The Silver Wastes were a scar on the world. A land caught between memory and oblivion, where time frayed like old silk. Every step forward whispered voices from the past.
Kael, Lyssa, Ronan, and Averin arrived at its edge in a spectral storm.
"She came through here," Ronan confirmed, kneeling beside a crushed flower.
Lyssa glanced into the swirling sands. "That tower ahead—it's alive."
Indeed, the Tower of Memory spiraled into the sky like a jagged needle of glass and sorrow. Within its mirrored walls lay the truths Mira sought—and perhaps the end of her mind.
They advanced.
At the tower's base, a guardian awaited—an armored knight made of broken clocks and sand.
"Name your greatest regret," it demanded.
Kael stepped forward. "Trusting Selene."
The knight bowed. "You may pass."
Lyssa followed. "Killing my own sister."
Ronan's voice was quiet. "Abandoning my home."
Averin hesitated. "Loving a man I had to betray."
The door opened.
Inside, the air warped. Memories bled into architecture. Kael saw his childhood room beside a throne room. Lyssa's execution chamber next to a wedding hall that never happened.
They found Mira in a room of mirrors—each showing a different life.
In one, she was queen. In another, dead. In a third, Kael held Lyssa close, and Mira stood behind them, eyes dull.
"I've seen too much," she whispered. "I don't know what's real anymore."
Kael grabbed her hand. "This is. Me. Us."
But the Tower wasn't done.
A version of Kael stepped forward—a perfect prince. Golden, smiling, everything Kael should have been.
"I can lead them better," it said. "Let me be the one who saves Arden."
Lyssa threw her dagger. It phased through him.
Mira stepped forward. "You're not him."
The echo smiled. "No. But I'm who you wish he was."
She looked back at Kael, eyes wide.
And for a terrifying second... she hesitated.