The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

back with dirt. The landscape was once again flat and
whole. “Okay,” I breathed. “That’s a good sign.”
Casteel was the first to join me and then the others. We
continued on, passing under the wing. The sandy dirt
hardened under our feet. Patches of grass appeared, giving
way to a lush meadow of bright orange flowers.
“Poppies,” Delano whispered.
Lips parting, I looked over at Casteel. He shook his head
in slight disbelief. The flowers we walked through could’ve
just been a coincidence, but…
My steps slowed as we realized we were coming to the
crest of a gently sloping hill and were finally able to see
what the stone women and those skeleton soldiers had been
guarding.
A sweeping Temple sat in the valley. Pillars constructed
of shadowstone lined the wide, crescent-shaped steps and
the colonnade. The structure was massive, nearly double
the size of the palace in Evaemon, even without the
additional wings. It rose against the blue sky in soaring
towers and spires as if the fingers of night were reaching up
from the land to touch daylight. Smaller shapes were
situated around the temple, possibly mounds or statues. I
couldn’t make out what they were from this distance, but it
wasn’t the only thing that had been protected. It was what
rested in the hills and valleys miles beyond the Temple.
It was Dalos, the City of the Gods.
Warm beams of sunlight reflected off the diamondbright
sides of buildings sprawled across the hills.
Crystalline towers rose into the sky in graceful arcs, parting
the wispy, white clouds sprinkled over the city and
extending beyond them, glittering as if a thousand stars had
kissed them. An awed silence fell over us as we gazed upon
the city.
Several long moments of silence passed before Emil
spoke, his voice thick. “I have to believe that this is what
the Vale looks like.”