Kaelen stayed quiet for a bit, the metallic tang of fear a subtle but growing presence on his tongue. He weighed his words carefully, the hum of the air-circulators the only sound in the sterile chamber. Finally, he spoke, his voice betraying a hint of desperation he immediately regretted. "Will doing these… these tasks… absolve me of my supposed crimes against the empire?"
In response, a heavy pressure descended upon him, not just in the air, but in his very bones, threatening to crush him. He buckled, gasping as if the oxygen had been sucked from the room. The air grew thick, charged with an unseen energy, and the eyes of the higher-ups — glowing pinpricks of light from within their shadowed cowls — flared with an icy, merciless brilliance.
