I-

[ No, but that hits close to home. How does he know what he knows is real? Does he? Even the visions that seem like they have to have been true — that part of him is sure is true, down to the marrow of his bones, have this... quality to them. Like they, too, are hiding something. Something he doesn't want to see. Or maybe, that he can't see, and it's only now, in the clarity of this world seeming like a stage to him that he can even reckon with that thought. ]

[ He stumbles backwards, the sword drops out of his hand onto the slick cobblestone as he clutches his head. He shakes it. ]

I... maybe I don't know that. [ It's a quiet admission, one he might have to reckon with later. ] Maybe I don't know that. But how do you makes sense of the things people see? The objects that no one's ever seen before? The things people can do after they've had these visions?

And more than that... can't you feel it? All month, it's been bothering me. I usually go out of town for something, everyone wants something from outside Aldrip. But no one does. And I couldn't leave if I wanted.

[ His head hurts as he pushes that to its logical conclusion. ] No one's trying to leave. No one wants to leave. Because we can't!