"Ah… ah…" Elara jolted awake, gasping for air as if she had truly inhaled the suffocating smoke from that blazing inferno in her dream.
Her heart pounded violently against her ribs, and cold sweat drenched her forehead. For a long moment, she sat frozen, the remnants of the nightmare still clinging to her like invisible vines, strangling her breath.
"What… what was that?" she whispered, her voice trembling. Her hands shook as she touched her damp cheeks, realizing tears had already escaped.
The fear from that vision, so vivid, so real refused to leave her. "What is happening to me?" she murmured, the words barely audible as her throat tightened with panic.
She wiped her tears hastily, forcing herself to breathe. "Elara, it was nothing… just a nightmare," she told herself in a soft, coaxing tone-the same tone she had used countless times as a child when there was no one else to comfort her. Her voice trembled slightly, a fragile echo in the quiet of the room.
