The air turned electric. Essence coiled in the stone like a trapped animal. The Librarian's blank face tilted toward the archway, where red flame now licked across the ancient carvings like living blood.
"A Seeker," it hissed, voice no longer amused. "Echo-hunters. Born blind, gifted sight. They smell magic like wolves scent fear. This one's touched the Black Flame."
"How long do I have?"
"Seconds."
I unrolled the scroll the Librarian had given me. A map. Symbols. A mark etched in a forgotten tongue. Useless in a fight. My hands trembled as the runes on my arms began to hum again—louder, deeper, like a warning drumbeat in my bones.
"You said I could awaken one thread," I said.
The Librarian turned. "Yes. But doing it here, now? It will tear something loose inside you."
I looked at the archway. Shadows were moving. One large. One small. Both wrong.
"Do it," I said.
The Librarian raised a hand—and touched my forehead.
---
Pain bloomed.
Not like a wound. Like a star being born inside my skull.
Arelis. That name screamed through my mind like fire through dry leaves. A woman. A mage. My hands became hers. My thoughts folded into hers. I remembered the feel of a ritual blade, the taste of ash and prophecy, the sound of a dying god whispering in her ear. My ear. Ours.
The Librarian staggered back. "You fool—she was unstable—!"
Too late.
I turned to the archway. The Seeker stepped through—seven feet tall, draped in charred cloth, eyes sewn shut but burning through the seams. Its mouth opened to scream.
I spoke first.
"Kel'zhur an'thera."
The Hall responded.
The walls shivered. The flames turned black. A pressure wave erupted from my chest, lifting the Seeker from the ground and hurling it back through the archway like a ragdoll caught in a storm.
But the second figure remained.
Smaller. Cloaked. Human.
I staggered as blood ran from my nose. The spell had worked—but too well. My arms ached with new runes—raw, unhealed, etched into flesh not meant to carry this much.
The human figure stepped forward, lowered their hood.
A girl. Maybe sixteen. Eyes like liquid silver.
She didn't attack. She knelt.
"Echo of Arelis," she said. "We've been looking for you."