The next morning, Xinhai was awakened by the sun's warm, scattered light.
He opened his eyes to see the eastern ridgeline traced by a slender golden line, as though someone had dipped an extremely fine brush in ink mixed with gold dust and lightly drawn across dark blue paper.
That golden line slowly widened and brightened. At first, it was only a brilliant golden-red arc, like a spoonful of molten gold gently poured along the edge of the horizon.
The arc climbed upward at a visibly discernible speed, and light burst forth with it, dyeing the entire sky a warm orange-gold.
The clouds were illuminated through. The wispy clouds that had once been merely pale gray and light pink turned into a vast flow of golden red beneath the penetrating sunlight, like brocade unfurling across the sky in the wind.
Light streamed through gaps in the treetops above the hill, casting long, warm slanting beams across the grass. Tiny motes of dust drifted slowly within them, like little Pokémon awakened by sunlight.
Xinhai sat up and stretched lazily toward the rising sun.
His bones gave a series of crisp pops, as though this body, which had been running for over two months, had completed its morning recovery reboot.
"Good morning, Gardevoir." He turned his head and smiled at the Gardevoir beside him, who had just woken up.
"Gardevoir." Gardevoir's eyelashes trembled faintly in the morning sun, a gentle curve on her lips. Then she rose softly, preparing breakfast together with Xinhai.
As the sun rose above the horizon, the companions in the camp gradually woke as well.
Eevee poked her little head out of her sleeping bag. The morning light made her large brown eyes squint briefly, her ears twitched, and then she let out a huge yawn, revealing the