With the sanctuary settling into a still rhythm, Lily felt overwhelmingly unsettled. It had been a while since the Harbinger had left, but there was still an emptiness that lingered: a reminder of the dark thing that had left its mark on her spirit. The walls of the sanctuary no longer seemed as comforting. Even in the midst of their peaceful abode, something bothered Lily, as if a part of her journey was yet to be revealed.
And one day Elysia catches her sitting alone in the sanctuary garden, lost in her thoughts. "Still uneasy?" she asks, concern etched in her voice.
Lily nodded. "I thought beating the Harbinger would close this off, but something feels. unfinished."
Elysia settled beside her, letting the silence stretch between them. "Sometimes a journey isn't about defeating an enemy; it's about making sense of what it means to be part of this world with all its mysteries and weight." She stared out over the garden with a thoughtful expression. "And maybe, just maybe, the Harbinger was only one part of that.".
His words settled in her, but she wasn't ready to hear him. She had glimpsed the true form of the Harbinger just before he disappeared—a man between worlds, his face etched with sadness. Yet she felt the story connected to hers, that their journey was not yet complete.
It was on this night, as she lay in bed, that the dream began.