It was inside a dream.
Rellia was walking somewhere.
"...."
Her steps seemed very weary. Realizing this was a dream, she looked down at her own body.
She saw arms far thinner and dirtier than in reality. It wasn't just her arms. Her legs too were covered with wounds.
Moreover, her body had no strength at all, making even walking slowly a struggle.
'What is this? Where am I going?'
Even though she was aware it was a dream, moving her body as she wished was impossible.
It was a dark night with even the moonlight hidden behind clouds.
Rellia walked through the dark forest like that for a while.
The place she arrived at was in front of a pond in the woods, quite a distance from the tower where she had been staying.
It was a small pond, but like a swamp, its depth was difficult to gauge. Rellia stood before that pond for a moment.
'...What am I trying to do?'
Rellia, aware that this was a dream, began to feel an inexplicable sense of anxiety. The surrounding atmosphere was gloomy, making her feel even stranger.
Rellia's body, which had been staring vacantly at the darkened sky, soon leaned its head over the pond to look at its own reflection.
As the moonlight hidden in the clouds emerged, the face reflected in the pond was revealed.
'...!'
Rellia's eyes reflected in the pond were as hollow as if they were empty. Like a person without a soul.
Seeing those eyes so completely different from her current self, Rellia felt goosebumps rising.
It was at that moment. Rellia extended one foot over the pond.
'Wait, surely not...'
The hesitation was fleeting.
Rellia threw her body into the pond herself.
'No...! Save me!'
She thrashed about trying to get out of the water, but her body seemed to have no will left to breathe.
Water seeped into her mouth and nose like waves.
Like that, her breathing slowly grew fainter, and only gurgling air bubbles rose to the surface.
The pond was very deep and dark. Her body calmly accepted that darkness.