Nox stopped walking after leaving the chamber. The halls were quiet now. The dragons had already finished clearing the remaining guards, and the fortress had gone silent. The air inside the fortress felt cold and heavy, and the faint sound of dripping blood echoed from somewhere behind them.
Emerald walked a few steps ahead before noticing that Nox was no longer moving. She turned around and saw him standing still in the middle of the corridor.
"You're stopping?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Nox did not answer immediately. He walked toward a wide open area near the inner courtyard and then sat down slowly on the cold black stone floor. The stone was cold enough that faint frost began to form around where he sat. The air there was quiet, and the only sound was the distant wind moving through the broken parts of the fortress and the low growls of the spectral dragons standing guard around the area.
