Those eyes were clear and fathomless, like two dry wells that had slumbered for far too long.
Now, he looked at Chen Xun with those eyes.
At Chen Xun.
At Big Black Ox.
He said nothing.
He could say nothing.
His lips moved once.
Soundlessly.
They moved again.
Still soundlessly.
His Adam's apple bobbed, as though something had lodged there, preventing him from uttering a single word, or as though far, far too much had crowded his throat, blocking every sound instead.
He simply looked at Chen Xun, at the enormous, jet-black figure standing beside him, silent as a mountain. There was no wild joy in his eyes, no weeping anguish, not even so much as a ripple.
Only a bewilderment so vast that it left no room for any other emotion...
Bewilderment.
Like someone who had trudged alone through the darkness for far, far too long and suddenly glimpsed light around a corner, yet had spent so long in the dark that he had forgotten how light felt. He could only stand rooted to the spot, dazed, momentarily losing even the awareness to step forward.
A long time passed.
A long time passed.
A long time passed.
His face remained utterly expressionless.
Nothing changed in those eyes either. He simply gazed at the two figures before him, calmly, quietly, without blinking.
Without his realizing it, a tear slipped silently from the corner of his eye.
There was no sob, no trembling, no warning whatsoever.
It simply fell.
It fell onto the land beneath his feet, the land he had guarded for hundreds of millions of years, without making even the slightest sound.
He did not even notice it himself.
Or perhaps he noticed, but could no longer spare it any attention.
His throat worked again and again. That voice