The sky turned quiet again.
Days passed since Velka's truth came out—since Kairo found her whispering to that glowing orb down in the hold. He didn't tell Cinder about it. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
Velka still stood beside him on deck each morning, blindfolded and peaceful, like nothing had changed.
But everything had.
And Kairo could feel it. Like a crack in a compass.
The trust was still there. Kind of.
But so was the doubt.
They followed the trail the Atlas had revealed—thin golden lines floating faintly in the air, visible only to the bearer of the pieces. It led them across drifting cliffs and sleeping cloudbeasts, past ruined air temples and windswept mountains.
Eventually, the path led them to a place Kairo had never heard of—not even in sky-fables.
The Driftvault.
From a distance, it looked like a tangled cluster of towers floating on their sides, each one cracked open like broken eggs. Chains the size of tree trunks held the entire structure together, keeping it from drifting apart completely.
As they got closer, Kairo noticed something strange: there was no wind here.
The sky was still. Heavy. Like they'd entered a dream that hadn't finished being written.
Cinder slowed the ship and squinted through the clouds.
"That's it?" he said. "Looks like someone dropped a library from orbit."
Velka nodded. "That's exactly what it is. A library in the sky. Not of books… but of memories."
Kairo raised an eyebrow. "Whose memories?"
Velka's voice lowered. "Everyone's."
They landed on a half-broken balcony hanging off the edge of a ruined spire. The air inside was cool and silent. No guards. No threats. Just the soft hum of ancient machinery, still running after all these years.
Velka led the way.
Each hallway was lined with floating panels of glass, spinning slowly in the air. Inside each panel, flickering images played—memories frozen in time.
A boy learning to fly a glider.
A sky-pirate saying goodbye to her crew.
A battle in a storm.
A kiss in the rain.
Kairo stared, wide-eyed.
"People just… leave their memories here?"
"Not leave," Velka said. "The Driftvault collects them. It chooses what matters. Stores it. Protects it. You can search for almost anything—if the Vault decides to show it to you."
Cinder leaned in. "So we're trusting a magical memory library that thinks for itself."
"Exactly."
"Cool," Cinder said. "Horrifying. But cool."
At the heart of the vault, they reached a round room with no walls—just floating pillars and a massive lens suspended in the air.
Velka stepped forward and touched her staff to the lens.
It glowed.
Kairo felt the Atlas piece in his pocket get warm.
Suddenly, the air around him shimmered—and a new memory began to form in front of them.
It was his.
A younger Kairo—maybe seven years old—running across a wooden platform, laughing. Behind him, someone was chasing him.
A woman.
She had the same eyes. Same grin.
His mother.
Kairo's chest tightened.
He hadn't seen her face in years. Not clearly. Not since she disappeared chasing stories of the Atlas.
The memory shifted.
Now she stood in front of a strange vault door, speaking softly into a crystal orb.
"If you're seeing this, you found the first piece. That means… you're brave enough to keep going. And stubborn enough to ignore the danger."
Kairo swallowed hard.
"The Assembly will do everything to stop you. But the Atlas was never meant to be locked away. It's the sky's truth. And if you're my son… you already know that nothing about the sky is ever still."
Then the memory faded.
The lens dimmed.
And the room was silent.
Kairo turned slowly to Velka, voice quiet.
"You knew she left messages."
Velka nodded. "I knew the Driftvault had something. I didn't know it was for you."
Cinder placed a hand on Kairo's shoulder.
"You okay?"
Kairo didn't answer at first.
Then, slowly, he nodded.
"Yeah," he whispered. "I'm more than okay."
He looked up at the stars through the open roof, eyes filled with something stronger than doubt now—purpose.
"She was chasing the Atlas too," he said. "She didn't vanish. She vanished for a reason."
Cinder raised an eyebrow. "So… what now?"
Kairo smiled, wiped his eyes, and stepped forward.
"Now we follow her."
END OF CHAPTER 9