Riya leaned down further, and took his lips, and held there with a sense of profound serenity.
Another body stood in another domain.
He held Seo-yeon's hand, and the little girl had a worried look on her face, staring up at him, because she had felt the horrific aura he had pulled her away from.
She had felt the cleaved hand from the safe distance he had flung her to, and she had not understood it, only that it was terrible, and that her Mister Noah had been standing in front of it when he sent her away.
"I'm okay," he told her, crouching to her level. "I promise. Don't worry about me. I'm strong, remember? Stronger than that. It didn't get me." He let her see his face, see that it was whole and calm.
"But right now, I want you to meet a few people. Is that all right?"
...!
Seo-yeon nodded, the worry not gone but set aside, and he led her into a domain filled with plots of Infinite Sacred Herbs.
