Lira had stayed in the realm of the Lumari longer than she first realized.
Days and nights blended into a silver haze, where dawn never truly came and dusk never fully left. She learned to weave ribbons of light between her fingers, to listen to the faint hum of twilight energy vibrating through every living crystal in the ridge.
Each Lumari movement was a meditation — gentle, endless, filled with grace. But even amidst that stillness, Lira felt something stirring, a pull beneath her calm. The air around the Lumari began to shimmer with change.
Their leader, the one whose glow was softer and older than the others, stepped toward her. The light on their form flickered faintly between gold and deep amber. "You have walked our path, Child of the Grove," the Lumari said. "You've learned to see where shadow meets shine. But what you gathered is only half of balance."
Lira bowed her head slightly. "Half?" she repeated.
