Zein felt like his heart dropped to his stomach when he saw the crack. The sound was eerily loud in the quiet pavilion, and as his chest got heavier from worry, the orb shattered.
"What--"
Zein opened his mouth and almost choked when something--someone--dropped onto the floor from the shattered orb.
"Ugh--" Bassena, in a dusty, tattered coat, coughed and wheezed into the floor. He pushed himself and wobbled slightly as he stood up, shaking his head from the impact. He winced and pressed the heel of his palm onto the throbbing vein in his forehead.
And then, as if he snapped out of a stupor, he gasped, looking up, and the amber eyes locked into his one and only guide.
"Bas--"
Before Zein could finish uttering the esper's name, he was already getting enveloped in a tight, almost scalding embrace. Bassena was hot, like he was in a fever, but the moment their silhouette touched each other, the heat dissipated as if Zein was pouring water all over the esper's fire.
