***
{Outside The Projection}
...What a cruel nightmare.
A Mithqal didn't need sleep.
Biologically, at least.
But mentally?
They certainly did.
Malik hadn't slept a wink in at least two hundred years.
All that time was instead spent cultivating.
He was extending his life...
Delaying his Corruption.
But now, as the hallucinations returned...
The obvious was revealed.
Malik was out of time.
The hourglass was full.
Corruption was pouring through the cracks of his soul.
No longer would he see people, but their nightmarish Corrupted versions instead.
This was it.
The end was nearing.
If Safira's expedition didn't arrive in time...
Their Sultan would die.
What a tragedy this was...
A tragedy that didn't allow Layla to appreciate her daughter's grown-up appearance.
Of course, by now she'd be much, much older than that, but...
A glimpse at how she'd looked as a child softened her heart, but the truth that her husband was soon to die hardened it just as quickly.
