t felt like an eternity,

a thunderstorm. No more Hollow screeches.

lothes had changed-gone was her torn jacket and scorched jeans. Now, she wore a flowing white coat lined wit

stirred

re aw

smudged with soot, but his eyes were bright. Nyra looked ti

but her legs wobbled

stroyed the Engine. The Hollow... it'

aved more than we expected. The Sleepless City

. "How long

swered. "We thought y

heard myself. I saw what comes after. This world

"Then let'

-

owed, the Dreamworld

pes began to return-bold, strange, surreal. The Hollow still existed in the corners, but its hold was bro

ra became symbol

w far fewer than before. Elder Maven, once skeptica

" she said. "We were so focused on control, we forgot

moment. "I just didn't wa

so, you change

-

ded in connection. It floated gently between realms, anchored by the shar

gether, regardless of age, background, or ability. The dream crystals w

o dream without

woke fr

own name in twenty years whisp

s rememberin

-

till had

ucid corridors of memory. She explored the scars left behind-the shar

mnants of the Hollow-not to

nding at the edge of a crumbling staircase in a forgot

pulsed back-not as a threat,

-

a approached her

een quiet

d. "Just

stay here. Help train the next Dre

s don't res

No. They write t

steaming cups of dream-tea. "We've been offer

row. "What kin

explained. "A realm no one's mapped b

tea and nodde

-

vening, not in a ru

memory. They passed old districts-now pulsing with restored color-and

rapped in a looping dream. In another, they watched a

slept more soundly. But more than

reach. No longe

eamweaver

-

il

ng world, A

ietly in her bedroom, sunlight

bed her eyes, a

rld. Sa

hing was

p pinged.

online. Dream

sm

her eyes again,

-