Strax remained motionless for a few seconds after Scathach finished speaking. The silence that settled was neither light nor reflective; it was heavy, dense, as if every word she had uttered still hung in the air between them. His eyes were fixed on her, analyzing every detail of her posture as she knelt before him. Her position wasn't theatrical, not a rehearsed gesture of submission. It was simply the only place where her body seemed to have the strength to remain at that moment.
He tilted his head slightly to the side, his gaze cold and distant, as if mentally reorganizing each fragment of the story he had just heard. The system. The gods. The collapse of natural laws. The creation of that artificial structure to prevent the world from completely crumbling. All of that now formed a clearer logical line within his mind.
