[They're making his head hurt. Kratos closes his eyes and takes another breath, and it doesn't help; he may not have struck it, at least not badly, but he tumbled a long way. They don't seem to need him to answer, either, so it's enough to know they're Gnome's servants in ... some fashion.
[And that Gnome heard his prayer, after all. Kratos feels -- rather dazed, and doesn't know how much of that is due to injury, fatigue, or simply the notion of meeting a spirit. Meeting a spirit's servants?
[He pushes himself upright, hand still around the stone; sways when his head dizzies, and waits it out.]
The -- Boss?
[There is. Something extremely heavy-feeling happening down the way. Kratos manages to get to his feet and it hurts, and he sways some more, and leans heavily against one of the stones. And, yes, there is openness; and it is not so much light as -- brightness, of some kind, something so deep and full that it's visible in the darkness, owing to its depth being more than darkness.
[Possibly the dizziness is due to that. Slowly Kratos slides down the rock so he's sitting up against it, and he can't take his eyes from that sight, his heart and breath beating in his chest. That is -- oh. That is --
[He feels as if he's breathing in the weight of stone, but not in a way that it's a burden; it feels instead like sword in his hand, shield in his arm, heaviness but extensions of him; like the depths of Yuan's house in Nidavellir, but inside him.]
no subject
[And that Gnome heard his prayer, after all. Kratos feels -- rather dazed, and doesn't know how much of that is due to injury, fatigue, or simply the notion of meeting a spirit. Meeting a spirit's servants?
[He pushes himself upright, hand still around the stone; sways when his head dizzies, and waits it out.]
The -- Boss?
[There is. Something extremely heavy-feeling happening down the way. Kratos manages to get to his feet and it hurts, and he sways some more, and leans heavily against one of the stones. And, yes, there is openness; and it is not so much light as -- brightness, of some kind, something so deep and full that it's visible in the darkness, owing to its depth being more than darkness.
[Possibly the dizziness is due to that. Slowly Kratos slides down the rock so he's sitting up against it, and he can't take his eyes from that sight, his heart and breath beating in his chest. That is -- oh. That is --
[He feels as if he's breathing in the weight of stone, but not in a way that it's a burden; it feels instead like sword in his hand, shield in his arm, heaviness but extensions of him; like the depths of Yuan's house in Nidavellir, but inside him.]
Gnome?
[His voice is unsteady.]