The light from the Silver Shard still pulsed gently in Lior's hands, weaving itself into harmony with the Heart and Black shards. As the group journeyed onward into the deeper folds of the Twilight Veil, a strange quiet began to settle — not the calm of peace, but the eerie silence before a revelation.
They walked beneath the canopy of the Hollow Grove, where the trees had no leaves, only glass-like branches that reflected not the world around them, but the past of the one who looked into them.
Lior paused as a branch shimmered beside him.
He saw himself — younger, knees scraped, building a wooden toy for a child in the village. His face was peaceful. Hopeful.
Another step, and the reflection shifted. The fire. Screams. Smoke rising from burning rooftops. The fear. The helplessness. His mother's final words.
"Live. Even if the world breaks… live."
---
Soren called out gently. "Be careful here. The grove remembers."
Rhéa's staff hummed softly beside her. "These trees hold echoes — the memories of those who passed through before. They can show truths… or lies."
As they pressed deeper, the ground sloped downward into a wide basin surrounded by broken statues. At its center stood a spire of crystal — not shimmering like the others, but dull, cracked… weeping light.
Soren froze. "I know this place."
Lior looked at him. "You've been here before?"
Soren stepped forward slowly, the air thick with memory. "This is where the Dreamgate was first broken. Where I… failed them."
---
He raised his hand toward the spire. "The Heart shard was one of seven. Fragments of a greater whole — the Dreamgate Core, forged from the pure will of a world that no longer exists."
"Another world?" Mira asked.
Soren nodded. "One born entirely of dreams. The world of the Dreamers — beings who could shape reality with imagination alone. But something changed. One of them… betrayed the others. They tried to lock away the dream's power — to stop the chaos of creation. But by doing so, they shattered the Core."
His voice darkened. "And from the pieces, the Wraithborn were born."
---
Lior stared at the cracked spire. "So the shards aren't just power. They're… what's left of a broken world."
"Yes," said Soren. "And when united, they can rebuild it. Or erase it forever."
A sudden crack split the air. The light from the spire surged, and the statues surrounding them twisted — reshaping into shadowy figures.
They weren't Wraithborn.
They were echoes of Dreamers.
---
One stepped forward — tall, graceful, and glowing faintly blue. Its voice was hollow, but familiar.
"Soren."
Soren's breath caught. "Lyren…"
Lior glanced at him, confused. "You know it?"
Soren whispered, "She was my sister. The last Dreamer."
Lyren raised her hand. "You abandoned us. You let the shards fall. Now the dream is devouring itself."
"I didn't—" Soren's voice cracked. "I tried to save it."
"You tried to control it."
---
The echoes moved forward, circling the group. Mira raised her blades. "Are these real?"
"No," Rhéa said, trembling. "They're guilt. His guilt."
Lior stepped between Soren and the figure of Lyren. "He's not the same man anymore. He's guiding us now."
Lyren's eyes bore into him. "Then let him prove it."
A beam of light burst from the spire, striking Soren in the chest. He fell to his knees, gripping the orb — its light flickering wildly.
---
Suddenly, shadows erupted behind them. Noxis stepped from the veil, flanked by two new Wraithborn — taller, more twisted, wearing faces like masks of those they loved.
"You opened the door, old friend," Noxis sneered. "I just walked in."
Mira lunged without hesitation. Rhéa shouted a barrier into existence, shielding Soren's body. Lior stood still, his hands shaking — not with fear, but something deeper.
A memory surfaced. A voice.
"The shards are not only for defense… they are choice."
---
He raised the three shards. The Heart, the Black, and the Silver blazed to life.
He felt his soul stretch — as if threads of himself were being pulled in three directions. But he held firm.
Then, he spoke.
"I choose to protect the dream — not for the past… but for the future."
A blinding light burst from him. Not violent. Not destructive. But healing.
The echoes of the Dreamers paused.
Noxis screamed in fury, shielding his eyes.
The shadows trembled.
---
And the spire, cracked and broken for eons, mended — just slightly.
One fracture closed.
Lyren's echo smiled faintly before vanishing into stardust.
---
Soren collapsed beside the spire, breathing hard. "You… you really are the one they waited for."
Lior knelt beside him. "I don't know if I'm ready."
"You are," Soren whispered. "And now… we must move fast. Because the dream… is beginning to wake."