The road south was broken.
Not by nature—but by time.
The further they traveled from Redhollow, the less the land seemed to know what it was. Forest gave way to pale grasslands. Grass faded into cracked stone. And finally, stone opened into ash.
Gray dust coated the hills like bone powder. No trees grew. No animals moved.
Only silence.
The Hollow Spire rose from the center of the valley like a shard of black glass.
Thin. Towering. Unnatural.
It didn't belong to the world—it had outlived it.
---
At the Base of the Spire
The door was already open.
Not broken. Not forced.
Just… waiting.
Elric stepped forward, flanked by Lira and Sylas. The others stayed at the edge of the valley, watching from a distance. Marin, Cai, and Veyra prepared the fallback camp.
Sylas whispered, "They knew we'd come."
Inside, the air was cold. The walls pulsed faintly, etched with spiral carvings like those on the memory spine.
But there were no roots here.
Only stone.
And voices.
> "He carries the spark."
> "Too late… or just in time?"
> "Will he remember what we gave up?"
The voices weren't spoken aloud—they were carved into the air.
---
The Chamber of Names
At the end of a spiraling hallway, the path opened into a wide circular room.
A single throne sat in the center—not gold, not bone. Stone. Split down the middle. A throne that had once been whole… and had been cracked on purpose.
Before it stood a figure.
A man in a worn cloak, hair like iron, eyes dull but steady.
He did not bow.
"Elric Taran," he said. "You came."
Elric stopped. "Varnell?"
The man nodded. "My name is Thorne Varnell. And I was the last witness to the Pact's writing."
Lira blinked. "You're old, then."
"I am what memory made of me," Thorne said. "And I've waited for someone who could remember without being consumed."
He gestured to the cracked throne.
"This belonged to no king. It was a place of choice. To sit here meant you would choose memory over silence."
Elric stepped forward. "Why now?"
"Because you broke the Pact," Thorne said. "And the world is unraveling faster than truth can catch it."
---
The Hidden Record
Thorne moved to the side of the throne and placed a hand on a nearby pedestal. A groove opened—and inside lay a book bound in transparent skin. Not paper. Not bark.
Elric hesitated. "That's not…"
"It's marrow," Sylas whispered.
Thorne nodded. "The First Record. Written by those who created the Root. Before it was corrupted."
He looked at Elric.
"If you read it, you'll know the real cost of healing this world."
---
Outside the Spire
Serenith stood at the valley's edge.
Beside her, the younger elven woman—her daughter—watched the tower silently.
"He's inside," the daughter said. "And so is Sylas."
Serenith's eyes narrowed. "He'll have to choose soon."
The daughter looked up. "Between what?"
"Between being a healer…"
She paused.
"…and becoming something worse."
---