In the hush that followed the Pillar's tremor, Kaelen drifted into uneasy sleep. The forge's heat faded, replaced by a gentle darkness threaded with starlight and ocean spray. He found himself standing on the shore of his soul—molten rivers flowing to one side, moonlit waves to the other. The fractured terrain shimmered, subtly mending at the seams.
He was not alone.
Across a luminous bridge of crystal and water, Lysera approached, her presence as familiar as memory and as strange as a dream. For the first time, she did not blur or fade. She was clear, solid, her eyes reflecting both hope and a shadow of fear.
Kaelen swallowed, nerves prickling. "You're real."
Lysera smiled softly. "So are you. I wasn't sure until now." She reached out, hesitant but determined. "We've both seen the same things, haven't we? The storms. The cracks in the world."
Kaelen nodded. "And the ache. The emptiness. I always thought it was just me."
"It's both of us," Lysera said, stepping closer. "I think we're… two pieces of something broken. Or maybe something new that's never been whole."
He looked around. The stars above pulsed gently, and the land beneath their feet began to knit itself together, stone and wave meeting in a seamless shore.
"Do you remember anything from before?" Kaelen asked quietly. "Before the dreams?"
Lysera shook her head. "Only fragments. A lullaby. A voice—maybe our mother's. But nothing whole."
They stood in companionable silence, letting the Domain settle. Kaelen felt his fear easing, replaced by fierce longing and a strange comfort.
"Do you think the world feels this too?" he asked, watching the horizon ripple with distant light.
Lysera's gaze grew distant. "I think we're connected to it—the Pillars, the storms, the tides. When we reach for each other, something out there changes."
Kaelen hesitated. "Are you scared?"
"Yes," Lysera admitted, "but not of you. Not anymore."
He smiled, the expression unfamiliar on his face. "Then maybe we can learn together."
Side by side, they watched their soul-cosmos heal, stars brightening overhead. The wind in the Domain carried a promise: that healing was possible, even for things that had never truly been whole.
As their hands brushed, a pulse of power echoed through both their hearts—gentle, but unmistakable. Somewhere far away, the world's wounds eased, if only for a moment.
This is their first true meeting—a conversation that begins to build trust, understanding, and hope, both for themselves and for the Realms.