Is it Real or a Hallucination?

***

Aurora had been walking for hours. The sun had begun setting as the little light that reached under the canopy of the thick trees became scarcer and scarcer. On her way, she killed any monsters that had attacked her or were in her path, but those who refrained from attacking and stayed away from her, she ignored and left them alive. She didn't want to waste unnecessary time fighting when she had a choice not to.

She was exhausted as she hadn't taken a break since she started traversing the island. Every few minutes, she would be attacked by monsters, further drying out her leftover energy. Even monsters who had previously avoided her would now attack her to take advantage of her vulnerability. Aurora had no choice but to find some place to rest, but all she could see were trees—she would have to first kill the tree and the trees next to it for her to be safe, but that would expend the last of her energy.

Even if she dealt with the trees, she wouldn't be able to climb them or deal with the monsters that could attack her during her sleep. No matter what she could think of, it all came down to expending the rest of her energy, which was the same as asking for death.

This left her with only one option: to keep going and hope that fate would lead her to a safe place to rest away from any potential danger. She didn't believe in fate, but this was her only option that she could think of in such a short time. She couldn't afford to make any drastic plans as it would exhaust her energy, so she left her life in the hands of fate. If that even existed.

***

After leaving her life in the hands of fate, she made her way through a swampy forest as her energy levels depleted further. Her energy was almost dried out, but she still kept hoping. This hope was based on the fact that gods existed, so she assumed that there must be a god of fate somewhere within the god realms.

Her eyelids were hardly staying open; it was as if an ethereal being was trying to slam them shut, but with her willpower alone, she kept them open. She knew the second she closed her eyes, she would die.

At the edge of her vision, she noticed an orangish, yellow light shining under the dusky skies in the distance. At first, she thought she was hallucinating from her exhaustion, but the closer she got to the source of light, the more lights appeared in her vision—this led her to believe that she wasn't hallucinating, but this was based off of what she saw in her exhausted state, so she didn't completely rule out the possibility of it being a hallucination.

She would have to get closer to see if it was real or not, which would use more energy, but another factor she had to consider was that if it was real, there must be someone there, either a Naga or a lizardman. Or maybe another race of monster she hasn't encountered yet. No matter what it was, she had to be wary of them and stay out of sight. Otherwise, her life would end.

Forcing her body to move quickly, she hastily but silently bolted towards the source of light. It took only a few seconds to reach the source of light. It was a torch that was perched on a long wooden pole. She extended her hands to grab the pole—this was the proof she needed to know if it was real or not.

Her body tensed up as her hands gradually got closer to the pole.

'It's, it's real.'

Her hands had wrapped around it, and they didn't phase through it. A smile formed on her face, as she felt a sense of relief rush throughout her body. Her tense body finally relaxed, knowing it was not a hallucination.

Glancing to the side, she noticed a small outpost that had a wooden wall on all sides that protected it from all sides. Several wooden towers that were a level higher than the height of the walls overlooked the entire outpost.

She could see smoke rising up from the center of the outpost, along with the smell of nesting being cooked.

'This is the only chance I'll get to enter without being noticed.'

Aurora walked carefully to the wall, and formed steps of ice that led her up the wall—this drained her further, and she collapsed onto the staircase. She had almost fallen asleep, but she willed herself to get up with trembling legs.

She gradually climbed the steps, sometimes falling and almost falling asleep, but she kept herself awake, knowing that she was so close to reaching a safe place for her to rest away from the monsters.

After she reached the top, she created a slide and slid down. When she reached the bottom, she dispelled the steps and slide and glanced around, looking for a place for her to stay.

There were various small wooden buildings, but she assumed someone must've lived there, so she continued her search. She was lucky to have entered the area where all the buildings were, as it hid her from the view of those surrounding the camp fire.

Soon, she found herself focusing her vision on a small shack in a corner. It had moss covering it, which showed that it hadn't been used in a long time—this was the safest choice for her as there was a very low likelihood of someone entering it.

She made her decision and hastily sprinted to it with a silent step. When she entered, she found a place that was somewhat hidden from the door and collapsed onto the floor. She fell asleep immediately.