The Tale of a Great Fixer Who Once Reached for The Dream, part 13 (after battle)

…….

Nicolina... Curiambro... Dulcinea....

... None have ever loved me as fervently as they have.

Gallop on, dear Sancho, and strike our foes.

Like... the days of yore where we vanquished the giants...

Strike our foes with a heart that knows no fear...

…….

I... see...

I thought I had been galloping onward, toward something...

... but I was only going in circles.

I am but a hollow shell, a mere vestige of a thing, trapped on a carousel to nowhere...

A madwoman slumbering in a sweet dream of galloping astride a steed across a vast field, feeling the cool breeze against her face...

<Don Quixote...>

<You can still hear me, can't you?>

<Don't listen to him. Please, you're...>

No. She is no more. That person you once knew is dead.

<......>

Perhaps I wished that... 'Don Quixote' would forget I ever existed.

Yet I am returned here.

So that I may never forget what I am again.

So that I may pronounce the dream ended.