The water and raccoon depths (ukiyo inspired cover)

Was it a dream?

The soft gurgle of the pool water filled Rollo's ears as he swam through the cool, quiet depths. The moonlight above shimmered like a thousand stars trapped in the water, casting silvery ripples that danced across the pool's surface. Rollo's small paws cut through the water with practiced ease, each stroke more confident than the last.

The voice, the creature, the glowing light in the woods—they had all faded into the background of his mind. Here, in the pool, Rollo felt at peace. It was the one place in the world where he could be free of worries, free of thoughts, simply *being*.

But as he swam, something began to shift. The water, once cool and soothing, grew heavier, as though the weight of it was pressing in on him. His paws started to feel sluggish, the water now thicker, harder to move through. Rollo struggled to keep afloat, his body growing tired with every stroke. The pool, which had always been his sanctuary, now felt like a vast, suffocating ocean.

He kicked harder, trying to swim to the edge, but the distance seemed to stretch further and further away. His breath came in quick, shallow gasps. Panic rose in his chest. *Why was this happening?* He had always been so strong in the water. He had always been able to swim.

But no matter how hard he tried, the weight of the water seemed to pull him down. His legs burned with effort, his body too tired to continue. And then, just as his vision began to blur, the water—everything—suddenly stopped.

Rollo blinked, his eyes wide, and the sensation of water faded. The weight on his body lifted. The pool, the glowing creature, the voice—all of it vanished like a forgotten dream.

Instead, he found himself lying in a soft patch of grass, warm sunlight filtering through the branches of nearby trees. His fur was dry. His breathing was slow and calm. The sky above was blue, not the deep, star-filled sky of night, but a bright and peaceful afternoon.

Rollo sat up, his head spinning slightly as he looked around. He was no longer by the pool. The forest was quiet, but in a completely different way—light and full of life, with birds chirping and insects buzzing around. Everything seemed so ordinary. The smell of fresh leaves and pine filled the air.

His heart pounded in his chest, not from the excitement of swimming but from the strange, unsettling feeling that he had just woken up from something—*something that wasn't real*.

He paused, his thoughts disoriented. *Was it a dream?* Had all of the adventures in the pool, the creature, the glowing light—had it all been nothing more than a figment of his imagination?

Rollo looked down at his paws. They were dry, and no longer slick from the cool water. The grass beneath him felt soft and solid, real, and he could smell the faint, familiar scent of earth and pine. There was no shimmering pool, no glowing stones, no ancient voice. Just the ordinary world he knew, stretching out before him.

For a moment, he simply sat there, blinking in the sunlight. It was strange. He felt a strange sense of loss, as if something important had slipped away, something he couldn't quite remember. He glanced around, half-expecting to see the pool in the distance, or the creature waiting for him by the edge of the trees. But nothing. Just the peaceful quiet of the forest.

Rollo stood slowly, stretching his limbs, and shook himself off. He padded to the base of a tree, resting his paws on the rough bark, and looked up at the leaves swaying in the breeze. Maybe it had all been a dream. Maybe the pool had been nothing more than a place to escape, a place where his imagination had run wild in the quiet of the night.

But as he looked up, something caught his eye—a faint glimmer of water, hidden between the branches of the trees, where the light filtered through. His ears perked up, and he padded cautiously toward it.