The tenbrous plainsman's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

The tenebrous plainsman knelt in the dust, brushing sand from a carved stone half-buried in the ground. Their glowing eyes pulsed brighter. The symbol matched the sketches in their journal—wheat stalks circling an empty throne. This had to be a marker pointing toward the eighth god's temple, the ruins everyone said were just legend. They stood and scanned the horizon. Somewhere out there, hidden beneath centuries of sand and silence, lay the truth about the forgotten deity. The plainsman pulled their cloak tighter against the wind. This stone was proof the temple existed. They just had to follow the trail. They knelt again and traced the carved lines with careful fingers. The stone grew warm under their touch. Blue light flickered across the runes etched into its surface. Shapes moved within the glow—figures that looked almost like dancers, circling and swaying. The plainsman opened their journal and sketched the pattern. According to the old maps, markers like this one formed a path. Each stone pointed to the next. Their heart beat faster. This was real. The eighth god's temple wasn't just a story whispered in taverns. It was waiting to be found.