The rain poured down in heavy sheets, soaking Dila's frail body until her silver-white hair clung to her face and neck. Her breaths came ragged, each step a stumble as her weakened legs struggled to carry her forward.
"Fran… Fran!" Dila shouted, her voice breaking with desperation, echoing against the storm. The sound was swallowed by the rolling thunder, lost in the curtain of rain.
She looked wildly around, her blue eyes blurring with tears and rainwater, unable to tell them apart. Ahead loomed the side of the castle, its dark stone wall pitted with countless holes and cracks.... hollow pathways carved like a labyrinth that seemed to vanish into shadows. The openings yawned at her like a hundred unseen eyes, each one a possible direction yet none offering comfort.
