We ran toward the crystal.
Toward the promise.
Toward the end of this parenthesis — too beautiful, too long, too gentle.
We didn't stop again.
Not for a night. Not for an hour. Not even to catch our breath.
Sleep fell upon us with every step, weighing on our eyelids, our legs, our thoughts. And all around, the landscape — still just as magnificent, still just as treacherous — kept whispering to our tired hearts in a low, slow, enveloping voice: Stay. Rest. Forget.
The flowers offered us their perfume. The vines opened their arms. The ground grew softer, warmer, more welcoming.
But I held on.
I held firm.
I clenched my teeth. I repeated to myself, every moment, what I had almost forgotten. Every heartbeat became a reminder.
I had found my center again.
And I refused to lose it once more.
Not now.
Not after coming so close to dissolving.
Lysara struggled more.
