Location: Dark Forest → Pavilion
Time: Day 572/211 (Subjective/Actual) - Dawn
Realm: Lower Realm (Doha)
Jayde woke to gray dawn light filtering through the cave entrance and the uncomfortable weight of truths she couldn't escape.
She hadn't slept well. Dreams of golden light and dying stars and voices speaking her name in languages she didn't know but somehow understood. Dreams of being assembled rather than born, crafted with purpose rather than conceived with love.
Made. Again. Always made, never natural.
She pushed the thought away. There were more immediate problems than existential crises about the nature of her existence.
Parasitic worms threatening to kill the entire planet, for instance.
[Jayde.] Isha's mental voice was unusually subdued, lacking his typical confidence. [When you're ready... we need to talk. About what happened yesterday. About the worms. About... everything.]
