Chapter 311: The distance between them (part 1)

Barefoot, Adela walked amidst the ashes that were once the home she and Egon had shared for a short but cherished time. But the surroundings felt utterly surreal. Instead of the familiar forest close to their house, everything encircling it was marble, stark white, an otherworldly contrast to the devastation around her.

This cannot be real.

"Is that you, Adela?"

The voice came from behind, and when she turned, she had to look up to meet the gaze of the man who had spoken, a figure almost as tall as her husband. Her breath caught in her throat as she met his eyes. It was Bastian, but something was profoundly different. The scar that marred his eye was absent, and his gaze held a fear that mirrored her own.

"You can see me?" he asked, his bewilderment evident.

She wished she could answer, but as in Varinthia, her voice was gone and she was mute again. Fury welled up in her chest. Had Aldric found a way to reach her once more and taken her away?