Mikhail stared at Alex for a moment before his gaze drifted toward the horizon, or rather the endless drop where the horizon should be.
Alex stood awkwardly, with the air feeling like it became a thousand times more heavy with his unintentional insult hanging in the air.
The silence stretched on – almost like Mikhail was doing it intentionally…
Then, to his surprise, Mikhail chuckled.
It was dry, sounding like it came from a mouth that hadn't tasted water in thousands of years, but at least he didn't seem angry.
Alex was relieved.
"You're not wrong, boy." The old, legendary smith said.
"Death and I have been on speaking terms for a while. I've just managed to delay our final meeting."
'...'
Alex couldn't tell whether he was being serious or not.
'Is death a… person?'
He really, really wanted to ask this question.
…But he felt like he wouldn't like the answer if he did.
So he refrained from asking.
