Kael lay crumpled on the cold, veined stone, the impact of the chaotic jump having battered every bone in his body. He stared up at the obsidian-plated face of the Keeper of the Fractured Library, his exhaustion absolute.
"I have no gold. No power to offer, and no life to trade," Kael rasped, his voice raw. He had to negotiate. "My Absolver's Debt is a promise of restoration to your knowledge. I offer the only currency you can't easily acquire: the Absolution of a truth that has been forcibly suppressed."
The Keeper's featureless head tilted, its movement silent and slow. The air in the vast, echoing chamber, filled with the scent of decaying secrets, seemed to vibrate with interest.
"The Absolver's Debt. A unique currency," the Keeper resonated. "The Broker of Fates builds its dominion upon universal debt. This Library is built upon universal knowledge, which is the antithesis of all debt. Your Absolution is a force that purifies lies, restoring knowledge to its whole state. This is of interest."
The Keeper moved, gliding closer, its staff tracing a faint arc of light on the stone floor. "We demand a Debt of Restoration. A truth, a 'book,' was suppressed millennia ago—a core piece of knowledge that was sealed by a powerful Sovereign who feared its existence. You will restore this knowledge to the Library, and in exchange, you will receive the truths you need to defeat your hunter."
Kael didn't hesitate. A debt of future service was better than instant annihilation. "I accept. Give me the knowledge."
The Keeper's robes seemed to swell, and the vast, floating tablets around them glowed with faint, decipherable light.
"Very well, Reclaimer. Here is the knowledge you require:"
* The Broker's Shield: The Broker's main fortress, its vault, and its Dissection Chamber are protected by a passive defence field derived from the Debt of Silence. This field instantly suppresses all unspoken truths, including internal commands and hidden intentions. Your power, Absolution, is typically an internal act of will. To break this shield, you must learn to speak your Absolution—to give voice and form to the truth you intend to purify. You must become the Word.
The Broker had weaponised silence. To defeat him, Kael realised, he needed to make his internal truth an external force.
* The Arbitrator's Gambit: The Player you call Lysandra foresaw the consequence of your capture. Her forced detour was calculated to bring you to this nexus. She is currently being held captive, but her power, Karmic Arbitration, enables her to slow down the interrogation process by presenting her captors with mathematically logical consequences for every aggressive action. She is buying you time.
Lysandra was the anchor he needed; she had not been defeated, only strategically delayed. He had time.
* The Book of Void: The truth you must one day restore is designated the Codex of Unwritten Space. It is a record of all the unmapped, sovereign-less dimensions the very space you just traversed. It holds the key to the ultimate weakness of all Sovereigns.
The influx of knowledge was a cold, pure torrent; replacing the stark void of Kael's exhaustion. The Keeper then pointed its staff at Kael. A beam of soft, stabilising mana flowed into his battered core, healing his deepest bruises and restoring a fraction of his power.
"You have been granted a period of recovery. But time is linear where you are going..."
The Keeper projected a new set of coordinates onto the wall. They were not stable; they flickered wildly, and the temporal readings were deeply unsettling.
"I will return you to your world, New York City," the Keeper stated. "But your final act of Absolution disrupted the Broker's timeline. You will arrive at the temporal coordinates of twelve hours after the Great Confession of Debt was meant to occur. Your action will have created a vacuum. A new problem will have arisen."
Kael felt a sudden wave of dread. He hadn't just saved the city; he had thrown the global system into chaos.
He rose to his feet, a renewed, terrible certainty in his stance. He had a mission, a debt, and a way to fight back. He looked at the vast, silent Library, absorbing the lessons of its ancient silence. He needed to learn to speak his truth.
Kael walked toward the unstable jump gate, his hand instinctively clutching the empty air.
"Farewell, Reclaimer," the Keeper's voice resonated. "The silence is broken. Now, let us see the consequences."
Kael stepped through the gate, hurtling back to a world he had saved, only to find a new disaster waiting.