The words hung in the air, enveloped by a dreadful silence.
Cassie remained motionless, as well, doing her best to suppress her body from trembling.
'Asterion.'
It would be a lie to say that, for a moment, she did not feel fear. Her thoughts spun, and she sent a stream of mental messages to those caught in the web of her Aspect.
The man sitting next to her at the bar… was a herald of the Dreamspawn, an agent of the insidious foe threatening the very foundations of the Human Domain.
But he wasn't Asterion himself, so she was not in mortal peril yet.
Cassie lingered for a few moments, assessing the danger, and came to the conclusion that she had to buy some time above all else. So, instead of reacting strongly, she simply reached for her drink and took a leisurely sip.
"Oh, my. You are a new type."
The man smiled.
"You should have foreseen that people like this one would emerge, no?"
He was not wrong.
