Sophie was waiting for me down below, frantically waving from a copse of ponderosa pine, the ground at her feet blanketed in pink and white flowers.
I zipped down the slope, desperate to reach her. But the closer I got, the more transparent she became.
She was fading away, and we hadn’t even gotten the chance to talk.
“Sophie, wait!” I called out. “Don’t go!”
But it was too late. By the time I reached the woods, she’d vanished entirely.
Had she even been here at all? Maybe it was just a vivid hallucination brought on by my fatigue and dehydration.
I sagged against one of the ponderosa pines, breathing in the sweet, butterscotch aroma of its bark. At least I was out of the heat.
The forest ahead was silent—a calm oasis in this harsh, inhospitable place. I turned to look over my shoulder, hoping the demons hadn’t seen me slip into the woods. But they were nowhere in sight. None of it was. The fiery, barren land I’d been traversing for days was just… gone. Behind me was more forest, stretching on for miles and miles.
The Shadowrealm was much more vast and complex than I’d ever imagined.
Whether or not Sophie’s spirit had guided me here, I figured I might as well continue on in the direction I was heading. I took a step forward, clearing the copse of ponderosa.
The sight before me nearly brought me to my knees.
Surrounded by the same pink and white flowers I’d seen beneath the trees, a serene, glassy lake glistened ahead, beckoning me forward.
With a burst of renewed hope, I jogged over to the edge and waded in up to my ankles, then my knees, tears of gratitude stinging my eyes as the cool, healing water soothed my damaged skin. Inch by inch I sank down, squishing my toes into the muddy bottom, letting the waterline graze my lips.
It was a struggle not to gulp it all in, but I didn’t want to get sick. I sipped it slowly, letting the water replenish me. It was clean and pure and cool, but unlike water out of the tap back home, this had other properties.
Maybe it was another trick, maybe even one more dangerous than a hallucination, but Ifeltthe water healing my wounds, my skin tingling as it knit itself back together. Inside, the water quenched my thirst, filling me up and giving me strength. The hunger that had gnawed holes into my stomach faded into a dull ache hardly worth noticing. And everything in my mind sharpened, clarified.
Feeling renewed, I leaned backward and floated effortlessly, gazing up at the sky. No longer dark and miserable, it was a stunning sapphire blue, bright and cloudless. There was no sun that I could see, but everything about it felt like a sunny, beautiful day.
I could stay here forever, just floating…
I relaxed my arms and legs, my eyelids growing heavy. A gentle breeze kissed my cheeks, carrying with it the scents of lavender and lilac. The combination seemed familiar to me, but I couldn’t quite place it. My mother’s perfume, maybe? A garden from my childhood?
No matter. I didn’t need to know. Or remember. Or think. Or exist.
I just needed to drift. Drift away like smoke on the breeze. Or maybe I would just become water. It was already happening—I could feel it, cell by cell, starting in my toes. They were disappearing into the lake. My legs would be next. Then my torso. My arms. Everything.
I should’ve been frightened, or at least startled, but I wasn’t.
This… this was meant to be. I’d found my place. My purpose.
Mindlessly, I began to chant, whispering the mantra as if I’d heard it a thousand times.
I am the water, the water is me
I am the water, the water is me
I am the water
Water
Water
Water...
No, Gray… You’re lingering too long. You can’t!
