Six months passed. Hope grew stronger. More certain. More committed to existence. Small Hope grew too. Learning to smile. To laugh. To exist joyfully.
Everything seemed perfect. Seemed safe. Seemed like we had won.
Then the shadow returned.
It started with dreams. Bad dreams. Nightmares that felt too real. Too vivid. Too familiar.
I woke screaming for the third night in a row. Kade held me. Tried to comfort me. But the dreams followed me into waking. Into daylight. Into consciousness that should be safe.
“What do you see?” he asked. “What keeps appearing?”
“The seal. Breaking. Crumbling. Failing.” I was shaking. Cold despite the warm room. “I see the First Dark pushing through. See it testing. See it finding weakness. And I see Hope. Big Hope. Standing at the boundary. Choosing nothi
