Unfortunately, the peasant kept to her word. And though she didn't visit anywhere near as often as the fisherman did, each time she returned felt like a brush with death. And as she continued to visit and the number of stones slowly dwindled, a feeling of inevitability began to wash over me—that eventually I would join the others underneath that lake. There was nothing I could do, after all, so what use was there in being anxious?

It had been nearly a year since I arrived in this world. I'd witnessed fall, winter, and spring, and now the days of summer had begun. The sun shone brightly in the sky, the hills were swept in a sea of green, and the waters of the lake glistened. From an outsider's view, this place must seem like a paradise. But for those of us trapped here, unable to move, feel, speak, or even sleep, it felt like an endless nightmare.

And I couldn’t help but ask why. Why were we subjected to this torturous existence? There had to be a reason beyond mere landscaping. But I didn’t have any answers at this point, and so I could only wait.

One day, as I gazed towards the water that I was certain would become my tomb, I witnessed an intense flash of light coming from the middle lake, brighter than any I had seen before. If I were still human, I would’ve just closed my eyes. But in this state, all I could do was look away, and even that wasn’t enough to block out the light. But as quickly as the light appeared, it abruptly vanished. I looked back towards the water, curious as to what would appear this time, only to be stunned to see a monstrous creature now standing in the middle of the lake.

It was over a dozen meters long from head to tail, covered in crimson scales and spikes, and had bright yellow eyes. And with four legs and a decently sized pair of wings, I could tell that it was a dragon—a real dragon. But was it really? It certainly wasn't acting like one.

This dragon suddenly sat, similar to how a person would sit, and began to look at itself. It held out its front feet, and then it quickly turned its head around to look at its tail, along with its wings, which flapped a little bit. Getting back on all fours, the dragon looked down, presumably to get a look at itself in the water. And then, the dragon roared fire coming out of its mouth, briefly enveloping itself in a cloud of steam.

It was strange to watch this water-dwelling dragon breathe fire. But as I looked at it more, I noticed that this dragon looked very poorly suited for the water, with a body too rough and bulky for any sort of efficient swimming. It was as if there was little thought into what this dragon would look like other than being a 'dragon'.

Shortly after, the dragon dipped its head into the lake, presumably to drink some water. But it suddenly began to cough out black smoke, as the water was making it choke. Fiery tears began to roll down the dragon’s eyes, and as those tears hit the lake’s surface, the waters below hissed violently. But interestingly, after the coughing ceased, I could make out black markings below the dragon’s eyes, scarring from its fiery tears.

Then, the dragon flapped its wings and leapt from the water. But unfortunately, this did not end well, as the dragon’s wings were too small to keep it afloat. So instead, it fell on its stomach onto the surface of the lake, unleashing a gigantic splash that drenched everything around it, myself included. It took a few minutes for the water to clear away from my view, and when it did, I saw the dragon crawling onto the shore at the other end of the lake, where the hill towered above it. It was quite difficult to see it at this distance, and as it began to climb over the hill, it disappeared entirely, obscured by the ocean of trees that now dotted the hill’s surface. But to my surprise, the dragon quickly returned, albeit still facing towards the hill. For some reason, the dragon was unable to make the ascent. Despite this, it tried again and again and again, but the result was the same each time.

Interestingly, though, as the dragon was rushing up, it looked like the hill was getting taller. It was as if the earth itself was conspiring to imprison this dragon in this lake. While the people I'd seen before came and went as they pleased, it seemed like this dragon wasn’t afforded the same luxury. And after a while, the dragon seemed to give up, slowly walking back towards the lake. As the hill began to subside back to its normal height, the dragon rested on the shore, its head facing in my direction.

A few hours passed, and the dragon still lay resting, and it seemed to be comfortable while doing so. But suddenly, I heard a familiar hum from behind me. I looked towards the grass, and surely enough, the peasant had returned, no doubt eager to cause another massacre. And out of all the times as well. As she had done many times before, she picked up a rock and tossed it into the water. But her splash seemed to alert the dragon, whose head was now sticking up. The peasant didn’t seem to notice this, however, as she began to look in my direction. And she reached towards me, her hand’s shadow growing larger and larger around me. It was bound to happen eventually, I thought to myself, as the peasant’s hand began to obscure my view.

But then I heard a thunderous splash in the water. The peasant seemed to hear this too, as she raised her hand away from me. I looked toward the lake and saw the dragon swimming towards us. “EEEK! A DRAGON!” the peasant shrieked as she ran back the way she came.

After such a close call, I felt a strange sense of relief. With this dragon around, maybe the peasant would never come back, I thought to myself. But speaking of the dragon, as I looked towards it, I could see more tears running down its face. It was crying, presumably because of that peasant. I’m guessing it wanted to play with her. It's interesting how much of a difference one’s perspective makes. If that dragon were in my shoes, would it still feel the same way?

But suddenly, the dragon plunged into the water, disappearing from sight. And a few moments later, it resurfaced, causing another massive splash as a result. It appeared as if the dragon was playing. It continued to leap out of the water, each splash being bigger than the last. But eventually it stopped leaping and did something unexpected.

The dragon blew a plume of fire into the sky, diving into the water just before the fireballs landed all around it, each one causing the surrounding waters to boil and hiss. But for some reason, even after the steam ceased, I could still hear the sound of crackling. I looked and saw that a nearby tree had caught aflame. The dragon seemed to notice this too and hastily splashed some water onto it, extinguishing the flames, before continuing its swim. I was surprised. Was this dragon aware that someone might be inhabiting that tree? Or could this act have just been part of this dragon’s nature? Either way, it seemed to look genuinely concerned about the damage that it could have caused.

After a while, the sun started to set. I assumed the dragon would go to sleep with it, but that did not occur. Instead, as everything went dark, the dragon began to roar. Plumes of colorful fire shot up into the air, and I could see glimpses of beautiful color in the otherwise empty night sky. But this visual spectacle was soon cut short, as the dragon’s roars quickly gave way to whimpers. This dragon seemed more like a scared child rather than a terrifying beast, and as it continued to whimper, I couldn’t help but feel bad for it.

If only I was able to comfort it, I thought to myself. If I could just tell it that everything would be ok, that there's a light at the end of the tunnel, that yes, it's tough at first, but things wouldn’t be so bad after you get used to it, though I confess that the last part wasn't true at all,

Wait a second! I realized. Why should it have to get used to this kind of life? There's nothing normal about living in this place. But that wasn’t how I was feeling. I had only spent perhaps a year or so in this place, and yet all of this felt normal to me. I had forgotten just how terrifying it was to live in this awful place, and watching this dragon brought back memories of how frightened I was when I initially arrived in this realm.

Regardless, in this condition, I couldn’t do anything to help, and so for the time being, all I could do was watch. By this time, the dragon was silent, probably succumbing to its own exhaustion. And as I heard its echoing snores, I could sense that it had finally fallen into a peaceful slumber.

There are two types of people in life: those who love to sleep and those who do not. For both, an entire night can pass in what feels like only a few minutes. And during that time, one could have pleasant dreams, horrid nightmares, or even something in between.

I wondered what the dragon was dreaming about, because I hadn’t dreamed in nearly a year.