TAK

Previously

…He stepped back out into the night, the carved bird a solid, comforting presence in his hand. The city’s sterile glow seemed somehow less imposing now, its rigid structure less absolute. The TAK still loomed, a formidable challenge, but a new possibility had opened before him, a sanctuary of the unscored, a place where his true aptitude might finally find its wings. The decision, he knew, would not be easy. But for the first time, Tak felt a stirring of courage, a quiet determination to explore the paths less traveled, the paths that led beyond the score.