A number of lambs graze in a field at dawn on the Mountain of Mortality, where the air is cold and the ground gives way to stone. The sky stretches wide and pale above them, and the world feels exposed, as if nothing here can hide. A dragon covered with golden scales lands, causing the lambs to tremble. He breathes fire and calls out to them:
god commands me
to offer a sacrifice
who among you is chosen
to pay the divine price
One lamb steps forward and the dragon carries it down a short path to the Altar of Obedience, where the lamb is chained to a flat stone worn smooth by time, reverence, and sacrifice.