"I know not," Verdant said. "Only that it was gigantic. It surfaced out of the water, as a great black shadow, and the second its tail hit our ship, the vessel was split in two. A poor situation for a man like me – I've never been a particularly great swimmer."
"And yet you lived, where others perished," Oliver said. "I wonder why that is…"
"I know not that either. I have considered it, many times over. It was odd, I did not fear death, when it finally came, yet I had feared it before then. What I felt was merely disappointment. I had such great plans, and so many ambitions, and I was to die before any ever saw fruition. So I struggled, and Behomothia recognized that struggle. He gave me the strength I needed to live.
"So you understand, then?" Oliver said. "To do what you ask of me, their souls will be laid bare. They'll be forced to look at things that ordinary men shouldn't have to consider."