"No… No I do not"
The words that Viel said made the whole room quiet, even the winds that were howling from the hole that were made from the Matriarch's battle became dormant. Only the brittle stones that were falling from it echoed in the room, bouncing several times until it reached the floor. Still a part of the room, but no longer attached to the walls.
"I… see", Matriarch Yinji could only sigh. The disappointment in her eyes could not be hidden, but it did not last long, disappearing as soon as she blinked.
When she and her Elders entered the portal of light, it immediately closed a second after the last Elder was through. She reckoned it would have been the same case for the boy. It's just that…
"The place you were at before entering the portal of light was in the Golden Pavilion, correct?"
"Y-yes", Viel was now totally looking at the ground. There was this unique sense of guilt in his heart that he had long forgotten he could feel.
