The land beneath me is gold, truly gold now. Every blade of grass is a thin and concentrated sunbeam, the sky is clear and pale as river water. I look up and around me, feeling liberated, as if this place and this place alone knows the old Eudica itch and its only cure.

I sniff the air, tasting a symphony of wheats and what must be distant fruits, but yet there's not a trace of another living spirit for miles around.

It settles, all at once, that there must be none because I myself am not living. I feel the absence of breath like a hole in my chest, but best I can tell my body is the same as its always been.

"Is this it, then?" I ask the sky, the wheat, and whatever force must be watching beyond. I wonder if Verhamera herself presides over these last pieces of home found in the back of our minds, or if this is just a hallucination conjured by my own nervous body to persuade me not to panic as I move beyond.

"Not quite." says a voice, high and bright and all too familiar. A white Canis appears behind me, bright as new snow and just as shimmering. Her eyes are a peculiar dark blue with a starlike rim around the pupil, and she bares a sad smile that reminds me, in a strange way, of Marigold.

As I look longer, I see my own figure etched into hers. We share the curve to our back, our posture, our smile... I recognize her at once from another darkness, after which everything is a hazy blur. Something rises within me, thick and awful, like liquid smoke.

I was thrown upwards. Stabbed.

I never got to say goodbye to Ivy and Rose.

... and what next?

The beginning of memories that aren't mine drift through my mind like clouds.

"You're my heartline, aren't you?" I pause. "The one who was bought back."

She nods, guilt burning beneath her bright fur.

"We have a lot to talk about." I say, trying to start friendly conversation. "It's a nice day for a walk, wherever we are."

She nods. "Now that you mention it, we must be off."

"Where are we going?" I ask, staring out into the distance.

"You already know."

The golden fields stretch on forever, rich with the sound of bells, and I am finally free by her side as we run off to find our next great adventure.