The lie came effortlessly. He didn't care if they believed it; he didn't need them to. Their faces said enough. His entrance had already achieved its purpose.
He had waited for this, waited for the perfect moment to intervene. To step into their despair not as another fighter, but as the one they would cling to.
He had allowed them to break, to crumble, to lose hope completely, so that when he appeared, he would seem like salvation itself.
He had almost revealed himself earlier, but one among them, Thalira, had resisted, her will too strong to be broken. She fought against despair until the very end, refusing to be crushed by the chaos around her.
In the end, even she fell, her emotions turning dark, her control slipping away.
Now, beneath Adyr's light, she felt that darkness dissolve. The despair that had consumed her heart turned fragile, able to feel warmth again.
