Elex.ii.v1.03.gog.part3.rar

Rat looked at him, his eyes narrowed. "And what do you suggest, Alb? You've spent your life serving the logic of the cold. Why should we trust you now?"

Jax stood up, his joints popping like dry twigs. He needed allies, but Magalan was a fractured mirror, each shard reflecting a different kind of madness. The Berserkers in the lush forests of Edan clung to their mana and their laws, suspicious of any technology that wasn't wrapped in wood and vine. The Morkons, hiding in the dark, damp tunnels of the Grotto, worshipped pain and stagnation, convinced that the world’s end was a divine gift. And the Outlaws, the scavengers of the wastes, cared for nothing but the next fix of Stim or the next pile of scrap. ELEX.II.v1.03.GOG.part3.rar

As he reached the outskirts of Edan, the landscape shifted. The dry, dusty earth gave way to vibrant greens and the sound of rushing water. But even here, the shadow of the Skyands was visible. Massive, crystalline structures sprouted from the ground like malignant tumors, pulsing with a sickly purple light. The Berserkers were fighting a losing battle, their mana-infused arrows shattering against the Skyands' shields. Rat looked at him, his eyes narrowed

Jax found the Berserker leader, a man named Rat, standing on a wooden platform overlooking the valley. Rat was a man who looked like he had been carved out of old oak—gnarled, tough, and deeply rooted in his beliefs. Why should we trust you now

(e.g., Jax's first encounter with a Skyand commander).

"Because I'm the only one who knows how they think," Jax said, his hand tightening on the hilt of his weapon. "And because I have a son who deserves a world that isn't a tomb."

He started his journey toward the Berserker stronghold of Goliet. The path was treacherous, winding through the ruins of an old highway where the asphalt had buckled and cracked. He moved with the silent grace of a predator, his eyes scanning the horizon for any sign of movement. He passed a group of scavengers picking through the carcass of a fallen aircraft, their faces hidden behind gas masks. They didn't see him, or if they did, they knew better than to challenge a man with the cold, dead eyes of an Alb.