Aikana

One sabre that never leaves its sheath, two expressions that never change, and a thousand stories the locals tell about them. The children of the amber-leaved clearing say Aikana’s grin is for their songs, a silent encouragement. The bakers, however, watch the wide, stunned eyes and whisper that Aikana guards the memory of Kodai, the Mummified, and what they saw in that ancient tomb froze them solid. One elder, who has watched Aikana stand motionless for fifty seasons, believes the truth is simpler and far more terrifying. They say it isn't two separate expressions. It is one: the face of someone who stared directly at a world-ending horror and, for a single, terrible moment, understood it completely.