The moment she stepped out of the swamp, a soft breeze brushed against her face, the familiar scent of the outside world filling her senses. She blinked, expecting to see a world drastically different from the one she left, perhaps aged or unfamiliar, but to her surprise... nothing had changed.
The world was exactly as she had left it.
The grass still swayed in the gentle wind, the sky remained the same shade of blue, and the trees in the distance stood tall and proud, untouched by the passage of time. It was as if no time at all had passed beyond the swamp's borders. Arpious paused, glancing back at the swamp behind her, feeling the weight of the witch's time-warped domain still clinging faintly to her.
For a moment, she was frozen in disbelief. But then, she let out a soft laugh, the absurdity of it all washing over her. Runa's warning about time had felt like a looming threat, but here, in the real world, nothing had changed.
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