I Will Always Protect You.

Elena rubbed her eyes in the hope that she dozed off for a moment, but everything remained unchanged. "M-Marcus?" The woman looked around, but the man was gone. "Marcus!" No matter how many times Elena called his name, there was only silence in response.

He had just been before her eyes, but as soon as the man stepped on that huge stone pedestal, Marcus disappeared the very second.

Elena jumped up, the stone vaults of the cave buzzed, sand and pieces of ground sprinkled from above and from the walls. She did not know whether to run away or stay where she was, it seemed to her that the walls and ceiling were about to collapse and would bury her under their pieces forever.

The stone path on which Marcus had previously walked went under water, the floor vibrated, and Elena saw the waves go through the water, similar to those left by a boat sailing along the river.

After that, everything calmed down.

"And what should I do now?" Elena grabbed her head, how much she would have loved riddles and puzzles, to be walled up in a dead end, a few meters underground, was not the most promising perspective.

The woman narrowed her eyes in order to better see the drawings on the wall, it seemed to her that they had changed a little. If earlier there was a picture of a man walking along a bridge, now the bridge has disappeared from under the feet of this man, just as he disappeared in reality. According to the drawing, it seemed that the traveler was walking through the air from one point to another.

Elena looked at the water, the phosphoric stones at the bottom also changed their position a little as if they had shifted to the side by a meter or a half. If that was true, then the bridge should also have been moved about...

Elena picked up a stone from the ground and threw it into the water. Splashes of liquid scattered to the sides, and the stone sank to the bottom. Then she picked up the second stone and repeated her action, only this time taking into account the displacement of the luminous landmarks under the water.

Boom.

This sound was completely different from the one that should be when something falls into the liquid. The stone, instead of sinking to the bottom, remained on the surface, like on glass, against all the laws of physics.

Elena smiled, it was already something. The woman gathered a small handful of ground and sand and threw it on top of the stone. The ground soil was distributed over the surface of the water, outlining borders similar in width to the stone path that was here before.

"Bingo! Hehe, well, I'm quite smart, right?" Elena with a pleased expression shook her hands from the sand. If different realities intersected in this place, and Marcus was able to get a bracelet that he did not see, then the probability of finding a bridge that did not exist was just as possible.

The woman came to the edge of the water and took a deep breath, she neatly stepped on a thin layer of sand, scattered earlier. When Elena was convinced that her foot stood on something solid, she raised her second leg and put it next.

It was a sensation which she could not find words to describe. In this situation, she could only rely on her senses.

"Wow, Elena, when will you still have the opportunity to walk on water? In life, I would not have believed such a thing, had someone told me that six years ago," she suddenly remembered how much her life had changed after meeting with David. How many things happened, both sad and good. And now, the woman stepped on the water as if on a smooth road, trusting in the sensations under her feet.

All the events that happened in her life went beyond the usual reality of ordinary people, and Elena tried many times to imagine how her life could go if all this did not happen.

But no matter how much she did, all her fantasies and assumptions faded at the same moment as if they did not even exist as possible options. And the way her fate took shape was the only thing that seemed real. Sometimes it seemed to her that her life was subordinated to some script written from above, and she was an ordinary actress, whose goal was to fulfill her role well without changing the plot of the production.

Someone invisible conducted her fate from behind the curtains, bringing the time of the final act of the play closer. But what awaited her when she uttered her last remark and the curtain went down onto the stage? What will await her on the other side of this game?

These thoughts have occupied her head more and more recently.

Elena was distracted for a second, and her leg slipped to the side, touching the water. "Phew, it was dangerous," the woman put her hand on her heart which was fast beating from tension in her chest.

She looked up and saw... nothing. A white void surrounded her from all sides, there was no sound, no wind, absolutely nothing. Only her own breathing and the beating of her heart in her chest indicated that she was alive.

"La la la! La la la!" a ringing childish voice sounded from nowhere. Elena was turning her head in all directions, trying to understand where this sound came from.

"La la la!" the silhouette of a little girl flashed before the eyes of the woman. The girl was cheerfully spreading her arms and jumping at every step, singing something under her breath. Elena silently followed her, the silhouette of this child seemed familiar to her.

The girl unexpectedly accelerated her pace, and after she started to run, her magnificent skirt waved in different directions, and a small body was enveloped in light, "Dad!!!" she shouted as loudly as she could, and jumped into the arms of the man.

Elena stopped and froze.

"Elena, my joy, you woke up already?" asked the man with obvious tenderness, the girl grabbed his neck with her small arms and kissed him on the cheek. "Daddy, I missed you so much! I slept well for you to come earlier."

"My clever little girl," the man whispered and kissed the child in response.

Elena was standing and looking at his broad back, he was wearing a light cotton shirt, light trousers and a stylish hat hiding his head.

The woman realized that this little girl in the arms of a man was herself, and this man was her father.

Elena's eyes met the girl's eyes, at that moment she felt a strong confusion as if this child actually saw her.

"Dad, look. There is another girl," the child said, never taking her eyes off Elena. The woman's heart pounded even harder, 'What is happening?'

"What girl?" asked the man and turned around.

At this moment, Elena even forgot how to breathe, the man looked in her direction, but his gaze was directed to the void.

"Dad, she seems scared," whispered the baby.

Tears flowed down Elena's cheeks, she covered her mouth with her hands to restrain the sobs that burst from her chest.

Only now she realized how much she missed this man all these years. How could she live as if this connection had never existed? How could she not remember him? What did he feel all this time, when she crossed paths with him as if he was a complete stranger?

"Dad...," Elena reached out her trembling hand and touched his cheek, the man shuddered, his eyes were full of bewilderment.

He laid his palm on her hand, trying to realize that these sensations were real. His fingers slid along the woman's arm, rose to her shoulder and settled on her face. With his fingertips, he touched her forehead, eyebrow, felt the skin on her cheek moist from tears. "Who are you?" the man whispered, barely audible.

"This is big Elena," the girl said, ahead of the woman.

The man looked at the child in surprise, "Oh, I see," he turned to Elena and smiled, "Even if I can't see you, I'm sure you are very beautiful. But why are you crying? Has anyone offended you?"

Elena shook her head, she could not say a word out loud.

"Hmm, if anyone offends you, tell me. Dad will always protect you, my joy," the man said, and his image disappeared into thin air.