It wasn't like him to eavesdrop; it wasn't like him to be interested in strangers at all. But although he hadn't intended to sit down at all, much less listen to the two conversing now, it was as if the rest of the murmuring, pressing mass of people around him had all but faded. Of course, logically he knew this was inaccurate; it was merely his perception that had changed. But his perception was not altering, and therefore his reality was exactly thus.
When the beautiful voice took on an edge of alarm, he stood -- not of his own accord, but because it was what his body moved him to do. And more surprisingly to him, he found himself walking straight to the two ladies. In the dark, their faint outlines would have been difficult for others to have seen and immediately identified -- but Elias always had seen well in the dark. When he approached their circle of two, he couldn't help but stare at the first one. It must be her, he thought to himself -- right before a blinding light hit him straight between the eyes. It was like a migraine without the headache, that same sort of black, wretched light that felt like being engulfed in a supernova.
A stagger backwards, a cough, and then he straightened himself. "Is everything all r..."
But there was more than just the light as it passed through him. There was pain, enough to stiffen his shoulders and back ramrod straight, enough to pale his already-white skin. Not that anyone here could tell.