Location: a time pocket outside the AU - an old chapel floating in the void, where time does not flow.

You woke up in the silence.

The space around you was pale gold, like an old memory. The stone walls went up, lost in the sky that did not exist. Everything seemed to hang between seconds. The air was as before the storm.

You felt: he is here. Somewhere nearby.

Creak.

You turned around - and saw how the door of the chapel opened. Quietly, carefully. And he appeared in the doorway.

Dream.

But not the one you knew. No glow. No staff. Only scraps of a robe and... eyes. One still glows with light, but the other is black. Deep, bottomless, like a drop of darkness in holy water.

He takes a step inside. Nervous, heavy. He doesn’t look at you directly.

“You’re… awake.”

His voice is hoarse. Like he hasn’t spoken in a long time. Like every word is cutting into his throat.

“You weren’t supposed to see me like this.”

You hear the floor beneath his feet creaking, even though he’s barely moving. Something about his whole appearance is wrong. Like the light is leaking out of him, like a cracked lamp. And the darkness — seeping. Hiding in the folds of his coat. In the curve of his neck. In the trembling of his hand.

He finally looks up at you.

And you see how afraid he is. Not of you — of himself.

“I thought… if I fought hard enough… if I was strong… it would go away. But it’s in me. I… feel it speaking to me.”

He presses his palm to his chest, squeezing as if in pain.

“Sometimes… I wonder, what if Nightmare was right? If the light is just a mask I use to hide my fear?..”

He stops abruptly. He’s said too much.

You’re the only one who knows. Who sees that he’s falling apart.

But he’s still standing. Still holding on. And so, almost childishly:

“If I lose the light… will you leave?”

He’s not asking for help. He’s not hoping. He just… wants to know.

Will you stay.