Juen stumbled and fell. The ground clutched at her, trying to keep her down on the damp forest floor. She dragged herself up and resumed her weary trek.
How long had she been here? Her body trembled with fatigue as she pushed past grasping branches. She had to keep moving. But to where?
Why?
The whispers mocked her struggles. “Little queen,” they hissed. “Weak, useless.”
Were they her thoughts? Things she had tried to disbelieve, to pretend weren’t the truth?
You think you can stand against him? You think you could be the Hero?
She didn’t want to be the Hero. He was the hero, she needed him to be the Hero.
But he hadn’t wanted it, either. The weight of it crushed him. But what choice did he have? He had never been given a choice at all.
She fell again and lay panting on the dirt. It took all her strength to roll over. She stared into the blackness beyond the mists.
She could not continue on, no matter how desperately he needed her. She had failed him for the last time.
The ground was cold. It seeped into her body, numbing her.
A relief, even as it burned. A relief to not feel anymore, to dull the anger and frustration she dragged behind her.
She closed her eyes. How long until she was one of them? Another voice lost in the mist, lost in this nothingness?
“Found you!”
The voice grated, latching into her mind and dragging it back from the darkness. She grimaced, that fiery numbness retreating. Light cut through the mists, warming her.
“Come on, fair and square!”
Juen opened her eyes. A young girl stood over her. She grinned, a lower tooth missing. “Your turn!”
The girl scampered away. The brilliant red of her dress flickered between the trunks of the dead trees. “Come and catch me!”
“Wait!” Juen croaked. She dragged herself over. “Wait, it’s not safe!”
The girl’s laughter echoed, cascading until it was cacophonous. Juen grit her teeth, muscles burning as she forced herself to her feet. “Come back!”
The laughter cut off in a terrible scream. Juen ran as fast as she could, the branches tearing at her clothes and skin.
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