~Aurora~

　　I was dazed...fumbled, too.

　　Why was he begging me to wake up!?

　　What is happening with me!?

　　I could feel an external deep breathing creature surrounding our consciousness. It was as if we were in a chest cavity of a giant creature. The decibels have been rising oh so slowly, it made me feel extremely eerie!

　　"Wake up, Aurora. Please. Please!" At his last word, I was being jolted by this imaginary character of Prince Emeric. What is happening!?

　　Why am I imagining Prince Emeric to save me from this peril!? I do not know anything about what is going on with me anymore. But I do want to stop dreaming these endless days of my past repeatedly. I wondered if I will be alright after coming back to reality, to my consciousness again.

　　Will it affect me? Give me trauma that I cannot recover from?

　　Hallucinations change one's personality because of its adverse effects on their mentality. Hallucinations are nothing but glorified mental alterations, as a person explores their deep thoughts and conflicts arise with their own beliefs. Hallucinations...make us introspect ourselves...

　　And that is the scariest part about hallucinations that I have discovered so far.

　　Bookish knowledge is only so limited when it comes to subjective experience of such things.

　　Someone...please...take me back to reality.

　　Confusion was settling in me as I kept experiencing the same things over and over again. This time, Prince Emeric's hallucination character was shaking me by my arms like there was no tomorrow!

　　And then...it all turned quiet.

　　It didn't feel like we were seated in the diaphragm of a huge person anymore. It felt normal, thankfully.

　　The scene has changed too!

　　We were in the middle of the woods, everything was so dark around myself. I was still in my body, but our positions have changed now.

　　Prince Emeric was shaking me aggressively now. The tears on his face and eyes and dried up. Only frustration and anger remain. I could tell...that those emotions were a reflection of what I was exactly feeling at that point.

　　In that moment, I didn't want anything else from Prince Emeric as a figment of my imagination. If this is the representation of my heart and mind, it is way too damn accurate. It makes my skin crawl.

　　"Wake up, Aurora. Don't you know I care too much about you now? Look at how things have turned out to be. I'm here, and I'm here now, guiding you to open your eyes.

　　I know you can hear me, Aurora."

　　His lips...weren't moving.

　　The image of Prince Emeric in my imagination was not speaking, but I could clearly hear his voice from around. It was like a divine guidance, making me fall into this terrible trance of being manipulated by his voice. I wanted to know if I was imagining this...or not.

　　"Wake up, Aurora. It's a hallucination." I'm aware that it is a hallucination. But I truly cannot trust is if my mind is messing with me even with this, or not. I could be hallucinating inside a hallucination. Like dreaming inside a dream that is still going on.

　　This might be layered imagination, and I am not ready to take the risk of following this voice's words.

　　"Aurora...you have to hurt yourself in a way that will scare you. Please. Listen to me. I know you are trapped inside your own body and that you should not be trusting me. But please, listen to me. Hurt yourself. It will wake you up from a trance. You can just imagine. Use your imagination!" His voice had been resounding all over the woods.

　　"No...I don't trust myself with imagination any more, Prince Emeric." I said to myself, in my head. As expected, I couldn't hear a response for what I've just said. That is because his voice is external, while mine is in my head.

　　"Aurora Fangborn. I am Prince Emeric, and I am here in the woods, near your body which had fallen unconscious. You have to trust me."

　　My eyes widened triple the size.

　　Prince Emeric is near my body that is outside the space!?

　　"I'll tell you something that you'll believe. I know you can hear me, Aurora Fangborn." I had gasped, looking visually unsettled as I fell to my knees. No, I can't be imagining this at least.

　　Prince Emeric is close to my body and has been guiding me to come back to reality? I'm curious about the proof he will come up with, to make me believe that he's indeed not a part of my imagination.

　　"I am well aware of Den Fangborn and his contributions to the allegiance. My father and Den Fangborn have been close associates before father's passing. From that memory, I remember Den Fangborn introducing his daughter, that is you, who was still yet to awaken her wolf. I haven't awakened my wolf until 19 years of age either, Aurora. I'm sharing this story so you'd believe that I'm not a part of your hallucination." At the end of his words, my posture has relaxed naturally.

　　I can't make this up, even if I was imagining. I can't hallucinate from an external perspective, right?

　　Taking a deep breath, I was preparing myself to be 'injured' in this situation. In my head.

　　Since this is my imaginary world anyway, I am the creator of events. What will truly scare the hell out of me so that I can escape this hallucination?

　　All my trauma from here is associated with my parents' death. That kind of a scare wouldn't work at the moment, especially when I've got accustomed to these dreams. Hands down, the way I've been imagining their death was way too creative and so, so convincing.

　　I wouldn't be surprised if I got to discover that is EXACTLY how they died in reality.

　　I can't wait to go back to the real world.

　　I know who had done this to me now. It's almost too evident.

　　Closing my eyes, I imagined an imagination in my head. What a twisted sentence, but it should make sense.

　　I gasped as I realized that my visions were working!

　　In front of me...was a werebear.

　　It was the size of a land kraken...

　　Suddenly, my heartbeat had started to increase as I kept staring at the horrendous beast in front of me. It was tall, scary and growling with red glowing eyes like a predator. I am it's prey.

　　The fear, however. Is it working?

　　The answer is...yes.

　　I stood up from the ground and started walking backwards because of the fear of being mauled by a creature like this. It's claws are so big that just one pierce into my chest would split my body into two parts.

　　The fear factors...they were adding up!

　　That's it!

　　This is how I will wake up, right!?

　　I am so glad I've trusted this voice of Prince Emeric who has been guiding me. He claims to be beside my real body, he said.

　　Well, I am about to find out.

　　Because...

　　A blood curdling scream resounded in the air from my lungs as the werebear of such an unfathomable size had closed it's fist. The screams from my panicked imagination self were so loud and blood curdling that I had to - I just had to jump out of this trance!

　　It was as if I was travelling a tunnel, and I saw the shining exit.

　　"AH!" With a scream, I woke up.

　　...I was back to the real world!

　　And there he was...as he told me.

　　Our eyes met, and I couldn't stop repeating words of gratitude in my head as I kept staring at him.

　　His voice had guided me out of this hallucination.

　　This is what is expected of a leader, who knows everything - literally everything - about survival.

　　And hence...I was saved from my own fears that night.

　　However...Prince Emeric didn't seem to take this lightly as the future repercussions have blown everyone's mind.

　　What was he thinking about...?