When Richard woke up, he felt a disorienting haze, unsure if he had truly emerged from the dream or if the world around him remained submerged in the same lightless abyss. The lingering resonance of the voice's words clung to his mind like a haunting melody, and his hands clutched the bedsheet with a desperate intensity, as if reality itself could be torn asunder.
"How can I stop that from happening? I've spent all my time training, yet I keep failing time after time when it's about protecting someone." Richard's thoughts spiraled into a dark abyss, contemplating the possibility that he might be trapped in an endless nightmare, a ceaseless cycle of failure and despair. The weight of his own inadequacies pressed upon him.
