Teacher by day, Farmer by passion

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.

Not Alice. But like Alice.

Small. Innocent. Silly-looking. And devastatingly cute.

Next to her, a young man knelt beside a battered boat, carefully restoring its hull.

She recognized the sea-wreck wood, salvaged, repurposed, cared for.

Curious, Sarah descended from her perch within the fog-draped cliffs. Just to observe, ofcourse. Just to make sure her instincts weren't mistaken.

The pull in her chest grew stronger.

The man, tall, quiet, composed radiated soul energy that curled tightly around the girl beside him like a silent promise. He looked like an older brother… but he wasn't.

And the girl.

The girl was laughing.

It wasn't Alice. But something about her joy stirred echoes that Sarah thought she'd long buried.

So she made a decision.

She would test them.

She dressed simply, no divine glow, no aura of supremacy.

Just a worn traveler's robe and a lantern that flickered with gentle spirit light.

She stepped toward them across the fog-shrouded dock.

Yet her thoughts, the flashback didn't last as a voice broke her immersion.

"If I hand you the beast… will you send back the soldiers?"

Ace's voice cut through the silence.

Sarah seemed to have been lost in thought again and then she replied, "I have no control over what they do."

"All I offered to them… was a safe passage through the Dark Valley River."

His eyes narrowed. "Then if I promise to give you the beast… will you leave?"

She gave a faint smile. Not amused. Not cruel. Just… inevitable.

"I'll come back for the beast."

Then, without waiting for a response, she turned and walked away.

As simple as that.

"I knew that was really the case," Amon murmured from the side, almost to himself.

Sarah paid him no heed.

Without a single glance back, she turned and walked toward the edge of the battlefield, her steps light, yet echoing like distant thunder.

Then, with a final shimmer of light, she vanished into the mists of the Dark Valley River.

As she disappeared, the suffocating pressure she had cast over the land faded with her.

The air returned to its natural rhythm.

And the battlefield, once pinned under the weight of something otherworldly could finally breathe again.

Queen Arlen was the first to speak, her voice firm but laced with caution.

"Retreat. Regroup the soldiers. No more blood today."

Her troops, shaken but obedient, began to fall back, dragging the wounded and counting the living.

On the opposite end, Amon stood silent for a breath, then raised his hand.

"Set up camp," he ordered, to the surprise of many. "There will be no pursuit."

His words rolled like a commandment. The Tharz army, still high from their earlier joy, obeyed without question.

No one dared question the silence that followed Sarah's departure.

No one celebrated.

Not truly.

As the sound of retreating footsteps grew behind her, Queen Arlen stood still for a moment longer, facing the mists where Sarah had vanished.

Her gloved hands clenched at her sides, not in fear, but in frustration. Of not being able to do anything against her.

The woman, no, the thing they had encountered wasn't a warrior.

She was a law unto herself.

A walking enigma who could stop armies without lifting a finger.

Arlen's breath steamed in the cool air as she exhaled through her nose, her jaw tight.

She had survived assassination attempts, sect betrayals, and border massacres.

She had faced cultivators whose names were sung across kingdoms.

But Sarah was something else entirely.

And she hated not knowing how to fight it.

Behind her, a General, General Kass approached cautiously, armor scratched and soul armor barely clinging to his frame.

"Your Majesty. Casualty reports are coming in. We lost a third… but it could've been worse."

"Could've been?" Arlen said coldly, turning to face him. "That wasn't a battle. That was mercy."

The general flinched.

She glanced toward the craters in the distance where Lily had nearly fallen, where Sarah had simply been and then toward Ace, who stood motionless beside his people.

Queen Arlen rode in silence as her forces regrouped and began their cautious descent toward the valley floor.

Every footstep echoed with the fading memory of Sarah's presence, and not a single soldier dared speak above a whisper.

The sun was low now, its light struggling to pierce the fog lingering along the riverbanks.

The retreat path curved toward the east, leading to a forest trail that opened toward Sable Orchid City, a fortified merchant hub under the supposed neutrality of the Fairy Pavilion.

A perfect place to disappear. And an even better place to strike from.

Sable Orchid City – Eastern Outskirts, Three Hours Later

The war-torn remnants of the Falmuth army filed through the city gates. No horns announced their return.

No flags were raised. It was a quiet regroup under heavy dusk skies.

Soldiers limped, bandaged, silent-eyed, watching the spires of the city rise above them like guardians.