Grandma Sianode stood with them, looking down at the pit of white bones beneath the dune. Her body trembled, and then, leaning on her cane, she slowly sat down on the sand dune.
Her cane fell onto the sand as she covered her face and began to sob.
"Grandma, what's wrong?"
Only after asking did Shade realize how foolish the question was. Of course Grandma Sianode was grieving at the sight of so many of her kin dying so tragically.
But the truth was even more complicated than he had imagined.
"These, these are all elves of the Moon Creek Clan. I saw it—the necklace, that scar, and the resonance of our bloodline. I left them behind to wait while I went with the others to seek a new place to settle. They were all children, all young people. How could this... how could this happen?"
She spoke through broken sobs, and Shade could understand only fragments of what she said.
"But no matter how you think about it, this must be fake. How could so many elves appear together in this desert, and how could we just happen to find them?"
Shade tried to comfort her from the side. He glanced at the silent Ms. Meister, then attempted to help Grandma Sianode to her feet.
"This is an illusion. Even if the other elves of the Moon Creek Clan really met with misfortune, their remains should not be here. This desert isn't a Graveyard, nor is it some unavoidable road leading to death. Clearly, all of this is false."
Logically speaking, a Thirteenth Order Witch should not have been so easily mentally crushed. So it was obvious that this illusion had been tailored specifically for her, while Shade could not sense the deeper mental contamination.
His comforting words indeed