Ria's brow creased. "Center of the universe? That same weird place from before?"
"Not exactly but close," Endric replied. "Where the first threads crossed. Old cartographers called it the Loom. The five sacred items can only be used to perform the ritual there and nowhere else."
Gustav rolled the downsized blade once in his palm. The metal whispered. Light rippled along the edge as if it were tasting the vacuum. "Then we go." He glanced at Endric. "You can map the line?"
Endric nodded, wincing. "Give me a minute to breathe and not die, and yes."
Sersi shot him a look. "I'll kill you if you die."
"How comforting," Endric muttered, but he set his fingers against the broken rock and closed his eyes.
Lines rose in the air, creating thin, green filaments only he could summon, threading from distant constellations, locking angles, weighting the geometry of the climb.
The shape resolved: an invisible arrow through heaven, pointing toward a place nothing else could see.
