She opened her eyes, her fists clenching almost instinctively.
"But there's always a way out. Perhaps it was some coincidence of fate that brought me to that Raven."
It was like a dream.
Or rather.
It had happened in one of her dreams. She had seen the jet-black raven land on her shoulder, seen each of his dark feathers.
She hadn't known what he was, or who he was.
Yet in front of him.
For the first time, she had utterly broken down in tears. She hadn't even known why she had suddenly become so fragile. Or perhaps the string that had stayed taut through the deaths of countless sisters had finally snapped.
All she remembered was telling Raven so much in that dream. She had kept crying, kept asking.
Where was their Monarch?
Did he really exist?!
If he did, had he ever heard their prayers? Had he ever seen the endless death beyond that gate?!
But she had been destined to receive no answers.
Because he was merely a raven in a dream.
And those questions...
Had she really been asking Raven, or herself...?
She had known that once she opened her eyes, reality would come crashing down on her again. She would learn how many more sisters had died this time, how many of the younger generation had fallen one after another, swallowed by the tide of war.
But what she had never imagined was this.
Raven had spoken.
She still remembered her stunned expression then, remembered the feathers fluttering around her as Raven circled her in her dream.
"If you already have the answer in your heart, why bother asking?"
"I..."
"In truth, you've never cared whether he really exists. You grieve for the sisters beside you. You stayed for them, and you mourn their deaths,