Right, [ Matt murmurs. ] Which ... I guess it comes back down to what you believe about whether our worlds are gone for good, on one level. But there should be a way to design a spell to ask basically--

Is this person alive, in the afterlife, or undetectable. Not sure about how to refine the latter to rule out--for instance, let's say everyone the dark has taken is actually in a magical cage, and it's warded so a casual scry wouldn't let you see into it. That might show up the same as "annihilated for good."

I'll have to think about it.