The sky of the Nightmare World shifted as it always did. Amid its endless absurdities, there was a side that remained ordinary and orderly, yet in seemingly normal corners, bizarre wonders were laid out for all to see. From another perspective, a so-called miracle was simply something extraordinary that defied common sense.
Before Ruger, the petite girl watched the blazing campfire and its wildly dancing flames. Her lips held a perfectly measured smile, even as tears streamed uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes.
The girl said nothing more, and neither did Ruger or Layden.
In that strange atmosphere, the two men lowered their heads and attended to their respective tasks.
Ruger pondered with his head lowered. In this peculiar atmosphere, the little girl sitting diagonally opposite him actually seemed a little more human. It was a feeling he could not quite describe, as though she had become more real.
In truth, he was already quite certain of the answer.
He kept his head down, letting his thoughts wander.
Perhaps she had been more willing to give things up than anyone had imagined, even beyond what her original self had anticipated. That resolve and daring had come from countless years of solitary contemplation, and she had known that she had only one chance-this one chance. Rather than defeating her original self, or preventing her revival, what she wanted was a new life, and that was where she had devoted more of her attention.
Ruger thought of one possibility.
To her original self's shock, she had abandoned everything, abandoned both versions of herself, then used the spell dream to dream in reverse. With the arrangements in the tower and the tree roots, she had projected herself beyond the dream, reshaped her body, and used the Nightmare World to give birth to