Hall of Quiet Dominion
Leon pushed the heavy double doors open himself.
Not a sound came from them.
Resistance never came from them.
Footsteps barely broke the air, each motion gliding like shadow meeting stone - hinges seemed to know, somehow, whose presence brushed past.
A soft glow rushed forward just as the doors opened wide, painting the smooth stone beneath their feet with hazy gold. It settled around them, slow and low, like something familiar but unnamed.
The estate was vast.
Quietly, without drawing attention.
Yet somehow, it gave emptiness a purpose of its own.
