The silence that followed the Fallen Leader's final words was suffocating.
It settled heavy and cold over the Sanctuary, thick enough to choke a weaker person. The rulers of Aetheris, sovereigns who commanded armies, people who bent the laws of nature, and kings whose names were carved into stone, sat completely frozen.
Not a single chair moved. Not a single breath was drawn loudly.
What could they say? One man had walked into the most secure, secret room in the world without setting off a single alarm.
He had stood in front of them, mocked their power, stripped away their pride, and exposed their deepest, ugliest fears, all while calling their noble crowns and ancient legacies nothing more than pathetic forts built from fear.
He had called them scared cattle waiting for the butcher.
...And right now, sitting in the shadow of his terrifying presence, none of them had a single thing to say back.
Then, a low, rumbling chuckle broke out from the side of the table.
