The silence of night had gently settled over Élise's home, like a veil of velvet. A light breeze drifted through the tall branches outside, carrying with it a discreet music, almost imperceptible, that seemed to accompany each of their breaths.
Daniel, still seated on the edge of the bed, stared at an invisible point before him. His mind, whirling with images and memories torn from the mysterious flow of Lysandra, wrestled between clarity and shadow. Since their encounter, a certainty had taken root within him: this journey was not just the wandering of an adventurer. No, it was a march toward a vaster legacy, an invisible thread tying his destiny to forces older than millennia.
Élise entered with soft steps, her eyes carrying a gentle gravity. She hesitated before sitting beside him. Her hand brushed against the blanket, as if the gesture itself sought an anchor in reality before daring to speak.
— Daniel… she whispered. I've entrusted you with fragments of what happened a thousand years ago, but the whole truth… it still slips from me at times, like shattered pieces in my memory. Yet every fragment that returns resonates with what you are living now.
Daniel nodded. Deep within him, Lysandra pulsed with a subtle presence. She did not need to take shape: her voice already echoed, soft, ironic at times, yet profoundly lucid.
You already know, Daniel. You carry the scars of an age that was never yours. Listen to her. Her words are but the resonance of what I've already shown you.
The young man drew a deep breath, finally meeting Élise's gaze.
— It feels like I know this story even before you tell it, he said in a low voice. As if a part of me already remembers…
Élise's pupils widened, caught between surprise and relief. She leaned closer, as though that closeness diminished the distance separating two worlds.
— Then you understand, she said softly. You understand why I fight, why I fear that all of this may repeat.
For a moment, silence wrapped around them. Then Élise spoke again, her words more animated, her gestures weaving through her speech. She described the ancient city, the flames of war, the divine beasts clashing under a sky split apart by light. Every word she spoke conjured vivid images in Daniel's mind, as if Lysandra herself opened the gates of that ancestral memory to reveal its colors and scents: the hot dust of the battlefield, the metallic gleam of spears, the distant cry of a horn shattering against the echo of the mountains.
Élise trembled slightly as she spoke, but her eyes never left him. She sought not only a listening ear; she sought recognition, proof that she was not alone in bearing this burden.
Daniel, despite the weight of the revelations, felt a new strength awakening within him. His inner voice — that of Lysandra — intertwined with his own, like a fragile yet powerful harmony:
Do not let her carry this weight alone. Your place is already drawn at her side. What you fear is not a curse, but a key.
Then he reached out and laid his hand over hers. That simple touch sparked a shiver, like an ember lighting up the room's darkness. Élise lowered her eyes, her breath short, but did not pull her hand away.
A discreet smile, almost timid, crossed Daniel's lips. Despite the shadows of the past, despite the abyss of a thousand years yawning beneath their steps, there was in that moment a promise of light.
— Together, he said. Whatever happens, I will walk with you.
Élise slowly raised her head. In her gaze glimmered a light he had never seen before, a fragile yet resolute flame. She allowed herself a faint smile, and for the first time in a long while, she seemed relieved — even if only by a breath.
The night continued its discreet song, and in that quiet corner of the house, destiny had just sealed a new vow.