Now the hues of the sky unto Vaen were brighter as dawns painted over the brilliance of filtered. But peace, like any other thing, has its shadows. Alone, on the watchtower, stood Yumi, looking down at the sprawling rebuilt city from above. The newly made Fountain of Feeling flowed, shining in the square like liquid hope. Ren was below laughing with his near group of children stringing up lights across newly grown trees.
It was beautiful; it wasn't whole.
The first courier this morning-not a letter, but a memory.
It came as a shard of light-throbbing softly with heat and sorrow. Yumi touched it, and images came tumbling into her mind: a forest that was dried up, voices from the ashes whispering, and a woman who had golden eyes and spoke in riddles.
"You took emotion from the void," she had said. "But the void noticed."
Yumi clenched the shard in her palm. This was no simple message. It was a call. Maybe - a warning.
In a few moments, Ren would arrive and the shard would be an object of emotion.
"Another one?" he asked.
"Hmm. It is from the east. A place which never came back after the Null King fell," she stated.
He went straight to the point: "Then we go."
That night under the stars that now blinked freer, they packed their bags. Lyra and Alistair would stay behind to protect Vaen. This time, the path would be theirs alone-at least for now.
Yumi looked back one last time as they exited the city. The Heartstone still glowed atop the Fountain: steady, sure.
But from here, she could hear it. In the distant wind, in the swaying leaves, in the breath between heartbeats.
A whisper.
Ashes still spoke.
And they were listening.
[QUEST UPDATED: Investigate the Shattered East] Objective: Discover the source of the memory shard. Reward: Unknown. Risk: Increasing.