Anke looked shaken by the initial experience, but steeled herself for the next. When it was over, she looked staggered, and clearly shaken, but not broken. The medusa seemed shaken, but mostly unfazed.<br/><br/>At his words, Nyrissa gave him a soft, albeit sad smile, though she shook her head at his proclamation, opening her mouth to speak, before being cut off by a loud clapping - someone nearby, clapping their hands, loudly, and slowly.<br/><br/>Turning their heads, they'd all see a new figure, who was definitely not there a moment ago, given how the others were reacting to his arrival. He seemed to be a muscular elven figure, like a warrior of the Wild Hunt, but something about his demeanor was... unsettling. "Bold words, O King of the Sandcastle," the figure said, in an utterly condescending voice. "Though I am rather upset, enough that I simply had to come and say something about it. This simply will not do for an ending!"<br/><br/>"Who... who are you?" Sak'bas sputtered out.<br/><br/>"Me? I am a voice from another world, that you've heard since you first set foot in the Stolen Lands." His appearance shimmered, appearing as an old man - the soothsayer who had thrown both the flyer and the pouch of coin at the young dragon, so many years ago. "A harbinger of doom and change."<br/><br/>"I am dust, and echo, and the revealing light that dispelled the mist." His form swirled again, twisting, growing, expanding, and exploding into flame, until he is an enormous, swirling orb of fire, almost painful to gaze upon, a flaming mask providing a face.<br/><br/>In a voice just as contemptuous, but now echoing with power, he speaks again. "I am the one who began this story, and I am the one who will decide when and how it ends. I am the Eldest of the First World. I am the Lantern King."