The Hollow Spire no longer pulsed—it breathed.
Silver light flickered through its bones. Memory, once fractured or burned, had begun weaving back into the world. And still, the marrow book sat on the cracked throne, unopened to its final page.
The Ember Ward had been undone.
But the silence that followed wasn't peace.
It was waiting.
---
Inside the Spire
Everyone gathered around the marrow book.
Lira leaned silently against a pillar, her blade now sheathed but her eyes alert.
Sylas circled the outer edge of the room, pacing with tension he refused to name.
Cai sat with knees pulled to his chest, eyes glowing faintly gold—his link to memory still active.
Marin scribbled notes as the book's pages shifted faintly, drawing symbols onto bark-paper.
Neera leaned close to Veyra, who tended to Cai with slow, practiced care.
Roran stood near the stairway, watching the entrance. He didn't speak unless necessary.
The marrow book's final page remained blank.
Until now.
Words began to form—not inked, but growing, as if roots had remembered what they were supposed to say:
> The final name was not lost. It was locked.
Not by time.
Not by fear.
But by blood.
Elric stepped forward.
The First Patient stood beside him. "This name was hidden from the marrow record itself. It is the Council's last silence."
---
The Blood Seal
Elric touched the page.
Nothing.
The First Patient cut her palm gently and let a drop of silver-threaded blood fall onto the book.
Still nothing.
Then Lira said quietly, "It's you."
Elric hesitated.
Then nodded.
He drew a thin cut across his thumb and pressed it to the page.
The book shuddered.
The blank page burned open—not in fire, but in light.
One name appeared, carved in red-gold thread:
> Kael Taran-Varnell
Silence followed.
Even Cai stopped glowing for a moment.
Sylas stepped closer, reading the name twice. "It's not just a name. That's a bloodline."
Veyra glanced up from Cai. "Another hybrid?"
Marin whispered, "No records. Not even on the deep scrolls. Whoever this was… the Council erased him with intention."
The First Patient closed her eyes.
> "He was the firstborn child of the Pact's flesh and the memory wardens. He was meant to bridge both sides. They called him the origin. The one who would inherit both healing and memory."
Lira narrowed her eyes. "Then why does no one remember him?"
"Because he chose not to obey," said Serenith, stepping from the shadows near the edge of the chamber.
---
The Buried Truth
Everyone turned as the elven warden entered.
"I watched Kael vanish before the Pact was signed," she continued. "The Council couldn't kill him. So they sealed him in something even deeper than root or blood."
Roran grunted. "Like what?"
"Silence."
---
Elsewhere: The Cracked Chamber
Far from the Spire, under layers of buried stone and spell-locked steel, a long-forgotten vault groaned.
Its walls had been sealed with a rune of forgetting. Until now.
A pod of root-glass cracked from within.
Inside: a boy. Or a man. Or something that had been both.
Eyes opened—silver and gold, spiraling.
He floated in the stasis, body still unaged, voice barely a whisper.
> "Elric…"
---
Back at the Spire
Elric stared down at the name, fist clenched.
"He was the first," he whispered. "I'm not the original. I'm the echo."
The First Patient shook her head.
> "You're not his shadow. You're his choice."
Sylas added, "Which means he's still alive."
Elric looked up. "Then it's time to find him."
Lira nodded once. "Before the Council does."
---