[Dorian doesn't see what Adam sees when he looks in the mirror, but he can tell that the man has his own inner demons, whatever they may be. He's seen plenty of inner demons to know when they're being cloistered inside the body like a poison. For the mage, it's the compliment that catches him off guard.

He's used to compliments, certainly, about his appearance and his skill with magic. It wasn't very often people said anything good about his character or suggested that there should be more people that think like him. It was enough to make him speechless, and that didn't happen often.]

Rare to get it, hard to keep it...power is such a slippery beast, people will do anything for it...defy death...become gods or parasites. [Ugh, this wasn't exactly a pleasant topic.] Ah, nothing lasts forever, that's the only thing that gives anything meaning.