In the heart of midnight, within a dream more vivid than life, Elias walked through a city of silhouetted spires, where every shadow whispered secrets of another time. He wasn't sure how he arrived, only that he had always belonged.

A woman in a tattered, lace gown gestured him forward, her figure parting like mist around him. "You seek it still, don't you?" she asked in an echo of familiarity. Could it be that forgotten puzzle he's been piecing together, shard by shard, since the first twilight he remembered longing? Shadows curled around her words, distorting the meanings somewhere beyond recognition.

The path beneath his feet shifted like sand, spiraling towards an unseen center. Elias felt the pull of gravity bending around him, merging dream with the veiled tapestry of waking life. "Look," she said, pointing to the sky, but no stars—a mirror of endless dreams reflected back a single, incomplete truth.

The city sighed as the winds began to change course, drawing curtains between epochs unseen. Unanswered riddles appeared etched into the brickwork, written in glyphs not meant for human tongues. "The shadows know," she murmured, leaving him with one unfathomable piece less. And then, only silence awaited his reply.