The stars peeled away like paper.
Orin landed hard on cold, wet stone, gasping. The world around him was spinning—gray cliffs, howling winds, a sky torn between dawn and storm. Behind him, Mira stumbled through the gate and dropped to her knees. Kaelen appeared last, skidding to a stop as the Threadgate snapped shut behind him with a low hiss.
"Where are we now?" Mira groaned, coughing from the shift.
Kaelen stood and surveyed their surroundings. "Skyfall Refuge. Hidden along the Spine of Ederyn. One of the last sanctuaries untouched by the Order."
The "refuge" was more ruin than shelter. Broken towers leaned at odd angles, half-sunk into rock and cloud. A narrow stone bridge stretched out ahead, cracked in the center. Beyond it, a shattered keep stood atop a cliff, its silhouette jagged against the swirling sky.
Lightning forked in the distance. No thunder followed.
"The storm's unnatural," Kaelen said. "This place isn't as abandoned as it should be."
Mira narrowed her eyes. "You mean we're not alone."
Kaelen nodded. "Refuge or not, something's watching."
They crossed the bridge carefully. Orin couldn't shake the feeling of being weighed—like invisible eyes tracked his every breath. When they reached the keep's entrance, Kaelen paused and touched a small stone set into the door.
It glowed softly—then opened inward with a hiss.
Inside was darkness—thick, velvety, and wrong.
"Stay close," Kaelen said.
Orin stepped in.
At once, the air changed. He felt drawn, not by magic, but by memory. The deeper they went, the more the halls began to reshape themselves—walls straightening, dust fading, torch sconces igniting one by one with pale blue flame.
Then, in a great round chamber, they found it.
An enormous star map covered the ceiling—half-faded, half-burning with new light. Beneath it, a stone table hummed with power. At its center rested a prism of glass, suspended in air, rotating slowly.
Kaelen exhaled. "It's still active."
"What is this place really?" Orin asked.
"A fragment of the Observatory Network," Kaelen said. "A way the Skyborn once watched the anchors. It might be able to show us where the next one is."
He placed the Skyglass shard into the socket on the table.
Light flared.
And then a new image formed in the air above the map: a desert of black sand. A city drowned in shadow. And a tower—floating upside down, suspended from nothing.
Beneath it, a single word appeared:
> "Nahl'Karai."
Mira frowned. "What is that place?"
Kaelen's voice dropped.
"Where the Hollow Star was born."