The deeper they went into the Forgotten Hall, the colder it became—not from temperature, but from age.
"This place isn't just old," Mira whispered, "it's waiting."
Kaelen nodded. "Places like this aren't built. They're grown, fed by memory and purpose. And they remember more than we want them to."
Orin trailed behind, glancing at the mirrors they passed. Each one shimmered faintly, but none reacted like the first had.
At the end of the hall, they reached a sealed archway. Symbols along the edges pulsed dimly as Kaelen approached.
"Can you open it?" Orin asked.
"I can't," Kaelen said. "But you can."
Orin hesitated, then stepped forward and laid a hand on the arch.
The stone warmed. Then a voice echoed softly, not from the air—but from the glyphs themselves:
> "Name the Sky that Named You."
Orin frowned. "What does that mean?"
Kaelen's expression turned grim. "The sky-naming. A ritual long lost. It meant every attuned had a true name—one not given by parents, but by the sky itself. If you can speak it, the path opens."
"But… I don't know mine."
Mira touched his shoulder. "Try."
Orin closed his eyes.
He thought of the dreams—of spirals, stars, the voice in the anchor vision. Of chains. Of songs like wind through metal.
Then he spoke—not a word he'd ever learned, but one he felt rise from somewhere deep inside:
> "Elarion."
The arch flared with golden light.
The stone slid open with a low hum, revealing a chamber beyond—round, domed, and filled with floating orbs of light. In the center, a pedestal with a single object: a book bound in midnight-blue metal, with a glowing sigil on its cover.
Kaelen inhaled sharply. "The Codex of Threads."
He stepped forward reverently, but did not touch it.
Orin did.
As his fingers brushed the cover, the lights in the room dimmed—and the sigil pulsed. Then, words began to appear in the air above the book:
> "The Anchor has stirred. The Eye is watching. The War never ended."
Then the last line changed shape:
> "And the Hollow Star remembers."
Orin looked up. "What's the Hollow Star?"
Kaelen's face turned pale.
"Something that should never remember anything at all."