“Agreed. I hate to think that someone I once entrusted with the future of my people went so far wrong, but I suppose, under such duress, it is difficult to judge.”
“I agree. I don’t like it, but I can’t even begin to imagine what I would do after centuries of not even being able to touch another human. Or object. Or anything. I hope he finds this sort of death enjoyable.”
“I hope,” Leontios disagreed as they approached the mouth of the tunnel, “that he finds nothing at all.”
“That’s what I meant,” she agreed. “I find nothingness hard to grasp. That’s all.”
“It is,” he replied. “I have experienced it, and I cannot understand or describe it because it is… nothing. There is nothing to describe except…” he trailed off.
“Except what, Leo?” They ducked into the tunnel, and thick blackness e
