Chapter 657

Walking through the wastelands, Reed’s consciousness ebbed away like a retreating tide. In the final instant before darkness consumed him, his vision filled with searing light.

The noon sun poured down, flooding the sky in blazing gold. Out of that radiance a silver-white AV glided silently, its streamlined hull shimmering almost translucent under the glare, as if not forged from metal at all but condensed from pure light.

When the hatch opened, light spilled like a torrent. A tall figure stepped forth, draped in a flowing white coat whose folds rippled with a faint glow, every crease shimmering as if alive. His face was veiled in brilliance—Reed could glimpse only fragments: the sharp bridge of a nose, thin pressed lips, and a pair of… a pair of eyes that seemed to pierce the soul.