The air grew heavier.
It wasn't just the heat… nor the cold. It was something else. Something that settled in the chest and stayed there.
Izel didn't speak. She couldn't.
Her eyes remained fixed on the layers of Naraka stretching downward like a bottomless abyss. People. Lives. Mistakes. Screams. Everything mixed together. Everything… too human.
—Izel… —Iztli's voice came softly, closer than usual.
She took a moment to respond.
—I'm fine… —she murmured, though she didn't believe it herself.
She wasn't fine.
Not after that. Not after understanding that many of those people weren't monsters… they were people who broke.
The oni watched her in silence, as if he had seen that reaction hundreds of times before.
—Most react that way the first time —he said at last—. It's not easy to accept that suffering doesn't always come from a single moment.
Izel tightened her fingers slightly against Iztli's fur.
—No… that's not it…
She paused, searching for words.
