in piano and languages already, and it feels only yesterday we were holding her. The future looks bright for her. Praise Wui and the Hodenay family!

But the future here in Moulm is bleak and angry. The winter killed more than the locals have in the last century. We're all a hair's breadth away from mutiny. Now it is spring, the general has ordered us towards the Daan river. Such Utopian plans General Monsang has for us. Our world seems determined to kill us as we kill upon it. And the Gods seem not to care. How I yearn to be in Voost with you, Dula, and our dear Uha.

All my love, Sedo.

  And that was the soldier’s last letter. The letter found its way back to Vost with some paperwork for the widow. But what he intended as throwaway complaints to his wife were perhaps more prophetic than even those who circle the emperor in Luze.   The Gods don't care. They have problems in the heavens - a king of Gods who secludes himself and a Goddess gaining her resolve that could kill Khalan faster. Revolution or mutiny are on everyone's lips, from nobles to beggars. Will the world spin into another era so soon?