Kael stood before the ruins of the old cathedral, moss curling between fractured spires and shattered stained glass. This was no holy place. Not anymore.
Ronan whistled low. "This place gives me chills."
Averin, ever calm, stepped forward. "Because the truth buried here was never meant to see daylight."
The doors groaned open, revealing stairs descending into shadow. The air grew colder with each step. Lyssa pressed closer to Kael, one hand near her dagger, the other resting on his shoulder. Mira followed silently, her eyes glowing faintly from a magic trinket—watchful, analyzing.
Below, the chamber opened into a circular vault lined with crystalline tomes and drifting glyphs that hovered like ghostly fireflies.
"This is..." Kael breathed. "Knowledge carved into soul-crystal."
"Exactly," Averin nodded. "They hold memories. Thoughts. Entire bloodlines encoded into crystal."
Kael stepped forward and touched one. A pulse shot through him.
---
MEMORY FRAGMENT: A warlord stood atop a bloodied hill, veins aglow with violet lightning. "Let the gods fall. I am the root of Arden now."
---
Kael staggered back. Lyssa caught him again, alarmed.
"Too much," she said.
But Kael smiled. "No. Just enough."
As they examined more, Mira found a tome that wouldn't open.
"Sealed by a blood vow," she said. "Only descendants of the Fractured Lineage can break it."
Kael pricked his finger and pressed it to the crystal. It cracked open, releasing not words... but a whisper.
"She still lives."
Everyone froze.
"Who?" Lyssa asked.
Kael stepped back, his breath caught. "My mother."
Averin's eyes widened. "Impossible. She was declared dead after the coup."
"She lives," Kael whispered. "Imprisoned by Selene in the city of glass."
Above them, the crystal walls trembled. Something had heard them.
And it was coming.