Sprawled on the soft grass, Mira gazed at the stars above. For a cold night, it was quite warm in the forest even though she hardly wore protective clothing against the elements. Perhaps the slight breeze alongside the open foliage letting the moonlight pass through helped with the warmth—Or perhaps it was her own body heat doing the work.

With the grass tickling every exposed skin, Mira itched, though it wasn’t like she could scratch anything in that position. Moving felt like an impossibility, but this itch kept on bugging her. She needed a distraction, fast.

Mira thought of the village. The village… oh how she missed it. She could see the friends she used to hang out with, smiling and laughing as if they were lying down with her, staring into the night sky, sharing stories about the insane caretaker who wanted to drill every bit of scientific knowledge into their uneducated brains, and complaining about life’s woes.

They’d never visited this part of the forest in their childhood, however. Mira didn’t know what or where this area was in the greater scheme of the village. The formation of foliage and rocks were completely unfamiliar to her. All she had was the stars above her for any semblance of guidance.

The stars.

Mira tried concentrating on the shining spectacles, particularly searching for a group they’d always thought to be a dragon flying towards the north-most part of the sky. It was a constellation found by them, and them alone. Perhaps those lights up above could lead her back one way or the other. She couldn’t, however. Being partly cloudy meant some parts of the sky were covered in a shroud of gray—including the dragon. Her lips quivered and instinctively went to cover her face with the back of her hand, but the dull pain forced her arm down.

That was when unfamiliar words flowed through her mind.

The sea of stars. The momentaneous lifeforms that flicker far away. Our futures — a sea brimming with light. Each and every shimmer in the starry canvas serves as one’s infinite opportunities in the vast sea of the future.

Those faint lights flickered dimmer and dimmer.

I don’t want it to end like this.

Mira clutched the hilt that her once blade used to be. It wasn’t long ago that this blade was in perfect condition, but the stumble had stripped it off clean of its offensive utility. In turn, she raised her other arm up in spite of the pain, her hand reaching out.

She thought of the village again. As long as she has these memories, she’ll never feel the pain of loss. And yet…

She was all alone.

Our futures? What about their futures? Their futures are already…

“...I don’t want to die. I want to be with them. Just a little longer…”

The azure lights that colored the distant sky as far as the eye could see were as beautiful as dreams themselves. Her blade, her friends, her hope, her journey towards a greater future drew to an end.