The pristine white walls of the Azureus medical bay felt almost offensively quiet. For a man who had just spent the better part of a month in a subjective temporal nightmare, the soft, rhythmic hum of the ambient mana-infusers was a luxury Alvian was struggling to process. He sat on the edge of the bio-bed, his bare feet resting against the cool, sterilized floor.
Beside him, Valeria finally pulled back from their embrace, though she didn't go far. She kept one hand resting lightly on his knee, a physical tether ensuring that the Godslayer didn't just float away into his own head.
"You really need a shower," Valeria noted, her voice raspy but laced with a fond, exhausted amusement. "I know you have a passive skill that probably deletes dirt, but you smell like a burnt motherboard mixed with deep-sea sludge."
