(Eliara POV) I was half asleep on that same couch Gray had left me on, when I heard footsteps approaching. I sat up instinctively, straightening my posture. Gray was in the front of the group, leading them. Next to him was Glitch. Val was in the middle, and Owen lingered in the back. Gray cleared his throat. "Uh...hey. Eliara, listen. We know you're hiding something. Let's be real here, you weren't that subtle about it. We just want to know if you..." He hesitated, gesturing to the air as if trying to pull the right words out of the oxygen around us. Owen chimed in, his voice soft and melodic. "We want to know if you want to talk, or at least, if you wanted some space to think for a bit." I was silent for a moment. My eyes moved from Gray, to Glitch, to Val, to Owen, and then back to Gray again. I spoke after a moment. My words were low and hesitant. "Can I just talk about it with Owen and Gray?" Val and Glitch shared a look before shrugging. "Yeah, sure," Val said. "We'll be in the kitchen if anyone needs us." Glitch added before the two walked off. I turned to Gray and Owen. Gray was fidgeting with a loose thread on his hoodie. But Owen seemed relaxed, calm. Which was perfectly normal for him. It seemed nothing could disturb that man's peace. Owen sat down in front of the couch, facing me. Gray quickly followed, sitting next to Owen. I sighed. My eyes drifted to the floor. "So, about that secret. It's...complicated," I started. "It was a dream I had. I think it's some kind of omen. I was in this dark void, and then, there was this short man. He just kind of appeared out of nowhere. There was this ball of dark light floating in the air. He grabbed it, and BOOM!" I made a gesture of something exploding with my hands. "Huge flash of dark light! And then, I woke up." Gray and Owen were silent for a moment before Gray spoke. "It doesn't seem that bad though. What if he's a good person?" "He wasn't! I'm sure of it!" I interjected. "He had this wide eyed, manic look in his eyes. It was the look of a madman, I'll tell you that. Whatever he was going to use that dark ball for, it wasn't for a good purpose." There was another pause of silence from the two men. Owen was the one to speak first this time. "Well, if you got this vision, it wasn't for no reason. This vision is an omen of an impending doom that we must stop." "What do you mean, 'we'?" Gray looked confused. "This vision was given to Eliara only. How does it concern anyone else?" Gray winced. "Er, no offense to you, Eliara. It's not that I don't want to help. But why would we help if the vision was given to you? This seems more of a solo quest in my opinion." "That's where you're wrong, Gray." Owen cut him off before he could continue. "You know I'm an intuitive man. And I have a feeling that this threat is one Eliara cannot face on her own. We must help her, whether we like it or not." Gray and I stared at Owen for a moment, looking like two fish out of water. Was he serious? I looked for a hint of a smirk or a flash of playfulness in his eyes. But Owen's face was a solemn, grave mask. "Hm, well...we should tell Val and Glitch then. And we should figure out where to start with this. After all, we barely know anything about that man or what we are supposed to do." I pointed out. The two men stood up, and I did the same. "Then, let's get to it." Gray muttered.
