The return journey from the Order's Inner Sanctum was a quiet one, each of Canila's team members lost in thought. The Shard of Equilibrium glowed softly in Canila's hand, radiating a soothing warmth that seemed to steady his heartbeat, syncing it with a greater rhythm. Yet, in the depths of that calm, there was a mounting tension, a sense that their greatest challenges still lay ahead.
As they left the sacred halls, the elder's final words echoed in Canila's mind: "The Shard's power lies in harmony, but it can be wielded only by one whose soul is free from the chains of the past." He wondered what the elder meant, but there was little time to dwell on it. The Herald of Dusk loomed, and with it, a darkness that threatened to consume everything they held dear.
