About two hours passed. Time in this world stretched unevenly, like thick molasses. Eni sat on her knees, her fingers clawed into the withered grass. Her vision was gradually returning: blurred spots coalesced into the outlines of trees and the shimmering surface of the river, but dark specks still danced before her eyes. Her body shook with a fine, unceasing tremor.

  "I can't... I just can't..." she whispered, every word interrupted by a ragged, pathetic sob. Dirt mixed with the tears on her cheeks, staining her face and the collar of her once-flawless uniform.

  "Eni... I sincerely feel sorry for you," the Voice spoke. In its tone, strange, almost incompatible feelings intertwined: feigned pity and a hidden, pulsing joy. "But look at it from another perspective... You've become stronger. Your body absorbed the fury you showed there, in the darkness."

  Eni froze. She slowly raised her head, staring into nowhere with eyes red from tears. "Wh-what?" her voice cracked into a rasp. She didn't understand this twisted logic. "I... I was almost killed. They smashed my head, I went blind from the pain! And you... you're talking about some kind of power?!"

  Anger began to slowly push out fear, spreading through her chest in a hot wave. "I don't know who I am! I don't understand where I am! I don't know this world, I don't know anything!" she screamed, her voice breaking as she shouted into the empty sky. "And instead of preparing me somehow, you just throw me into this hell! You watch me suffer!"

  "NO," the Voice suddenly became thunderous, cutting off her hysteria with an icy cold. There was no more sympathy in it, only an accusing, dry truth. "YOU were the one who went there. YOU decided to go down to the lower level, ignoring my warnings. And YOU, with your empty overconfidence, almost lost your life. I only pointed the way, Eni. The decisions were yours."

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Something clicked in Eni's head. The accusation hit its mark, making her choke on her own outrage. The Voice waited through the pause and then softened again, turning into an enveloping, understanding whisper: "Mgha... yes... I understand. You're in pain. It's unbearably hard for you. But the fact remains: you survived where hundreds of others could have fallen. You've become stronger. It's hard to explain in words—it's not the kind of strength you can see in a mirror—but your 'Power' has started to progress. I can feel it."

  "B-but... I... I wasn't ready," Eni covered her face with her hands, and her shoulders started shaking again. "I want to eat... I want to drink... I'm so deadly tired! You don't even try to really help me! You just talk!"

  The Voice was silent for a long time. In that silence, only the chirping of some insects and the distant, mournful howl of the wind could be heard. Finally, it spoke—insinuatingly and almost tragically: "I understand you, Eni. But you need to become stronger right now, so that later you can live better. Once... there was a girl, just like you, who also didn't want to fight. She only wanted peace. And she died. An ordinary wolf tore her apart because she refused to accept the power of this world. I just want to help you, so you don't repeat her fate. So you don't become just another bone in this earth."

  Eni didn't answer. She sat motionless, staring at the river. The Voice's words about "that girl" caused a strange pang in her—part pity, part envy toward the one whose suffering had already ended. Her stomach twisted with a sharp, spasmodic hunger. The rumbling in her empty stomach was humiliating.

  She slowly got up, walked to the water's edge, and crouching by the bank, began to drink the salty, bitter water again. She choked, spitting out slippery mud and sand, grimacing at the disgusting taste, but kept swallowing, because she had no other life.

  Wiping her mouth with a dirty sleeve, Eni stood up straight. She adjusted her uniform. Her gaze became dry, almost dead. "Anyway, I lost the axe," she said firmly, looking at the dark entrance of the bunker, which no longer seemed like prey to her. "No point going back down. I'm moving on. To explore this cursed world."

  "Good," the Voice replied with a hint of wise, almost respectful approval. "It's your choice, Eni. And I'll be there to guide you..."