As Ibraim's meeting with the goddess continues, he can't help but interrupt her showing of the future. "Just wait a minute, before we go on I have just one question."
The goddess pauses, though not displeased with Ibraim's curiosity, she was surprised at him stopping this now. "Ask what plagues your mind my child."
"Why am I here? Why was I reincarnated into this body? This life? This… era?" The young lord would ask with a questioning look. It had been nearly a year since he transferred into this body and not a day had gone by without him wondering about it.
The goddess frowns slowly, clearly in thought about the question from the double timer. Ultimately, she decided on a small compromise. "My child, I cannot answer that currently. You lack the maturity to see the reason for such a decision currently. You will get your answer in time, though it may not be from me.
And with that, that goddess turned away from Ibraim, not answering any more questions about the reason for his transmigration.
The world around them shifted again. The calm waters rippling as though stirred by a sudden wind. The stars dimmed to a faint shimmer, and the golden light that surrounded the goddess began to wane into a softer, gentler glow. Ibraim stood there, still trying to process her words, his thoughts colliding between awe and frustration.
He wanted to speak again, to press her further, to demand the answers that had haunted him since the moment he awoke in this new life. But the look in her eyes, timeless, knowing, and unbearably kind held him still. There was no malice in her refusal, only an understanding that his path was still unfolding.
The goddess turned her gaze upward, toward the heavens that rippled like water above them. "Your journey has only begun, Ibraim. You stand at the threshold of change the one that will test the heart more than the mind. You must build, yes, but not only with your hands. Build with your soul, for what you create now will echo long after your name fades from stone."
Her voice softened, growing more distant as the world around them began to blur. "When the time comes, you will see why you were given this chance. Until then, walk your path with care. Listen to the people, to the land, and to the silence between both."
The light around her began to dissolve into drifting motes of gold, scattering across the dark expanse like sparks from a dying flame. Ibraim reached out instinctively, as if to hold onto her presence, but his fingers met only the fading warmth of her parting glow.
"Wait-" he tried to say, but the sound of his own voice was swallowed by the returning dark.
And then, he woke.
The morning light spilled through his window, painting long golden lines across the stone floor. His heart still raced, and for a moment, the air in his chamber seemed charged with that same divine warmth. But the goddess was gone, leaving behind only her words and the faintest whisper of her presence in his mind.
He sat there for a long while, staring at his hands. The same hands that had signed decrees, drafted plans, and drawn maps but yet they felt heavier now, burdened with a truth half-revealed.
Ibraim exhaled slowly, his eyes turning toward the window where the smoke of the waking city rose to meet the morning sun. The forge fires had already begun to burn again, and the steady rhythm of progress echoed faintly in the distance.
He stood, straightened his tunic, and looked out over the city that had become his to guide. Whatever destiny the goddess spoke of, whatever truth awaited him, it would have to wait. For now, his people needed him.
And so, beneath the dawn's first light, Ibraim began his day. The faint memory of divine eyes still lingering in the back of his mind, and the quiet promise of a purpose yet to be revealed.