The news was startling, to say the least. Claude's eyes would have widened if they hadn't been covered up, but instead he visibly straightened, mouth opening a little at the news. Guy and the others had been sent to Auldrant?

Considering how he'd wound up on the Calnus along with Dad and Gilbert, maybe that alone wasn't so unexpected. But the rest of the story was surprising -- why would they not be able to interact with their surroundings, almost like ghosts or something? That wasn't like what happened to him. After all, he still recalled the way the stations on the bridge felt under his fingers, and the coolness of the floor as he collapsed onto it. Not that it was impossible to make someone think they were somewhere they really weren't, but the inconsistency was still odd.

"Wow, that must have been...really strange for you," Claude quietly said. He wondered why Landel would set it up that way when it was clear he had the means to let people at least touch their surroundings. Maybe it was supposed to demoralize them, but wouldn't you just run the risk of strengthening people's resolve to get back home? "And you actually saw people there?"