(Planet Ixtal, Soron's Castle, Leo's POV)
The heavy folds of Soron's robe slipped down from his shoulders, and in that moment the breath in Leo's chest caught, his world narrowing to the frail body revealed before him.
Across Soron's chest and abdomen stretched scars that did not look like scars at all, but open wounds frozen in time, glistening with a slick black fluid that oozed sluggishly yet never fell, as though his flesh itself had been cursed to bleed without end.
Dark veins pulsed faintly around the injuries, throbbing and writhing, fighting desperately to stitch shut what simply refused to heal, as the sight alone felt like a contradiction to every law of life Leo had ever known.
And then he saw the Green.
