Vesta's question hung in the stagnant air, heavy as a guillotine's blade. Shiki, a mere vessel for his possessor's will, knelt in broken submission, his hollow eyes fixed on Vesta.
"Are you human?" Sezel asked, curious. "Or beast?"
Shiki's gaze fell to the fractured stone, as if searching for the answer in the floor. A silent moment stretched, before his voice emerged. "I...Don't know. After so long, i can't tell."
He tuned out the rest of Shiki's words, recognizing them for what they were in reality, a smokescreen, a desperate ploy for time.
A cornered animal would use any tool at its disposal to survive, and this creature was no different. Sezel was certain.
Then, a scent slithered into his senses, he sniffed and looked around but couldn't find the source. But it was getting stronger, and it was close to him, he was sure.
"Stop. Don't speak," he yelled, his voice a, commanding bark that cut through Shiki's desperate, rambling monologue.
