Chapter 112 The Second Silence

• Morning returned without warmth.
• That was the first lie Lucy learned to recognize.
• The sky over Talawan brightened into something resembling dawn, pale and colorless, as if light itself had forgotten how to carry heat. The sun rose each day after the Endless Night finally loosened its grip, but it hung low and distant, a cold disc suspended behind layers of frost-thin cloud. People emerged from shelters expecting relief—and found instead a deeper, quieter cruelty.