I felt lightheaded when I finally woke up. Physically, I felt no pain or discomfort whatsoever. Mentally, I was beyond exhausted.

I let out a soft mewl as my eyes cracked open.

“Renee! You’re okay!” a somewhat familiar voice called.

I turned my head and as my vision adjusted to the light, a blond-haired girl with pointy ears appeared in my field of view. The dirty rags she used to wear were gone and so was the filth that had once covered her hair. She now wore a simple tee and pants.

“Wi…?” I murmured as the door to the room clicked and several other people came into the room.

“Renee! Oh my god, I thought you were gonna die!” Frank shouted.

“Thank god you’re fine…” Casey said with a shudder. “I thought the healing potions didn’t work.”

“I’m so sorry for… For running away like an idiot,” Wi said with a sob. “I’m so glad that you didn’t die because of me…”

I blinked.

“I did die,” I corrected her without thinking.

Everyone in the room froze, eyes widening.

I slowly reached up and grabbed the collar of my shirt, remembering the item that had been there.

“Cracked my skull on a rock… when I fell,” I muttered, the horror of remembering that event making my hand shake.

“Wha– But… How…” Frank tripped over his words, failing to form the sentence.

“Phoenix Amulet,” I explained. “I died and it brought me back…”

I closed my eyes as a shudder ran through my body.

“I died…” I mumbled pathetically.

I couldn’t help the tears and sobs that followed.

Going on a dangerous adventure was one thing. Injuries happened here and there, that was a given. But actually dying just… made me realize how much I’d been playing with fire. It made me realize how much of a reckless idiot I had been. The fact that, for some reason, the sheer excitement of the situation had overpowered any fear or apprehension I’d had when faced with a dangerous situation didn’t help matters.

Did I regret running after Wi and saving her from an almost certain death…? No, not at all. But it still didn’t change the fact that I had died doing so. Sure, it didn’t stick but…

Ugh…

Someone was patting my head while someone else gently held my hand. I didn’t fight it. I cried my heart out. Emptied all my accumulated emotions.

Part of me felt pathetic for crying like this. Like it wasn’t appropriate… But screw that part of me. I had literally died and now I was distressed.

Remembering the cave part of the whole ordeal didn’t help either. The dream had turned out to be prophetic, in the end. But the worst part was that the dream had ended just before I would have been hit by the acid spit and… probably died.

The dream had warned me about my death, hadn’t it? And I had only managed to avoid it because I had seen the dream. Because I had been too scared of not knowing what was going to happen to close my eyes back then.

It took a good while for me to calm down again. Casey’s soothing murmurs helped immensely. As did Elyssa’s hand patting my head.

Eventually, my mind turned away from the horror of what had happened and I began to think of the implications of having dreams that supposedly prophesied my death.

If that was what they were, then why hadn’t I dreamt about falling down a cliff and smashing my head on a rock? Was it because I hadn’t really died back then? Or had whatever dictated these dreams decided on a random instance of me dying to give me a vision of?

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

What about the first dream with the octopus? Was Casey’s blast of magic supposed to kill me, after all? Or was that dream about something else entirely?

I let out a sigh as I finally relaxed. Then, I slowly opened my eyes. The tears had long dried off but I still lifted a hand to wipe my face off.

I didn’t meet anyone’s gaze, feeling a bit too embarrassed for breaking down like that despite having a good reason for it.

“So…” I rasped before clearing my throat and trying again. “So, what did I miss…?”

Casey sighed.

“Well… when you disappeared through the teleportation circle, I went back and told the others about it–” she began.

Apparently, after grabbing some of the items we had brought from RLO to test there, Frank and Elyssa had gone into the forest to search for us while Casey had stayed at the castle in case we came back.

Elyssa was strong enough that they didn’t have to worry about the forest’s monsters, but the two still couldn’t find us in the dense woods.

After Wi and I had come back to the castle and run around to avoid the spider, and Casey had gone ahead to lower the bridge for us, she’d heard Wi’s scream and immediately rushed around the castle in the other direction, only to find Wi with a broken arm and leg on the ground right beside the steep cliff.

