"How do you feel?" Kaelor asked, his voice calm, measured.
The moment Mildred replied, her voice echoed with a strange resonance, an otherworldly vibration that sent a dense, smoky pulse rippling through the air. It wasn't a scream, nor a shriek, but it pierced Kaelor's ears like a hidden detonation.
His body stiffened as the sound collapsed into his eardrums, making his skull ring as though he had stood too close to a violent blast.
He clutched his ears, teeth clenched tightly, pain roaring through his head like a pounding drum.
'I wish you would be loyal to me like you were to my mother.'
Mildred froze. The voice was Kaelor's, but it hadn't come from his lips. It rang from within, spoken straight from his heart. She stared at him, wide-eyed, as though a phantom had whispered her deepest shame.
