Isla looked at Elion with a deadpan expression on her face, "That was not what I expected you to say."
"It is real," Elion continued. "You are real, your brother is real, your mother is real. Every person living in Haven, every soldier who died during the war, every demon, every village, every city, every memory you have…" He paused. "All of it is real."
Isla watched him silently, trying to make sense of what he was trying to say.
Elion continued, "But this world is also part of something larger."
A faint crease formed between her brows. "What does that mean?"
"This place exists inside a trial," he said. "A world created, preserved, or trapped inside some kind of larger system. I do not understand every detail myself, and I am not going to pretend that I do, but I know that I was sent here from somewhere else."
Isla stared at him.
For several long seconds, she said nothing, and then she laughed lightly. It was a quiet, uncertain sound, "You are joking, right?"
