Feeling slightly irritated, I turned back to the girl running through the field. Was this all just some kind of game of Elaya’s? I had been worried sick about her and all the damage she’d done. If she thought I was alive, why did she kill herself? What was going on in this dungeon?
I had no particular feelings about the little girl. Was she Elaya? I honestly couldn’t tell. She had a hood up covering her head, and a large brown cloak covering her body. She ran through the grass, which came up to her knees. This caused her to trip several times. The reason I couldn’t feel any sympathy for her was that she was in the field. The field was an illusion projected on the wall, so she was nothing more than an illusion, a movie playing in front of me.
I heard a screech in the night and I reached for Alysia, only to remember that she was still outside the dungeon. I didn’t know what would happen if I was in the dungeon and she was outside given our bond through the blessing. It turned out it wasn’t too dissimilar to what happens when I separate from a slave. There was slight discomfort, and I wasn’t completely sure if one of us died, what would happen to the other, but for the moment it didn’t seem to be a problem.
I brought out Xin’s sword just to be cautious. I also took a few steps forward, trying to get a clearer view of the girl running through the field. This had to be some kind of memory from Elaya’s childhood. If she wanted me to see this, then I suppose I’d need to watch it. I was looking past the girl, trying to see what was chasing her. It had sounded like some kind of animal. As she got closer, I could barely hear her panting as she raced forward clumsily. There were more screeches following her.
I continued walking, and the rain started to fall faster and faster. The harder it fell, the more it hampered my vision, and the darker the world around me became. It was at a point where it seemed like the visibility was dropping just as fast as the girl ran, to the point that anything beyond the girl became complete darkness. She was running toward the cobblestone path, but her route was nearly parallel to me, so although she got a little closer, we were moving alongside each other.
Although she was running, she was a short little girl, and my stride was able to keep up with hers, especially since she was forcing her way through the grass and occasionally tripping while looking back behind her.
I had activated White Mage’s Light, but the distance it took effect didn’t help much at all. I just couldn’t see any more. I didn’t know how long I walked beside the running little girl as she grew closer and closer. It might have been five minutes, or twenty. I was getting a feeling that time in this place wasn’t running even.
“Raaa!” A creature shouted immediately to her right.
The girl spun and stumbled back. My eyes widened as she stumbled onto the cobblestone path and then backed up right into me. I could feel the impact of this girl. She was there. More alarming, she let out a cry and spun around. She stared at my legs and then her eyes slowly went up to my head, her mouth dropping. She had a frightened expression on her face as she fell back onto her butt.
“Wh-who are you?” She spoke through a broken voice, her teeth chattering.
Apparently, this was an interactive movie.