This final journal entry closes Christopher's hike with Andrea and James. What began as chance encounters on the trail became something heavier, visions too powerful to ignore. The days that followed were quiet, but the silence did not erase what was seen.
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The days that followed passed without incident. The trails grew easier, the air warmer, the forest no longer pressing against my senses with its strange hush. Andrea and I spoke little after that night, though her eyes often found mine as if to confirm what had been shared. James never raised the subject again, though I caught the way his jaw tightened whenever she drifted near me.
When the hike ended, we lingered at the lodge long enough to exchange numbers. Andrea's handshake lingered, steady and warm, and James muttered a polite farewell. I told myself I would hear from them again, though part of me already knew it would not be the same.
Now I sit at my own desk, pen in hand, the quiet of home wrapping around me like an old coat. I am tired, but not regretful. The hike was eventful in ways I never could have foreseen, and I will not forget what was shown to me. I am thankful — for the rest, and for the results. The dreams are no longer mine alone. Heaven has made certain of that.
Yet I cannot leave it here. The Sepulcher is no rumor, not anymore. Andrea's words, the leaves of gold, the silence, the fire bowing, all of it demands more than memory. I must seek. I must learn where the Pale Expanse lies, if there are records in forgotten archives or maps left to dust. The Labyrinth of Books may hold a fragment, if I can find my way back. The whispers I wrote may yet lead me to its door.
And so, I begin. Not with another journey into the forest, but with ink, parchment, and questions too heavy for sleep. Somewhere, buried in old words, lies the path to the Sepulcher of Echoes. And I will find it.
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Christopher leaves the forest behind, but the Sepulcher will not leave him. His envy, his awe, and Andrea's revelations now point him toward the search that defines his path: the Pale Expanse and the secrets buried in the Labyrinth of Books.
The hike gave him rest, but also results, and a new resolve to trace rumor into truth. What was a dream is now a destination. And Christopher, for all his frailty, has set himself to find it.