It began again, as it always did.

  Liana darted through the verdant glade, the lunging creatures in pursuit. Summoning her [Power Strike], she landed a heavy blow, sending a creature flying into a tree trunk where it splattered red.

  Around her, the ground was littered with the bodies of monstrous creatures, their twin tails limp, their forehead gems dull and lifeless. "I had no particular plan on taking you bastards on, but since you've chosen this, let's do it," she declared, facing the remaining dog-like beasts. Channeling her SP into [Wind Cutter], she sent a blade of wind toward one of the creatures, hearing its miserable cry as it flew back.

  Liana dashed toward the injured Greathund, anticipating the crimson explosion from the other creature. Crossing her arms into an X, she activated [Shield Block] and [Lesser Body Damage Mitigation]. The explosion propelled her backward, but she quickly recovered and lunged at its author, shattering its forehead gem and sending it crashing against the other one.

  With a powerful kick powered by [Increased Delivery], she struck them both, feeling the earth tremble with the force of her blow. Silence returned to the glade, broken only by her heavy breathing and the rustling of leaves. She walked out of the sticky puddle of blood, grumbling about the mess but noting the level-up notification.

  Liana retrieved her clothes and left the corpses behind, heading deeper into the woods to wash herself at a brook. The sense of something strange hit her again, but she dismissed it and continued gathering the blue berries she needed, creating a makeshift pouch from her skirt.

  Emerging into a vast meadow, she made her way to the old wooden house. As she approached the house, Bufford, the old family dog, greeted her. She knelt down to pat him, accidentally spilling some berries.

  Standing at the doorstep, she felt that familiar sense of wrongness. "It's a dream," I whispered, realizing I was reliving the nightmare once more. But this time, something was different. Instead of waiting for the dream to shatter, she decided to do something she had never done before.

  With a deep breath, I reached out and opened the door. Nothing particular happened as the door swung open. The room it revealed didn't seem to have anything particularly noticeable. In fact, the most striking thing was how perfectly it replicated my memory, the walls, the carpet at my feet, the old furniture, everything was just as I remembered it.

  As I stepped inside, I heard footsteps coming from one of the three rooms of the house, the kitchen. A woman emerged, looking like she stepped straight out of a memory. She was dressed in a simple brown tunic, her hair long and dark. Despite being in her thirties, she looked like she could be mistaken for a woman in her early twenties. She held a broom in her hand, looking surprised or perhaps relieved to see me.

  "My, you're finally back," she said, closing in on me, but as she did her expression suddenly changed. "Lord, what's that smell?"

  "Smell?" I replied defensively.

  "Yes the—It's you, you smell like a wet dog," she said, sniffing around me without any tact. "Where have you been? You’ve been missing for hours."

  I hesitated before slightly raising the hem of my skirt, showing the berries I had gathered. "To gather berries?"

  She nodded. "That doesn't explain the—" she began, only to be interrupted by a voice from the adjacent room, the sleeping area.

  "Berries!? Is Liana back, Mom?" the voice called out. Before anyone could confirm, a ten-year-old boy emerged from the room, running towards us.

  The boy, obviously the son of the woman, had the same dark hair and a similarly lively spark in his eyes. As he ran towards us, his foot caught on the uneven floor, causing him to stumble and fall. The woman immediately rushed over, scolding him as she helped him up. "I told you time and time again to stop running around."

  The boy began to cry, but the woman didn't give him the chance. "Did you forget what happened last time already? Do you want your arm to be bent like that again? Do you want Liana to pop it back like she did back then?"

  The boy looked in my direction before shaking his head. "No?" she asked, wiping his tears. "Then stop running around carelessly. You're gonna get hurt. Now, are you hurt anywhere?"

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  He shook his head, and she reached to pat his head. "No? As expected of my little warrior."

  "I'm not a warrior, I'm a magician," he retorted innocently.

  The woman chuckled, messing with his hair as Bufford, the old dog, joined the duo. "Alright, alright, Little Mister Magician."

  Watching this sight, I began to wonder what had kept me from opening that door before. In this recurrent nightmare, I always refrained from stepping past the entrance. Why did I dare to today? Why had I never done it before?

  Each time, I would regain control at the door, and often, with some luck, extract myself from the dream. But today, something compelled me to cross that threshold. What was it I wondered.

  Lost in my introspection, I didn't notice the woman and boy staring at me. They stood there, their full attention on me. It was then that the world around me began to shift, as if I were about to wake from this dream. The familiar sensation of the dreamscape dissolving was upon me. But instead of waking, the world abruptly changed, taking me to a place I knew all too well.

