"Then it is nice to meet you," I said, extending my hand.
Xeron chuckled softly and reached forward to take it. His grip was firm, far stronger than his hunched frame suggested. For a moment it was nothing more than a simple handshake between two people meeting for the first time.
And then it happened.
The moment our hands touched, a sudden flash tore through my mind.
A memory.
It came with such force that the present vanished for an instant, replaced by an image from far in the past.
I saw Dante again.
His body was already failing when that moment happened. I remembered the exhaustion written across his face and the effort it took for him to even lift his arm. Slowly, with visible strain, Dante had raised his right hand and pressed it against his forehead. His fingers trembled violently as he forced something out of himself.
A faint blue glow had emerged from his head. A small orb of light, pulsing softly like a fragile heartbeat.
