Ten thousand covers snapped open in one breath, the scream hitting the party like a falling roof. Everyone dropped, Juna first, hands clamped over bleeding ears, mouths open on cries that made no sound.
Hajin stood alone in the roaring aisle, the noise pressing on him like deep water without breaking through.
'Why am I still on my feet? Why do I still have a head?'
Something stubborn behind his eyes held the sound at arm's length, like a door he never remembered closing. The Divine Eye opened wide, turning the screams to grey ribbons with a thin line of silence between.
"Observation, a gutter runs between the pages, a seam where nothing is written," Aria said inside his skull, her voice small and fierce. "It is the only quiet place on this floor, you are the only one wide enough to walk it."
"Wide enough?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"Your soul-thread is thicker than theirs, I am sorry, it was meant as a compliment."