  I had not one but two recurrent nightmares. The first involved me, as Liana, leveling up in those woods, cleaning myself up, gathering berries, and returning to the old house, always stopping at the entrance where I would regain control and, if lucky, wake myself up. The other nightmare was different. It was a dream where, like for the most part of the first one, I was a mere observer, incapable of doing anything but wait for it to end.

  In that moment, as the shift occurred, I transitioned from a lucid dreamwalker to a completely helpless observer to a terrible.

  ***

  I woke from the nightmare with a start, the memories of my past life as Liana still vivid in my mind. I looked around and sighed in relief at the familiar sight of my room in the Seagull's Nest. I was back in the real world.

  Pushing my hair back, I muttered to myself, "Can't catch a break, can I?"

  With a kick, I freed myself from the sweat-drenched blanket, got out of bed, and walked to the window. Opening it, I realized it wasn't as early as I'd hoped. I decided to take a bath before joining the others for breakfast.

  After a refreshing bath, I exited my room and headed to the lobby. At our usual spot, I found Dungeon Master 09 sitting alone, fidgeting and swinging his legs back and forth. The sight made me heave a sigh of relief, quickly replaced by genuine joy. I greeted the owner and his daughter, then joined Dungeon Master 09 at his table.

  "Hi," he greeted me.

  "Hi, slept well?" I asked with a smile.

  Dungeon Master 09 nodded. "You?"

  "I slept, that's for sure." Not wanting to delve into my nightmares, I addressed the obvious absence. "Where's he?"

  "He said he had something to deal with, so he left early after breakfast."

  "I see... Did he say anything in particular?"

  "To not go outside without him."

  "Why am I not even surprised," I sighed, then chuckled amusingly. "That means we won't be going out today."

  Dungeon Master 09 nodded.

  "You said he left after breakfast. That means you already got your breakfast, right?"

  Dungeon Master 09 shook his head. "I wanted to wait for you."

  Pleasantly surprised, I remained silent for a moment before saying with a genuine smile, "I see, you must be very hungry then." I turned to make my order to the owner behind the counter, then looked back at Dungeon Master 09. I noticed something about his expression that told me he had something to say.

  "Is there something the matter?" I asked.

  Dungeon Master 09 hesitated for a moment before speaking. "This morning, while waiting for you, I heard a gossip."

  "A gossip? About what?"

  "Early this morning, people fished out corpses from the harbor."

  "Oh, that's terrible. I wonder what happened."

  "People at the harbor said the men had been seen hanging around suspiciously since the night before, so it's believed to be a suicide."

  "A suicide? I wonder what could have led three grown men to do something like that."

  "I wonder too," Dungeon Master 09 said with a solemn expression, I could tell, mimicking Dungeon Master 07.

  "Have you heard anything else?" I asked.

  He nodded. "This one happened yesterday. A man was found hanging in his room at a local inn."

  "Another suicide, I suppose."

  "It seems so," he said, trying to maintain his solemn expression.

  Looking him straight in the eyes, I said, "I can't imagine what could lead someone to do something as terrible as suicide, but they must have had something they couldn't live with." Seeing Dungeon Master 09 at his limit, I averted my gaze as Sophina arrived with our breakfast.

  It was then that he could no longer hold it in.

  At first, it was a small chuckle, but soon we were both laughing heartily. Sophina, not knowing the cause of our laughter, joined in with a smile. Little did she know, she was joining us in laughing at the death of four men.

  After the girl left, Dungeon Master 09 managed to calm down, trying to regulate his breaths while I wiped my tears.

  "I realized I never said thank you for what you did," he said with genuine gratitude.

  "And you don't have to," I replied, stirring my milk tea with my fork. From the bottom of my heart, I added, "I would do that to anyone daring to put a finger on you, Leo."

  Dungeon Master 09 looked puzzled. "Leo?"

  "Did I say that? Don't mind it."

  He seemed still for a moment, but soon forgot as he dug into his breakfast.

  Enjoying our meal, we were nearly finished when a familiar silhouette entered the lobby. The man approached us directly. Looking into his green eyes, I greeted, "Good morning, Dungeon Master 07."

  He glanced at Dungeon Master 09, who focused on his food, avoiding eye contact. "Good morning. It's a good thing I caught you two here. I have something to announce."

  "Oh, what is it?" I asked.

  "We're leaving Miriandelle."