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Ä̴̘́m̵͎͂E̶̘͛ẗ̶̬Ḫ̸͒y̶̜͑ș̵̄t̶̢̓

She felt so light, like a feather. Like the lightest breeze would lift her off her feet.

Nightmares had been flooding over her for weeks. Visions of death and destruction, and a man with dark blue eyes lunging at her. This was probably no different, and she would probably wake up screaming, her bed soaking with sweat. It was always the same.

Yes, she knew she was in a dream. Nothing she had ever seen before even compared to the beauty of the city that stood in front of her. Greenery, laughter, even organic animals strolling across the street, birds flying overhead - it took her breath away. It wasn't Cilyber, but it was. Yet she knew she was in a dream, and she knew something was going to go wrong.

It was just a matter of time.

Then, as if on cue, the Barrier began to flicker. People screamed on the streets, and Ä̴̘́m̵͎͂E̶̘͛ẗ̶̬Ḫ̸͒y̶̜͑ș̵̄t̶̢̓  's blood froze, becoming ice in her spine. Then the Barrier was gone.

A wave of what seemed to be pure energy drifted through. One by one, the screams faltered, then stopped completely. The trees withered and shriveled. Birds dropped like stones.

The city was as barren as the lands surrounding it. No life, no civilization, no people.

'What's better, risking your life to see what's beyond the Barrier? Or dying in Cilyber by the hands of a murderer? Or perhaps you'd like to be hunted down by the devil with blue eyes?'

'It's death,' she thought back at the voice inside her head. She had come to think of that voice as her conscience, a part of her that corrected her when she was wrong. 'Past the Barrier is death.'

'You're not entirely wrong. Lives will be lost, but not yours. In fact, it ensures your survival.'

'Let's say I agree. How do I get past the Barrier?'

'You have a couple of friends that will help you with that. But they're sending out distress signals. They're in grave, GRAVE danger right now.'

'Well, if they're friends, we should help them, right?'

'The best thing we can do now is lay low until it's over. If it's ever over. Because going down there would be walking directly into the dragon's mouth. No pun intended.'

Ä̴̘́m̵͎͂E̶̘͛ẗ̶̬Ḫ̸͒y̶̜͑ș̵̄t̶̢̓  rolled her eyes. She didn't care that the city around her was now ruins, she knew it was all just a nightmare. And she refused to let her own brain, her own visions, scare her.

"I'd like to leave," she said calmly.

Nothing happened. She closed her eyes, thinking hard, channeling her thoughts, and threw them at the city. Everything went dark, and she knew she was finally waking.

Back to a normal day at her normal job. Possibly her last.

................

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