The Veiled Archive was quiet now, its air pulsing with ancient magic. Aeren stood beneath the hovering tome, his hand inches from the cover. Runes danced across its surface like living ink.
Kael crept up beside him. "Don't touch it like it's a squirrel trap. Books hate fear."
Roen cleared his throat. "It's an artifact older than kingdoms. Possibly sentient. Possibly cursed. Maybe don't listen to the raccoon girl?"
Kael scoffed. "First of all, I'm not just raccoon girl. I'm also chaos incarnate."
"Helpful," Elira muttered.
Aeren touched the book.
Magic surged outward in a dome of silver fire. Everyone was thrown back, except Aeren—who remained floating mid-air, eyes glazed, the book glowing before him.
"Aeren!" Kael shouted.
His body convulsed, then went still. In his mind, a voice spoke:
"You are not yet what you must be. But the path is open."
He saw visions. A tower cracking. A blade of void. Kael's face—older, sadder. The Hollow Crown rising. And Aris… reaching for him, not to fight, but to embrace.
Then he was back.
He dropped to the ground, coughing. Kael caught him.
"Whoa, you okay?" she asked, eyes wide.
"I saw…" He stopped. "We don't have much time."
Roen stepped forward. "Did it speak?"
"Yes. And it told me where to go next."
"Where?"
"The Temple of the Echoed Flame."
Veylan inhaled sharply. "That place hasn't existed in two centuries."
"Not physically," Aeren said. "But it's echoed. It lives in memory. And I have the key now."
Kael grinned. "We're doing memory spelunking now? Awesome."
---
Later, as they camped in the ruins, Kael sat beside Aeren again. She offered him jerky. He refused.
"You keep looking at me like I'm a ghost," she said.
"I saw you," he said. "In the vision."
"Oh? How'd I look?"
"Sad. Alone."
Kael shrugged. "That tracks."
"Why?"
She gave him a long look. "I wasn't always alone, you know. I had a family once. A home. Then they tried to sell me to the Hollow Crown. Turns out having magic that eats other magic makes you a hot commodity."
Aeren was silent.
"I ran. Been running since. Sometimes I forget how to stop."
He touched her hand gently. "You don't have to run anymore."
She blinked. Then smirked. "If you're flirting with me, Evernight, at least buy me dinner first."
Roen walked by at that exact moment and muttered, "Gods help us all."
---
Far away, Aris stood in a chamber made of obsidian and void. A dozen Hollow mages knelt before her. She opened her palm—and a second Shard of Ash rose into the air.
"He has awakened it," she whispered.
"Shall we move?" one mage asked.
"No," Aris said. "Let him come. Let him think he is ready."
She smiled faintly.
"Let him find the Echo."