Where the Shadow Falls and Starlight Blooms

Previously

…"This is the crossing, Leo," they whispered, their voices laced with a solemnity he hadn't heard before. "The Shadow Sea. You must go alone now. The Guardians of the Night will guide you." Leo looked back one last time, a pang of longing for the familiar woods, for the distant village lights that would soon be visible from his window, but the pull of his mission was a stronger current. He stepped into the boat, the cool, slick wood a stark contrast to the rough, comforting earth. As he pushed off from the unseen shore, the darkness enveloped him, thick and absolute, the Glimmerwings’ lights receding like fading memories until only the faint, rhythmic pulse of the Shadow Sea remained.