The sealed corridor stretched into the darkness beneath Eryndor.
Eight silver lines ran along its walls, glowing whenever Kael, Neferet, and Vaelthira passed. Their light was gentle, almost welcoming, yet something ancient lingered beneath it.
Vaelthira walked ahead, her white hair flowing behind her black-and-white cape.
"This city remembers my bloodline," she murmured. "But why would it hide itself from history?"
Neferet examined the silver markings.
"Perhaps your ancestors were protecting something. The question is whether they protected it from an enemy or from themselves."
Vaelthira glanced at her. "You speak as though you have experience with forgotten mistakes."
Neferet gave her a measured look.
"I am currently investigating an ancient betrayal that my own pantheon cannot fully remember. Believe me, I understand."
Kael smiled faintly.
"You two are getting along wonderfully."
"Do not interrupt," both goddesses replied simultaneously.
Kael raised his hands.
"Understood. I shall remain a decorative presence."
Vaelthira almost smiled before continuing down the corridor.
At its end stood a circular chamber. Seven enormous statues surrounded a black stone pedestal. Each statue wore a different crown, and every face had been carefully erased.
Behind the pedestal stood an eighth statue.
Unlike the others, it had no crown.
Its hands were open, as though offering something invisible to the world.
Vaelthira stopped breathing for a moment.
"That symbol…" she whispered.
Carved into the statue's chest was the ancient crest of the Nocthyr dragons.
"My ancestors were here."
Kael studied the statue without touching it.
"They did more than visit. Someone wanted their connection to this chamber forgotten."
Neferet approached the pedestal. Seven shallow depressions surrounded a central space, but none matched the shape of a crown.
Instead, each depression held the outline of a different object: a feather, a broken chain, a small flame, a silver scale, a drop of water, an open eye, and an empty ring.
"What were these?" she asked.
A voice answered from the walls.
"THE SEVEN OFFERED THEIR AUTHORITY."
The chamber trembled.
"THE EIGHTH OFFERED HER MEMORY."
Vaelthira stepped toward the statue.
"Her?"
The silver lines flashed.
"THE EIGHTH WAS NOT A GODDESS OF DOMINION. SHE WAS THE KEEPER OF WHAT THE VICTORS WISHED TO FORGET."
Neferet's expression tightened.
"Then the First Covenant was created after the betrayal to preserve the truth."
"Not merely the truth," Kael corrected quietly. "The right of those who lost to tell their own story."
Silence filled the chamber.
For the first time since arriving in Eryndor, Vaelthira looked uncertain.
"If my ancestors helped protect this place, why did they abandon it?"
A final inscription appeared beneath the statue.
"THE DRAGON CLANS DID NOT FLEE THE EIGHTH."
The words faded.
New ones formed.
"THEY FLED THE SEVEN WHO DEMANDED HER SILENCE."
Vaelthira's hands curled into fists.
"My ancestors were ordered to leave?"
"Perhaps," Neferet said carefully. "But we still need the complete record. An inscription can reveal a truth while leaving out the circumstances surrounding it."
Vaelthira looked at her, then nodded.
"I will not condemn the dead based on half a story. But I will not let their sacrifices be erased again."
Kael's expression softened.
"That sounds like a good place to begin."
Suddenly, the eighth statue's open hands began glowing.
A small crystal emerged between its palms. Inside it flickered the image of a woman with silver-white hair, dark horns, and eyes that seemed to contain an entire night sky.
She looked directly at Vaelthira.
"Descendant of the Nocthyr bloodline… if you can hear my voice, then the seven have begun moving again."
The image distorted.
"Do not trust the records. Do not trust the thrones. And above all…"
The crystal cracked.
"Do not allow them to choose who deserves to remember."
The light vanished.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Vaelthira carefully lifted the broken crystal from the pedestal.
"I came here seeking my civilization's lost history," she said. "Now I have found a warning."
Kael turned toward the dark corridor behind them.
"And someone clearly wanted us to find it."
Far above Eryndor, beyond the abandoned observatory, a distant silver bell rang once.
In Aaru, Ra suddenly dropped the scroll he was reading.
In Dracoryn, High Sovereign Dravok felt an ancient seal awaken beneath his palace.
And in a place absent from every map, a veiled woman opened her eyes.
"The descendant has entered the chamber," she whispered.
A second figure stood behind her.
"Should we stop her?"
"No."
The veiled woman looked toward the distant darkness.
"Let Vaelthira discover what her ancestors did."
Her voice grew colder.
"Then we shall see whether she chooses the same mistake."