Until three days ago.
"I'm sorry, John," Elias said, raising the sword. grim dawn quest tracker
Three years ago, when the Aetherials tore the sky open, Elias had been a simple cartographer. Now, he mapped only one thing: the debts of the damned. Until three days ago
Elias’s knuckles whitened around the Tracker. The Quest Tracker wasn't magic. It was a contract. He had written a rule on the inside cover in his own blood: No new quests until the last is closed. And for two years, the last one had been Sobb. Now, he mapped only one thing: the debts of the damned
Captain John Sobb was a hollow suit of armor held together by malice. Through the rusted visor, Elias saw not eyes, but twin coals of ember. Aetherial corruption had crawled into every joint, twisting the steel into organic, vein-like patterns. In one gauntlet, Sobb held a scorched standard. In the other, a child's doll—the one he’d whittled for Elias’s daughter years ago.
The heat was a mother's embrace. Elias felt his skin slough. But in that final instant, the helm of the possessed captain cracked open, and for one heartbeat, he saw John Sobb—the real John Sobb—looking out with tearful, human eyes.
"Eli," the thing inside the armor rasped. Not Sobb's voice. A chorus of static and whispers. "You came. The Tracker never lies."