Rielun's POV:
The forest was too quiet.
Not peaceful — watching.
The kind of silence that followed a storm but promised another.
They moved slowly through the trees, each step heavy with exhaustion. Rowan limped at the front, leaning on a broken branch for support. Aeris stayed close to Rielun, who walked unsteadily, still adjusting to a body that felt too long, too strong, too unfamiliar.
Noctis hovered behind them, shadows flickering with every uneven breath he took. Elias carried Sylas on his back, the unconscious guardian's weight dragging at his shoulders, but he didn't complain.
No one spoke for a long time.
Not until they reached a small hollow beneath an ancient willow — a place shielded from the wind, hidden from the Hollow's reach, at least for now.
Rowan sank down against the trunk with a pained grunt. "This'll do. For the moment."
Aeris helped Rielun sit beside him. Noctis paced the perimeter, checking shadows, checking the air, checking everything.
Elias lowered Sylas gently onto a bed of moss. The forest's glow still clung faintly to Sylas's skin, but his breathing was shallow, uneven.
Rielun stared at him, guilt tightening his chest. "He shouldn't have done that for me."
Elias looked at him with a softness that held no judgment. "He didn't do it for you. He did it because it was the only path that kept you alive."
Rielun swallowed hard. "I don't understand any of this."
Aeris sat beside him, voice gentle. "You don't have to yet."
But Rielun shook his head. "I need to. I… I saw things. In the dream. Before I woke."
Elias's attention sharpened instantly. "Tell me."
Rielun hesitated, fingers curling into the moss.
"I saw… a clearing. Moonlight. A shadow coming for me. And someone—someone trying to reach me." His voice cracked. "They screamed my name. They were grieving. I think… I think it was when I died."
Aeris's breath hitched. Noctis stopped pacing. Rowan looked away.
Elias knelt in front of Rielun, eyes steady. "Dream fragments after rebirth are echoes of the soul. They're not perfect memories, but they're true."
Rielun's voice trembled. "Then why can't I see their face?"
"Because the soul protects what the mind isn't ready to bear," Elias said softly. "And because the prophecy has not yet revealed the guardian who failed you."
Rielun looked down at his hands — older, stronger, unfamiliar. "I feel whole. But empty. Like something important is missing."
"That's normal," Elias said. "Your soul is complete, but your memories… they were shattered when the moon severed its bond to the Hollow. Some may return. Some may not."
Noctis finally spoke, voice low. "What happens now?"
Elias exhaled, rubbing a hand over his face. "Now… we prepare for the next stage of the prophecy."
Rowan frowned. "Which is?"
Elias looked at Rielun — not with fear, but with the weight of inevitability.
"The Hollow will come for him again. Stronger. Smarter. And soon."
Aeris's hand tightened around Rielun's.
Rielun swallowed. "Why me?"
Elias's voice softened. "Because you are the tear the Hollow lost. The piece of itself it wants back. And because your rebirth changed the balance of the world."
Rielun's chest tightened. "And Sylas? Will he wake?"
"He will," Elias said. "But he gave more of himself than the forest intended. He'll need time."
Aeris brushed a hand over Sylas's hair. "We all need time."
Noctis's shadows flickered. "Time we don't have."
Elias didn't deny it.
Rielun looked at each of them — Rowan injured, Sylas unconscious, Aeris trembling, Noctis on edge, Elias exhausted.
They were broken.
But alive.
And because of them… so was he.
Rielun drew in a steadying breath. "Then tell me what I need to do."
Elias met his gaze, solemn and certain.
"You need to remember."
The wind shifted.
The willow branches trembled.
Something distant howled.
Elias didn't look away from Rielun.
"You need to remember," he said again — but this time, something in his voice changed.
A tension.
A pull.
A flicker of light behind his eyes.
Aeris noticed first. "Elias…?"
Elias inhaled sharply, as if a cold hand had closed around his lungs. His pupils dilated. His breath hitched. The air around him thickened, humming with the same ancient pressure that had filled the sanctuary.
Rowan straightened despite the pain. "He's seeing something."
Noctis's shadows tightened. "Another prophecy line?"
Elias's voice came out low, strained, as if he were speaking through someone else's mouth.
"When the teardrop reborn walks in borrowed years,
the Hollow will stir the wounds of the past."
Rielun's stomach dropped.
Borrowed years.
His new age.
His death.
Elias's hands trembled as the next line forced its way out of him.
"Seek the Moon‑Carved Haven,
where memory and soul may meet.
But the path remains hidden
until the Oracle recalls the moment of his breaking."
Silence fell like a blade.
Aeris's grip on Rielun's hand tightened.
Rowan exhaled shakily.
Noctis cursed under his breath.
Rielun felt the words settle into him like stones sinking into deep water.
"The moment of my breaking…" he whispered. "My death."
Elias nodded, sweat beading at his temples. "The Haven won't reveal itself until you remember it. Not fully — but enough for the path to open."
Rielun looked down at his hands — older, stronger, unfamiliar. "I don't know if I can."
"You can," Elias said softly. "But not tonight. Not like this."
Aeris brushed a hand over Sylas's hair. "We all need to rest. We're falling apart."
Rowan winced as he shifted his injured leg. "And we can't stay here long. The Hollow's already sniffing around."
Noctis's shadows flickered in agreement. "We need a safer place to regroup."
Elias nodded. "There's an old warded grove a few hours from here. Hidden. Quiet. The Hollow can't track us there unless we draw attention."
Rielun swallowed. "And after that?"
"After that," Elias said, "we head toward where the Moon‑Carved Haven should be. When your memories return — even fragments — the path will reveal itself."
Rielun's chest tightened. "And if they don't?"
Elias met his gaze, steady and unflinching.
"They will. The prophecy wouldn't demand what cannot be done."
Rielun wasn't sure if that comforted him or terrified him.
He looked at Sylas — unconscious, still, drained — and felt something twist inside him.
"I'll try," he whispered. "For all of you."
Aeris squeezed his hand. "We're not going anywhere."
Noctis nodded once, shadows settling.
Rowan closed his eyes, exhausted but resolute.
Elias exhaled, the last of the vision fading from his eyes.
The willow branches rustled overhead, as if the forest itself were listening.