Mathias strolled down the hallway, admiring the paintings that adorned his walls. Over the last year his appreciation for the finer things in life, the arts, had been severely overlooked. As he surveyed the sunset landscapes and family portraits, a feeling of atonement washed over him; no longer did his body howl with the winds of pain and his mind was free to look for the future, to dare and to hope. 

Such hope manifested with thoughts of his family. His wife and their children were safe, or at least as safe as they could be in a city like this. His mother and sisters however, were the ones that shined in his thoughts. They were avid socialites and at the time of the rapture, were touring the country, far away from Sovereign. No doubt they were sitting in a ornately decorated parlor, drinking tea and keeping a stiff-upper lip, pretending to be unfazed by his lack of contact, undeterred by the prospect that there home was in ruins and their family was slaughtered by the beast of an undeserving wasteland. 

Mathias promised himself some determined thoughts- He would make this hell work in his favor, he would reunite his family as a whole once more and they would all benefit from the terrors of Sovereign. Somehow he would right the wrongs and turn this awful chapter of his life into a profitable situation.