In the quiet of the night, it's easy to hear John's calm breathing turn to distress. Serph's eyes crack open slightly, watching the emotion passing over John's face and observing how the faintly yellow light from his eyes dances over his skin.

The glow isn't quite the right colour to match the orange lights of Muladhara, but it's the closest he'll get in this unknown world.

"Is that why you warned us away from them?" On the radio.

Is there a god that isn't dangerous? He only knows of the one who turned the sun black, making the world uninhabitable for humans.

He'd said nothing of it before, but Serph can see the past pain writ upon John's flesh. Scarring, worse than what he's seen despite having lived in a land of constant fighting. What did John survive?

"Was it a cult that gave you those scars?"