This was Leo's first time standing in the presence of a God, a true God, and what he sensed nearly shattered his understanding of reality.
When his eyes met Soron's, he didn't feel as though he was staring at another man.
No, there was no heartbeat of kinship, no shared sense of species.
Soron wore a human shell, yes, cloaked in black robes and seated with mortal posture, but everything about him screamed of something else. Something Leo's mind wasn't built to comprehend.
There was a rupture in logic the longer he looked. The throne was there. Soron was seated on it. That much Leo could see. But for some reason, his instincts refused to accept it as truth.
It was as if the figure he saw was only a projection filtered through the limits of his senses…. an illusion crafted not to deceive, but to protect him.
Because the real presence behind those eyes, behind that shape, was something far too vast… far too alien… far too immense for human perception to hold without breaking.
