The wind at the summit of Skyreach had a silence to it — not the silence of peace, but of absence. A void left behind.
Kaelen stood at the edge of the collapsed observatory, the Crown of Skyreach cradled in his hands. It pulsed faintly, cold and bright, with a light that reminded him of winter constellations. From this height, the world below was lost to mist. Only clouds stretched in every direction, rolling seas of vapor tinged with gold from the setting sun.
He did not speak. He hadn't since the battle ended.
Lys sat nearby, huddled in her torn cloak. She'd bled magic until her hands were scorched, her voice raw. The veins in her temples still glowed faintly from where celestial wards had burned against her skin.
Aelric paced the perimeter, eyes scanning every shifting shadow. His swagger was gone, replaced by a tightness in his shoulders Kaelen hadn't seen since Iskaran. He didn't trust this silence. Neither did Kaelen.
And they weren't alone. Not anymore.
After the Crown was claimed, after the guardian of Skyreach — that vast, winged relic of star-metal and will — had fallen, something had changed in the ruins. Not just the crumbling walls or the flickering constellations across the stone floor. Something deeper.
The air felt thinner. The gravity of the place... wrong. Like the sky itself was holding its breath.
Later That Night – Campfire Beneath the Stars
They made camp in a sheltered alcove just below the observatory's broken dome. The cold here was sharp, precise — like a knife pressed against the skin. They lit no fire. Fire was dangerous now. Fire drew things.
Instead, Lys summoned a pale dome of wardlight, soft as candle glow, and they sat beneath it in the silence of exhausted survivors.
"I saw it," she said quietly. "When you touched the Crown."
Kaelen didn't look at her. "What did you see?"
Lys hesitated. "The sky. Not our sky — the old one. With stars that moved in patterns. A map. A gate. I think Skyreach was more than a kingdom. It was a bridge."
"A bridge to what?"
"Not where. When."
Kaelen turned, finally. "You think the Skyreach Crown manipulates time?"
"I think it remembers," she said, eyes gleaming. "And memory is power."
Aelric spat. "Wonderful. So now we're time-traveling ghost hunters fighting a corpse-king with a god complex."
Kaelen didn't smile. He stared into the dark.
"I saw something too. When I put the Crown on."
"What was it?" Lys asked.
"Myself," he said. "But older. Standing in a city of light — and ash. Wearing all the Crowns. The world around me… falling apart."
Midnight Visions
That night, the dreams came — or perhaps not dreams at all.
Kaelen stood atop a spire of glass, the stars above pulsing like wounds. A voice echoed through the sky: "You were not meant to find them all. The Nine were meant to stay broken."
He turned and saw the Hollow King — not as a shadowed figure of rot and bone, but a man, pale and noble once, wearing the Crown of Unity. And beside him, another figure — veiled in silver, face hidden.
"You know what happens when the last Crown is joined. So why keep walking?"
Kaelen awoke with frost in his lungs. The Crown of Skyreach pulsed beside him, dim now, but watching.
Morning – Reckonings
"We can't stay here," Aelric said at dawn, tightening the straps on his pack. "Every second we sit, the Hollow King draws closer."
Lys rose slowly, clutching her staff. "We need to understand what this Crown does. It's not like the others. It's not just power — it's perspective."
"Then take it with us," Aelric said. "Study on the road."
Kaelen didn't move. He stared eastward, toward the mountains that marked the edge of the world. "There's no road where we're going."
Lys frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean the path is gone. The next Crown…" He held up the Skyreach artifact, which shimmered faintly in answer. "It's hidden in a place outside of time. The ruins of Iridrael — the kingdom that was erased."
"You mean the Sundering," Lys whispered. "That place was folded out of history. No map shows it."
Kaelen nodded. "But the Crown does. And I think it wants us to go."
Aelric groaned. "Brilliant. Following magical compasses into erased kingdoms. I should've stayed a mercenary."
Lys smiled weakly. "You're still a mercenary. Just one with very poor luck."
Final Moments in Skyreach
As they descended from Skyreach, the wind howled once more. The ruins behind them began to flicker — not just decay, but fade. Like a memory finally let go.
Kaelen paused at the edge, looking back.
"There's something else," he said quietly. "Up there. Still watching."
Lys turned. "A guardian?"
"Maybe," Kaelen said. "Or maybe something worse. Something that wants the Crowns gathered. That wants the ending to come."
"Then we don't stop," Aelric said. "We keep moving. And we figure out how to break the pattern before it breaks us."
Kaelen nodded once.
Then they stepped beyond the clouds.
And Skyreach was gone.