Leon stepped forward.
His presence pressed softly against the air, steady and confident.
"We came to test our new abili—" He cut himself off and corrected himself with a quieter tone. "Apologies. We're here to destroy the Hallow."
Silence wrapped around the fog filled zone.
The Dowager stared at him, unable to form a response.
In the span of five minutes, this boy had stolen the words from her lips two separate times.
She didn't know if it was his calm declaration, the impossible lack of hesitation, or the faint trace of something ancient drifting beneath his voice.
Whatever it was, it made the moment feel heavier than anything she had endured in the last three corrupted years.
And she could only manage a quiet thought.
'Did he say destroy the hallow?'
****
The Dowager studied Leon in a quiet stretch of mist, her amber eyes trailing over him with a composure that came only after years of keeping herself sane in isolation.
