The soil moved.
At first it was subtle.
A faint shift beneath the loose dirt of the grave, like something deep underground had taken a slow breath.
The name carved into the stone marker seemed to tremble slightly in the grey morning light.
Marla Whitestone.
The air around the cemetery grew colder.
Beside the grave, Elias Vale stood perfectly still, his sharp eyes watching every movement of the disturbed earth.
Across from him, Father Aldric's expression hardened.
The priest had clearly seen it as well.
"This wasn't happening yesterday," Aldric said quietly.
Another shift rippled beneath the soil.
A faint crack appeared across the surface as if something below was slowly pushing upward.
Elias tilted his head slightly.
Fascinating.
"Tell me, Father," Elias said calmly, "how long ago was this grave dug?"
Aldric kept his eyes fixed on the ground.
"Three weeks."
"And the girl?"
"Marla Whitestone. Seventeen."
"Cause of death?"
Aldric hesitated.
"Unknown."
Elias smiled faintly.
Of course it was.
That was always how these things began.
He knelt beside the grave and brushed some dirt aside with gloved fingers.
The pulse of dream energy beneath the earth grew clearer now.
Weak.
But unmistakable.
Something connected to the Sea of Dreams was buried down there.
And it was trying to wake up.
Behind him, Aldric spoke again.
"You can feel it, can't you?"
"Yes."
The priest exhaled slowly.
"That confirms my suspicions."
Elias glanced over his shoulder.
"Oh?"
Aldric stepped closer to the grave.
"For the past two weeks, half the village has been having the same dream."
"The eyes," Elias said.
Aldric nodded.
"Thousands of them."
Watching.
Floating in endless darkness.
Elias already knew the description well.
Those villagers were glimpsing fragments of the domain belonging to The Lucid One.
But that didn't mean the Old God was directly responsible.
Dream realms were complicated.
Energy leaked.
Echoes formed.
Sometimes something entirely new was born from those echoes.
Which might be exactly what was happening here.
The soil cracked again.
This time more violently.
Aldric immediately reached into his coat and pulled out a small silver pendant shaped like a cross.
"Step back," the priest warned.
Elias stood slowly.
But he didn't move far.
His curiosity was far too strong.
Aldric pressed the pendant against the grave and whispered a quiet prayer.
"Light that veils the abyss… reveal what hides beneath."
For a moment nothing happened.
Then—
The dirt exploded upward.
A skeletal hand burst through the soil.
Rotting fingers clawed at the open air.
Aldric reacted instantly.
"By the Veil—!"
The priest slammed the silver cross against the ground and began chanting again.
Golden symbols briefly flickered across the dirt.
But the corpse kept moving.
More soil broke apart as the rest of the body forced its way upward.
A girl's corpse.
Pale.
Half-rotted.
Her empty eyes stared upward toward the grey sky.
But something else filled the sockets now.
Something faintly glowing.
Soft silver light.
Dream energy.
Elias felt a strange ripple inside his mind.
The presence beneath the grave was weak, but it was undeniably linked to the dream realm.
And that meant one thing.
This corpse wasn't truly alive.
It was being used.
Like a puppet.
The girl's body slowly stood.
Her neck twisted unnaturally until her glowing eyes locked onto Elias.
For several seconds neither of them moved.
Then the corpse spoke.
The voice was distorted.
Layered.
Like several whispers speaking at once.
"Watcher…"
Elias's smile deepened slightly.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Father Aldric clearly didn't like that development.
The priest stepped forward, raising the silver cross again.
"Back to the grave, creature."
The corpse's head jerked toward him.
Then it laughed.
A hollow, echoing sound.
"You… cannot… see…"
The ground around the grave began to tremble again.
Not from the corpse.
From something deeper.
Something much larger stirring beneath the cemetery.
Aldric's expression turned grim.
"That's not good."
Elias raised an eyebrow.
"You noticed too?"
"Yes."
The priest glanced at him.
"If that thing underground wakes up fully, this entire village is in danger."
Elias didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he studied the corpse carefully.
The dream energy surrounding it felt strange.
Unstable.
Like a poorly formed connection to the Sea of Dreams.
Almost like—
A parasite.
Something feeding on dream residue left behind by the villagers' nightmares.
The corpse suddenly lunged forward.
Aldric reacted instantly.
The priest slammed the silver cross against the creature's chest.
A burst of golden light exploded outward.
The corpse shrieked as its body was thrown backward onto the disturbed grave.
Smoke rose from its burned flesh.
But it wasn't destroyed.
Instead it began laughing again.
"You are… too late…"
Cracks spread across the cemetery ground.
Dozens of them.
Thin fractures running between the graves like spiderwebs.
Elias's eyes narrowed.
The dream energy leaking from the cracks was increasing rapidly.
Whatever lay beneath the cemetery…
…it was waking up.
Father Aldric clearly realized the same thing.
He turned toward Elias.
"If you can sense dream energy, I need your help."
Elias folded his arms calmly.
"What exactly do you expect me to do?"
"Find the source."
The priest gestured at the spreading cracks.
"This corpse is just a symptom."
"I know."
Aldric stared at him.
"Then you also know we don't have time to argue."
Elias remained silent for several seconds.
Then he sighed softly.
"Very well."
Not because he cared about the village.
But because this situation had become extremely valuable.
Dream-based entities were rare.
And studying one could reveal many secrets.
Elias closed his eyes briefly.
He extended his mind toward the Sea of Dreams.
The familiar endless darkness appeared around him.
Ripples spread across the dream realm like waves in black water.
He followed those ripples downward.
Deeper.
Beneath the cemetery.
And there—
He found it.
A small glowing mass of tangled dream energy buried beneath the graves.
Not an Old God.
Not even close.
But something new.
Something forming.
Like a cocoon slowly preparing to hatch.
Elias opened his eyes.
"I found it."
Aldric stepped closer.
"Where?"
"About twenty feet below this grave."
The priest cursed under his breath.
"That deep…"
The corpse suddenly began crawling toward them again.
Its bones cracked loudly as it dragged itself across the broken ground.
"You cannot stop it…"
Elias glanced down at the creature.
Then calmly lifted one hand.
The dream energy within his mind surged.
For just a moment—
The world flickered.
The corpse froze.
Its glowing eyes widened as the illusion swallowed it.
Elias stepped closer to the immobilized creature.
"Sleep," he whispered.
The dream parasite controlling the corpse shrieked silently as Elias forced it into a dream prison inside its own mind.
The body collapsed instantly.
Lifeless once more.
Father Aldric stared at him in stunned silence.
"That… wasn't church magic."
"No," Elias said simply.
The ground trembled again.
A much larger crack split open across the cemetery.
Dream energy poured out like fog.
Aldric looked toward the widening fissure.
"Whatever is down there… it's almost awake."
Elias followed his gaze calmly.
For the first time since arriving in Greyhaven, the situation had truly become dangerous.
But also…
Exciting.
Deep inside the dream realm, something ancient stirred faintly.
The attention of The Lucid One brushed briefly across Elias's mind.
Watching.
Curious.
As its chosen Sleeper prepared to face the first true creature born from the leaking tides of dreams.
And beneath the cracked cemetery earth…
The cocoon began to split open.