The cemetery fell silent.
Cold wind drifted through the broken gravestones as dust from the destroyed creature slowly settled across the cracked earth.
For several long seconds, neither man spoke.
Father Aldric stared at the spot where the monster had disintegrated, his silver cross still raised in one hand.
Across from him, Elias Vale calmly brushed a trace of silver dust from his glove.
The dream-thread he had absorbed moments ago still lingered inside his mind.
A faint residue of unfamiliar memories drifted through his thoughts like distant echoes.
Nightmares.
Fear.
Dozens of terrified villagers standing beneath endless darkness filled with watching eyes.
Elias exhaled slowly.
So that creature truly had been feeding on the dreams of Greyhaven.
Not simply stealing them.
Cultivating them.
Like a farmer growing crops.
Interesting.
Father Aldric finally lowered his cross.
"You should not have taken that energy."
Elias glanced at him.
"Why?"
The priest frowned.
"You don't know what it might do to your mind."
"That assumes I absorbed it without understanding it first."
Aldric studied him carefully.
"You're far too calm about all of this."
Elias smiled faintly.
"I tend to be."
The priest sighed and walked closer to the fissure splitting the cemetery ground.
The crack was still open.
But the dream energy leaking from it had almost vanished.
The parasite's destruction had clearly severed whatever unstable connection existed beneath the graves.
Aldric crouched near the edge and peered into the darkness.
"I think the disturbance is over."
"For now," Elias replied.
The priest glanced back at him.
"You think there will be more?"
Elias stepped closer to the fissure.
He could still feel faint ripples within the Sea of Dreams.
The parasite had been weak.
Barely a newborn entity.
Yet it had formed naturally from leaking dream energy.
Which meant something far more important.
The barrier between dream and reality was thinning.
And if one parasite could form…
Others could as well.
"Greyhaven isn't the problem," Elias said quietly.
Aldric stood.
"Explain."
Elias rested his gloved hand on the cracked stone of a nearby grave.
"The creature we just destroyed wasn't summoned."
"No ritual?"
"No cult."
"No artifact."
Aldric's eyes narrowed.
"Then what created it?"
Elias looked toward the cloudy sky.
"Dream pressure."
The priest didn't immediately understand.
So Elias continued.
"When large numbers of people experience the same dream repeatedly, the dream realm begins to reflect it."
"That sounds like superstition."
"It's not."
Elias's voice remained calm.
"The Sea of Dreams is shaped by human consciousness. Fear, belief, nightmares… they all leave traces."
Aldric crossed his arms.
"And you believe those traces created the monster?"
"Yes."
The priest looked unsettled by that idea.
"So our own nightmares are starting to manifest physically?"
"In rare cases."
Aldric was silent for a moment.
Then he said quietly, "That is… deeply troubling."
Elias chuckled softly.
"Yes. It is."
Wind moved through the cemetery again.
The clouds above Greyhaven shifted slowly across the dull morning sky.
For the first time since arriving in the village, the atmosphere felt normal.
The oppressive dream energy had faded.
The nightmares would likely stop tonight.
Aldric turned toward Elias again.
"I'll have to report this to the Church."
"Of course."
The priest studied him carefully.
"You're unusually knowledgeable about dream entities."
Elias met his gaze.
"I read a great deal."
Aldric didn't look convinced.
But he didn't press further.
Instead, he reached into his coat and pulled out a small leather notebook.
"I'll need to record everything that happened here."
"Feel free."
The priest opened the notebook and began writing.
"Unknown dream-born creature… manifested beneath cemetery… destroyed through combined intervention…"
He paused briefly.
Then looked up.
"What exactly should I call you in this report?"
Elias considered the question.
His true interests in the dream realm were not something the Church needed to understand.
Too much attention would be… inconvenient.
So he gave a simple answer.
"Elias Vale."
Aldric nodded and wrote the name down.
Then he closed the notebook.
"Well, Mr. Vale… regardless of your mysterious knowledge, you helped stop whatever that thing was."
Elias inclined his head slightly.
"I'm glad to have assisted."
Aldric turned and began walking toward the cemetery gate.
"I'll remain in Greyhaven a few more days to ensure the situation is stable."
Elias followed slowly behind him.
"Understandable."
As they left the broken graves behind, the village began to wake.
Farmers moved through the muddy streets.
Shopkeepers opened their doors.
Children ran through the narrow roads without any sign of fear.
None of them knew how close they had come to becoming food for a newborn nightmare.
Father Aldric stopped near the gate.
"I suppose this is where we part ways."
"For now," Elias replied.
The priest studied him one last time.
"There's something strange about you, Mr. Vale."
Elias smiled politely.
"I hear that often."
Aldric gave a small nod.
"If we meet again… I suspect it will not be under ordinary circumstances."
"That seems likely."
The priest turned and walked toward the center of the village.
Elias watched him disappear into the morning crowd.
Then he slowly looked down at his hand.
A faint silver mark glowed briefly beneath his glove.
The dream-thread he had absorbed earlier was still integrating with his mind.
Its memories were becoming clearer.
Not just nightmares.
But something else.
Something the parasite had sensed before its death.
Other disturbances.
Other places where dream energy was leaking into reality.
Elias's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
So Greyhaven had only been the beginning.
Far away…
New parasites were forming.
New nightmares were taking shape.
And somewhere deep within the Sea of Dreams, the distant presence of The Lucid One stirred faintly again.
Watching.
Waiting.
Curious to see what its chosen observer would do next.
Elias placed his hands behind his back and began walking down the quiet road leading out of Greyhaven.
His destination was already clear.
If dream parasites were beginning to appear across the world…
Then someone would eventually learn how to control them.
And Elias Vale intended to be the first.
Far above him, dark clouds slowly gathered along the horizon.
The first storm of the dream tide was coming.