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SORROW'S CORONET SHELL

Exotic / Ghost Shell

For Ghosts who choose more than Light.

Source: Oblation

Related Collectible

Lore

Sorrow's Coronet Shell

For Ghosts who choose more than Light.

The Dredgen lay on his side, dying. Small hole under his left rib. Big, ragged hole in his back. He gasped but didn't get much air. Breath frothed in pink bubbles around his mouth.

The rain had stopped, leaving the rocks and sand at the base of the arroyo damp, the valley floor cut with streams already dissipating. The sky above cried out in cold blue. No shadows—on account of all that albedo—but no real light either.

Shin Malphur sat next to the dying man. His hood was down and his helmet off. The Dredgen kicked at him, trying to shove him away. Shin reached over and gripped his boot, holding him still. The man struggled weakly against death's approach.

"I've seen a lot in my time," Shin said. "I have killed, but never been killed." He shook his head. "I was starting to think I had a new life ahead of me. That the last dying man I'd see would be my own damn self."

The Dredgen gurgled. He took one bloody hand away from the wound in his chest and reached for his gun, which lay on the ground a short distance from where he fell. The weapon was hideous, a pistol of flowing, dark metal marbled with bilious green. It sizzled where it lay, steam rising.

"I warned you." Shin said. "The power Bael showed you takes time to learn. A god gave him that time. I've had centuries. All you had was a gun."

The Dredgen managed to drag himself a few inches closer to his weapon.

"Stop. Stop it," Shin said. He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back and out of his eyes. "You're dying, kid. Just be still."

The Dredgen let out a ragged groan as he squirmed forward, trembling, stretching for his gun. His fingertips brushed the grip, bloodstains scorching as he grazed the hot metal. The pistol hissed and screamed. Shin stood. The Dredgen looked back at the gunslinger, his eyes rolling wide and wild.

"You could have lived forever," Shin said. He kicked the perforated core of the Dredgen's dead Ghost, sending it clattering away. "You stupid, selfish kid."

The Dredgen lifted his wailing pistol, and the clap of Shin's iron cracked the day open. Dust burst from the canyon's walls, mingling with the pink mist that hung in the air. The flat report echoed and faded.

Shin lowered his revolver. He opened the cylinder and slipped two fresh rounds inside, then snapped it closed. Shin's Ghost hummed near his head, aghast.

"Why wasn't the Light enough for you?" Shin said. "Why is that never enough?"

No answer. None expected. Shin left the corpse, the gun, and the shell; the rain would wash them all away next time it came.

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