He didn't just stop walking… Klaus's entire body locked up as he was completely paralyzed.
His lungs stopped drawing air and his heart slammed violently against his ribs, skipping a beat entirely.
He knew that voice…
It was the exact same melodic voice he had heard when he had entered the Soul World for the first time…
The memories, the deep foundational emotional resonance of the previous Soul King… perhaps the first one… flooded into Klaus's consciousness like a breaking dam.
He didn't see an NPC… He saw someone who mattered more to the core of his being than life itself.
Klaus let his iron sword slip from his fingers.
CLATTER!
The weapon hit the obsidian floor as it was entirely forgotten.
Klaus let go of Mirela's hand.
He didn't look at the goat-eared girl. Instead he walked forward like a man trapped in a trance with his dark eyes locked entirely onto the pale dying Elf woman chained to the stone.