Luckily, she had brought some potions with her and healed Wi with them, while Wi had told Casey about me and the spider falling down, and me going inside the cave.

Casey had then fired off a couple bolts of magic into the air as a sort of flare, prompting Frank and Elyssa to return. The two had quickly returned and Casey had led everyone into the hidden entrance to the caverns underneath the castle. They had then split into two groups, with Casey and Wi going one way while Frank and Elyssa went another and… Well, I knew the rest.

I nodded idly as Casey recounted their point of view. Once she was finished I eyed Wi from the corner of my eye.

“So…” I said leadingly.

Casey sighed, realizing what I was asking.

“We already told Wi everything about… Well, everything. Your portals, my novel, her role in it…” She cringed in on herself, looking away from Wi.

“Huh…” I looked at Wi properly. “And you’re… alright with it?”

I had thought Elyssa was the only one capable of being so nonchalant after being informed that her world was fictional. Was this reaction universal?

“I… I still don’t know what to think,” Wi admitted with a thoughtful frown. “I actually read the story and… it feels crazy, to be honest. But it looks like you’re all telling the truth.”

I idly nodded, reminding myself that considering everything Wi had been through, she had to be used to having her world be flipped upside down.

I let out a sigh.

“Right… So… What now?” I asked as I finally looked around and noted that I was in Casey’s bed in her room. The portal to her novel’s world was still wide open next to her desk. I instinctively cringed as I looked at the portal before realizing how I’d just reacted.

Was I back to hating these things again?

“Well, uh… You’re the great leader! So it depends on you, I think,” Frank said, eyeing my pathetic form. “Buuut… you don’t look half as thrilled about exploring the portals as you did this morning, so…”

I grimaced, hating how true it was.

A thought then occurred to me.

“By the way… how did that editing experiment turn out?” I turned my gaze to Casey who seemed confused for a second before I elaborated. “The chess pieces. The colors. Did you check?”

“Oh, uh. No. I can check later.”

I nodded. Although I was mildly curious, I couldn’t really be bothered to care that much right now.

“Sooo…” Frank said leadingly.

I let out a sigh.

“I think I need a break,” I admitted. “A real one this time. I just… I can’t… It’s been too much. I died, for crying out loud. And my mom doesn’t even know about any of this! If I died for real, what would she even…” I trailed off, my voice getting weak.

I let out another sigh as I shook my head. I didn’t want to have another crying fit.

“Anyway, yeah. I need at least a few days off from this insanity. I can come here to open and close the portal if you want but anything more than that…”

“No, no, that’s fair,” Casey agreed. “And… actually, maybe you don’t even need to come all the way here all the time. You can just keep the portal open.”

I frowned.

“Just keep it open…?”

“Yeah. I mean, my parents will be gone for another week at least, and even if they come sooner, they always let me know in advance, so they shouldn’t suddenly return one day to find the portal,” Casey explained. “And the castle is still abandoned and should be abandoned for the foreseeable future. Well… a few monsters did get inside while the gate was down, but Elyssa took care of them. And if you keep the portal open, we can keep exploring the castle during the day and come back here to sleep for the night.”

Wi and Elyssa nodded. Elyssa, in particular, seemed very eager.

Huh.

“That… Well, alright. I’ll keep the portal open then,” I said with a nod before frowning. “Actually, what time is it, even? How long was I out?”

“About two hours. It’s half past five now,” Frank supplied.

“Right… I guess I should get going then.”

There were some protests. Casey even said I could call my mom about staying the night here, but I refused.

Not that I would mind staying the night, but I wanted to get back home.

I wanted to see my mom. Despite seeing her just earlier today, it felt like so much longer.

Not to mention, it was probably about time I told her about the portals.

And, well… Maybe she even knew something about them. I doubted it, considering how she had reacted when I’d told her about them all those years ago, but maybe I was wrong.

Also, I felt guilty.

I had literally died.

I was the only family she had left, and she would have been devastated if I died for real.

I needed to get myself a new Phoenix Amulet as soon as possible.