Years had passed since that night.
Now, she truly was the Guardian of the Dark Valley River.
Sarah no longer felt the tug of time, nor the weight of emotion.
She watched as people came and went, some crossing peacefully, others devoured by the beasts that haunted the waters.
She didn't intervene. She didn't mourn. Their fates didn't concern her.
Only the river did.
The Dark Valley River was hers now, not in possession, but in essence. She nurtured it, tended to its flow, and anchored it to her soul.
Because she knew, she had read it in the forbidden library that to ascend fully into the Divine Step Realm, one must refine the thing closest to their heart.
For her, it wasn't a person. Not a name. Not even a memory.
It was this river.
And one day, as mist rolled low and the waters whispered their secrets, a ripple in her soul tugged her gaze to the far shore.
A presence.
She stopped refinement, turned and for a moment, she forgot to breathe.
There. A girl.
