The shrine no longer breathed with mystery.
Not for Julius.
He had seen the bones beneath its skin, unearthed what even the Saint's faithful had not known existed.
As he stepped from the circular vault chamber, the blue-flamed torches dimmed one by one behind him, sealing the past like a tomb gently closing its eyes.
In his arms: a lacquered case of relics, specially packed by Root operatives the moment he had cataloged them.
The Codex Solaris sat pressed to his chest, veiled in black silk.
He hadn't let them touch it.
Wouldn't.
Not until the right place was found.
Not until it could speak its hidden knowledge across the breadth of his empire.
The ascent through the shrine's spiral was faster this time.
Light from the surface bled downward with every step, gilding the stone with the gold of a waning sun.
And when Julius emerged at last from the subterranean hall, blinking against the sudden glare of day, the full breadth of his empire's reach greeted him.
