A few minutes earlier...
William stood quietly beside Seraphine's unconscious body, his gaze fixed upon her peaceful face while countless thoughts raced through his mind. Only moments ago he had nearly made another disastrous mistake, and now that his mind had finally calmed down, he could clearly understand where everything had gone wrong.
"It's a dream, not reality," William muttered to himself while rubbing his forehead. "How could I forget something so obvious?"
He let out a slow breath before continuing.
"When I first entered Seraphine's dream, I was planning to use my abilities on her directly to break the illusion when I saw her reliving her childhood, and before I could even react, she unconsciously transformed me into a twelve-year-old version of myself. The moment that happened, every one of my abilities disappeared because, inside her dream, I had become exactly what she believed I was."
His expression became bitter as he remembered what had happened afterward.
