26

The sky dims and flickers, and you're reminded of that first, terrible journey back through time in the Specular, those half glimpses of vast and indescribable shapes. Golden sun and gray mountain brighten, fade, seem to reach out, then to reel back.

Then the gray mountain flares, hurling out a kind of smoky radiance, and the world goes dark as if in eclipse. Slowly, the sun seems to reignite, but now the gray mountain and the sun are near equals in the daytime sky. You can't be sure if the sun has grown dimmer, but the False Icon seems bigger now.

Control maintains a calm running commentary for Dr. Sabbatine, staring right at the sun without harm, but the villagers are terrified. This is beyond even Chief Kothis's ability to manage; his face stricken, he looks to you and the other visitors for advice.

"I think it's Stralchus," Dr. Sabbatine says. "He may be testing some kind of weapon against the False Icon, perhaps with the help of other Icons."

"Well, we can't tell people that," Alexius says. "That light show has already unnerved the locals. Don't spook them more."

"Tell them something, Crowchar," Vecla says in Koiné. "Reassure them before they grow too frightened."