A hundred-year cycle had turned, and the spring equinox came again.
The Ruin Abyss Well had long since sunk deep into the earth's veins, becoming an invisible trace of light whose presence only those with bright Heart Lanterns could sense. And the Source of Starfire was no longer merely the core at the earth's heart. It flowed among the lights of the mortal world, existing in every kindhearted act of kindling, in every resonance of longing.
Yet in this season when all things were renewed and lamplights pulsed in unison, a faint message slowly emerged from the depths of the Source of Starfire—
"She will return."
—the first awakened Spirit of Light, the Lamp-Guardian Spirit born from a hundred-year-old Blind-Eyed Old Woman. Her soul's light had become a flame on the verge of going out, about to dissolve into eternal silence. In her ordinary mortal body, she had kindled countless motes of Light Dust, awakened the Source of Starfire, and ushered in the New Era of Lamp Guardians. Now, after a thousand years of guardianship, her spirit form had grown thin, like morning dew about to melt into the rising sun. At last, she would return to her source.
The news spread, and the Nine Provinces fell silent.
There were no horns, no decrees, yet from the Northern Border Snowfield to the depths of the Southern Sea, from the lone smoke of the Western Desert to the lighthouses of the Eastern Sea, every Lamp Guarder, regardless of age or station, lit a lamp on the same night.
They knew—
This was not a farewell, but a Homeward Farewell.
One that would take Heart Flame as its guide and lamplight as its bridge, to send her home.
Midnight drew near, and heaven and earth lay hushed.
Above the former site of