Dila slowly opened her eyes. The world around her shimmered in soft, white light. She blinked, trying to focus.

"Where am I…?" she whispered.

Below her stretched a vast expanse of clouds, like she was standing or floating on a soft, endless sea of white. Tall, glowing pillars pierced the sky, reaching higher than her eyes could follow. The air was calm, almost sacred, and it carried a faint hum, as if the place itself was alive.

Dila squinted against the brightness. "Am I… dreaming?" Her voice was fragile, hesitant, barely more than a breath.

"Nari? Are you there?" she called, her tone trembling with both hope and uncertainty.

Only the echo of her own voice replied.

"Hello?" she tried again, louder this time. Silence. Nothing answered, only the soft, empty hum of the place.

She shivered. The dream or whatever it was—felt both beautiful and strangely lonely.

Tears began to spill from her eyes, rolling freely down her pale cheeks. Dila brought her hands up, covering her face as if trying to hold herself together.

"Oh no… am I… am I dead?" Her voice quivered, breaking into a fragile whisper. The weight of fear and uncertainty pressed down on her chest, making it hard to breathe.

Her hands trembled as she hugged her face, as if hiding from the emptiness around her, but the soft glow of the clouds reflected off her fingers, reminding her that she was still… somewhere.

Her hands slowly fell from her face as she looked around the endless, glowing clouds, her body trembling.

"It's… it's because of the fight, isn't it?" she whispered, her voice barely carrying. "I'm… I'm dead… and it's all… because of him… because of Albedo, my self-proclaimed father… it's his fault…"

A shiver ran through her as the emptiness pressed against her heart. "I… I had so much I wanted to see… so many places to explore… friends to laugh with… and now… now I'll never see Fran again… or hear Nari's voice…"

Her sobs echoed across the heavenly pillars, fading into the soft light around her. Every tear that fell felt heavier than the last, as though the clouds themselves were mourning with her.

Her wide eyes searched for something anything—but there was nothing. Only silence. Only drifting, endless white.

Dila's body shivered as she hugged herself, the weight of her words sinking into the endless expanse around her.

"I… I can't believe it," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Double dead… dead from the earth world where i live to… and now… dead in this world too…"

Her eyes welled up again as she clenched her chest, trying to hold onto something—anything that could anchor her. "I… I'm… alone… just drifting… so high… so far above everything…"

Her tears fell freely now, catching the light of the pillars like tiny, glowing stars, and for a moment, the silence pressed against her like a living thing, echoing every ounce of her despair.

Her gaze lifted to the endless sky, searching for a sign, a presence… anything to tell her she wasn't truly gone. But all that greeted her was the soft, haunting glow of the clouds beneath her.

She whispered again, almost to herself, "Is this… really the end?"

Dila's chest tightened, each breath feeling sharp and shallow, as if the air itself was punishing her for every spell she'd cast.

"Maybe… this is the price I pay," she whispered, voice cracking, "for using too much of my power… for giving it all… for trying to win… for trying to protect my freedom…"

Her hands clenched at her sides, nails digging into her palms, yet the thought offered no comfort. "But… for what?" she choked out, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. "Even if I'm powerful for a moment… even if I give everything… if I'm dead… I'll never get to live. Never get to see the world ever again.

Her lips quivered violently as her darkened eyes flickered with raw despair. "It's… unfair."

The wind around her whispered softly, brushing past like a memory she couldn't hold, and her heart felt like it was being crushed, stuffing her chest painfully with regret, guilt, and longing for a life she might never reclaim.

Her figure trembled above the clouds, small and fragile against the endless sky, a stark contrast to the immense power she had once wielded.

Her voice barely a breath, she muttered, "I… I don't want to be gone… not like this…"

Dila's body sagged slightly, drifting weightless above the clouds, her silver hair floating around her like strands of moonlight. Her eyes, once bright with curiosity and determination, were now dull, glazed over, empty… like windows into a soul that had finally given up.

Her lips parted slightly, but no sound came out. Her hands hung limply at her sides, and her entire posture carried the weight of surrender. The soft breeze of the heavenly pillars passed over her, yet she felt nothing—not the caress of air, not the warmth of light, not even the faint echo of her name.

She wasn't awake, she wasn't alive in this moment—she was a husk. The spark that had driven her through battles, through pain and endless struggle, had finally been snuffed out, leaving only an empty shell of the girl who once dreamt, hoped, and fought with everything she had.

And yet… the clouds beneath her didn't shift, the pillars didn't crumble, and the vast, serene expanse around her remained still. It was almost as if the world itself held its breath, watching, waiting… for something—anything to stir the soul she had lost.

Her body floated, unfeeling, her mind a void echoing only the soft whispers of what had been… and what could have been.

Suddenly...

The golden-haired woman's arms wrapped gently around Dila's slight trembling shoulders, though the girl felt nothing—no warmth, no weight, no presence at all. The ethereal fabric of the woman's robes shimmered faintly in the heavenly light, casting soft ripples across the clouds beneath them.

"Don't be like that…" the woman whispered, her voice melodic and steady, carrying a warmth that could melt mountains, yet it struck only silence. Her golden eyes sparkled like distant stars, holding the calm of eternity, the kind of gaze that had witnessed eons of life and death, love and despair.

Dila remained motionless. Her silver hair floated around her face like frozen mist, her pale expressionless eyes staring past the golden woman, unseeing. Every instinct, every spark of her soul that had once flared bright through battles and pain, was extinguished.

The woman tightened her hold slightly, yet not harshly—just enough to let Dila feel she was not completely alone. "I am here… and I will not let you drift away like this," she said softly, letting her words flow like a lullaby meant to reach even the coldest void.

But Dila's husk-like form didn't respond. The faintest quiver of her lips betrayed a memory of herself, a shadow of what she had been… and for now, that was all.

The woman's golden hair cascaded over Dila's shoulders, the faint shimmer of her robes catching the heavenly light as she pressed closer. Her voice was soft but carried weight, like a gentle wind stirring even the heaviest stillness.

"Are you really going to abandon the world you live in?" she whispered, her cheek resting lightly against Dila's forehead. "Are you really going to give up now?"

Dila didn't move. Her body remained limp, her silver-white hair drifting like mist around her face. Yet, even in the emptiness of her expression, the faintest glimmer betrayed her—a single tear forming in the corner of her eye. It caught the heavenly light and shone like a droplet of glass, trembling but refusing to fall.

The woman tightened her embrace just slightly, as if willing that glimmer to grow, holding Dila as though her own existence depended on it. The sky around them seemed to hold its breath, waiting for even the tiniest spark of life to return to the girl.

Dila's lip quivered while her eyes look at the nothingness straight passing through the women. "Who are you?" She said softly as a trembling voice.

The woman's arms remained wrapped gently around Dila, her presence warm yet ethereal. Her voice was soft, almost like a lullaby carried on a gentle breeze.

"It doesn't matter who I am," she murmured, her tone unwavering but kind. "What matters is that you are safe… that you can taste this stillness, even if just for a moment. Let go of what is weighing on you… even if only for now."

Dila's eyes, though vacant, flickered with the slightest recognition of the comfort in the woman's words. Her quivering lips parted slightly, as if on the verge of responding, but her body remained still. The golden-haired figure held her steadfast, letting the silence of the moment sink in, a quiet refuge amid the storm that had consumed Dila.

The light around them seemed to soften, folding the two in a cocoon of calm, where the chaos of the world felt impossibly far away.