Elira did not return to the wall that evening.
Instead, she sat beside Kael in the moss-carved chamber, watching the twins sleep. Their bodies radiated a quiet heat, not fire, but energy. Old. Steady.
Kael spoke at last. "You saw something."
She nodded. "Felt it. It wasn't a memory. It was... a wound. In time."
Kael frowned. "The charm?"
She opened her palm, showing him the shard. It was warmer now.
"It responded," she said. "But not to me. To them."
Her eyes flicked toward the twins.
Kael exhaled slowly. "The realm knows what they are."
"I think the realm remembers what it lost."
Silence stretched between them.
Then, a sound, not threatening. A ripple, far off, like stone shifting under pressure.
Elira stood, alert.
Kael nodded toward the arch. "Go. I'm strong enough to call if needed."
She hesitated only a moment, then slipped into the mist.
She followed the sound.
Past trees that bent slightly as she passed. Past roots that glowed like veins.
She found a cavern.
Not natural.
Carved.
The same symbols lined the stone. But these were older, deeper, more complete.
And in the center,
A pool. Still. Black as obsidian.
She stepped closer.
The water did not reflect her.
It showed something else.
A city.
Floating. Burning. Falling.
And above it,
A twin star split in two.
Then darkness swallowed the image.
And the pool rippled.
As if inviting her to see more.