The pressure Leon felt the instant his foot crossed the last step onto the fourth floor wasn't something that could be captured with a single word.
It wasn't ordinary fear. It wasn't just raw power, either. It was more like the air had suddenly thickened and started pressing into him from every direction - slipping under his skin, trying to force his muscles to tense up before his brain even had time to decide.
If someone had asked him a few weeks ago what it felt like to stand under a stream of water dropping from several meters up, he probably wouldn't have known how to answer. But right now - right now he could've sworn it was close.
Heavy. Constant. Stubborn.
As if something bigger and stronger was testing whether he could stay upright.
And yet the corner of his mouth lifted.
Not wide.
Not dramatic.
Just barely.
