The words settled across the square without rising, each syllable falling like ash after fire had consumed everything it touched. There existed a pause between them, measured and deliberate, the kind that felt like the space between heartbeats when the body waited to discover whether it would be allowed to continue.
"I gave you a chance."
Another pause followed, this one heavier than the first, weighted with the memory of what had been offered and what had been thrown back broken.
"You brought me broken bodies."
The statement did not carry accusation or rage. It simply existed, a fact delivered with the calm of someone who had already moved past fury into something far more terrible. Then, with that same unnerving composure, Thessian finished what he had come to say.
"Now I collect the rest."
