Veliona's lips curved slightly, but there was no amusement in her eyes. "Making their lives worse than death would've been more satisfying, but finishing it this cleanly does save trouble."
Before she had finished speaking.
Bronya had already deftly torn away the tape covering Seele's mouth and nose.
Veliona pressed her urgently. "Can you talk now? Hurry, tell me, what exactly am I..."
The air froze for a second.
The girl's lips trembled, and the voice that emerged was broken and shrill:
"A... a demon..."
Those words pierced Veliona's mind like an icicle.
"What did you say?"
The girl curled into a ball and broke down sobbing:
"A devil! Stay away! Please, stay away from me!"
Veliona's eyes widened, and even her voice shook.
"A demon... you mean... me?"
The scene abruptly cut.
Bronya opened her eyes.
Before her lay utterly silent ruins.
A burnt smell crept into her nostrils.
It wasn't just the smell of wood reduced to ashes.
There was flesh, too.
That sickly sweetness of flesh roasted by intense heat mingled with the thick smoke, making her throat tighten.
This scene was far too familiar.
So familiar that a chill seeped into the very crevices of her bones.
The snowfields of Siberia had smelled like this back then, too.
Her parents had been reduced to ashes in just such a hellish scene.
No.
Bronya frowned slightly.
The whispers carried on the wind were in German.
What she felt beneath her feet wasn't frozen earth, either, but sticky, scorching asphalt.
This isn't a dream.
Dreams don't have pain and logic this clear.
Ahead, a figure in blue staggered to his feet.
His face was full of bewilderment, making him look especially out of place in this devastated world.
He looked down at his hands, then around him, his