Brought into the cult by Marceau alongside Aurélie, Hadrian does not quite share their founder’s optimism. The darkened sky, the embers that bring death, and the draining of warmth from their very bodies…no, he says, the Wolflord has awakened, and He grieves the state that He has found His kingdom in.

They are being punished, this is very clear – one needs only to look back to the dissolution of the Wolfguard, and the Opera, to see the once-nobility amongst them being pushed from the Wolflord’s presence.

The question is, is Marceau half-right? Is their world being razed to birth one that more suits their Lord’s vision? And what connection has the Consort to all of this? He arrived to attend the Lord’s wakening, and then all these signs followed soon thereafter. Is the Consort the true mechanic of their suffering, or one who holds the sword to execute the Wolflord’s true will…?

Only one thing is certain: they cannot now see the end of their Lord’s course. Are they all to be purged in the strange frozen flames, or will the loyal be tested, and permitted to remain?

“He would not hurt us, not ever,” Marceau insists, “this is only to make us stronger.” Hadrien is not certain that he agrees. The smallest blossoms are trimmed away to feed the greatest, and the Wolflord’s own people should not be permitted to grow as wild as weeds. There is still love in what He does, assuredly, and the end will be gentle, beautiful.

Trust in the vision.