"So you're still alive."
The Voice sounded relatively calm, but the surprise beneath her words was impossible to miss.
Simon leaned against a black rock and turned the Murmur Bone slowly between his fingers. The wind moved across the cracked lands around him, carrying thin trails of smoke past the low hills.
"You sound disappointed."
A quiet breath came through the Bone.
"The carrier and the cases were swallowed by a Half-Step Abyssal Beast. The ambush collapsed, the convoy returned to Velmora, and you remained silent for more than two days." Her voice became slightly colder. "What conclusion did you expect me to reach?"
"That your people failed."
The red lines beneath the Murmur Bone brightened, and Simon could almost feel her temper rising through the artifact.
"I'll choose to ignore your words."
She paused.
"Since you're currently talking to me... It's either you escaped whatever happened on that road, or you were never in danger to begin with."
