Master Tarius led them into the heart of the Temple, a vast, circular room lined with forgotten scrolls and powered by a faint, central Aether glow. He was weak but deeply focused.
"Sit," Tarius instructed, gesturing to the floor. "The Memory-Crystal must be read now. Every minute the truth remains silent is a minute House Solstus gains to finalize the Syndicate deal."
He took the Memory-Crystal from Lyra, placing it on a small, smooth, concave stone platform. He then placed his frail hands on either side of the crystal, his blue eyes focusing on the stone.
"The Crystal is not a book," Tarius explained, his voice low and strained. "It is a solidified memory. I must merge my empathic consciousness with its contents and translate the raw data. The process is dangerous. I will need the support of your Aether-pact."
Tarius looked directly at Elias and Lyra, his gaze intense. "The Binding you share is a phenomenon of the Ancient Age—a Symbiotic Link. It is the only thing powerful enough to stabilize the Crystal's raw energy. You must place your bound hands on my shoulders and prepare to share the Memory."
Elias and Lyra moved instantly, their minds unified in purpose. They placed their bound wrists, sigil-to-sigil, onto Tarius's shoulders. The link flowed instantly, connecting the three of them—the assassin, the heiress, and the reader—into a single, powerful psychic circuit.
Tarius closed his eyes. He began to chant in the ancient High Veridian language, his voice growing stronger as the Crystal began to hum.
The surge of energy was the most intense Elias and Lyra had ever experienced. They were thrown into a collective, shared vision—the raw, unfiltered memory stored within the Crystal.
They saw:
The Original Crime: The memory of Lyra's great-grandfather discovering the Aether veins, realizing they were the lifeblood of the planet (the World-Tree), and making the conscious choice to mine them anyway, justifying it as a temporary necessity for technological advancement. The Contract: Lyra's father, Patriarch Solstus, entering into a final, binding contract with the Outer Wastes Syndicate. The contract explicitly detailed the extraction of the Heart of Solstus in exchange for unimaginable wealth and a promise of sanctuary for the Solstus bloodline when the world inevitably collapsed. The contract was signed and sealed with a final, unholy oath. The Nullifier Blade: A chilling glimpse of an ancient weapon—the Nullifier Blade—being forged in a ritual fire. Tarius's narration filtered through the memory: The only blade capable of cleanly severing a permanent Aether-Binding without killing the two souls involved. It was hidden by the ancient Sky-Weavers as a failsafe against rogue Aether pacts.
The truth was laid bare: Lyra's family was not just corrupt, they were apocalyptic conspirators. The Memory-Crystal contained the irrefutable evidence.
As the vision concluded, the Memory-Crystal dimmed, and Tarius collapsed, exhausted. Elias and Lyra pulled their hands away, gasping, their own minds reeling from the shared, horrifying memory.
"The contract," Lyra whispered, tears streaming down her face. "It's all true. He intends to let Aerthos die."
Elias, despite the shock, was instantly tactical. "The Syndicate deal—when is the exchange?"
Tarius, coughing, managed to speak. "The Crystal showed the final date. The exchange of the Heart for the Syndicate's payment occurs in four days at the Grand Obsidian Atrium in the Spire. The only way to stop it is to present this evidence to the Arcane Council before the exchange is complete."
Tarius then fixed his burning blue eyes on their bound wrists. "But there is something else you need to know. The Binding is not just a link. It is the only thing that kept the Memory-Crystal stable during the reading. It is a powerful artifact in its own right."
"The Nullifier Blade," Elias said, recalling the flash of the weapon in the memory. "We need to find it."
"Yes," Tarius confirmed. "The Blade is the only way to separate your souls, if you choose that path. The Memory-Crystal showed its current location: hidden beneath the ruins of the Old Cathedral of the Sky-Weavers, near the highest peaks of the Northern Peaks—the original sacred home of the Ascendant Houses."
Lyra looked at Elias, her eyes wide with fear, purpose, and commitment. "The plan changes. We have the evidence, but we have four days. We must first retrieve the Nullifier Blade. We can't afford to be bound if we have to fight our way into the Spire."
Elias, his mind already calculating the logistics of the new journey, nodded grimly. "The Northern Peaks. A full cross-country flight, almost back to the Spire. A direct challenge to the Ascendant heartland."
He looked at Lyra, a silent question passing between them. The Blade offered freedom—the chance to break the link and return to their respective lives, safe from the shared burden.
Lyra reached out and gripped his hand, her thumb tracing the familiar curves of his sigil. We find the Blade. Then we make the choice. But we go to the Spire as one, Elias. We end this.
Tarius smiled sadly. "You are bound by love, not just magic, my children. The choice, when you hold that Blade, will be the hardest you ever face."
The journey to the Shifting Sands was complete. The truth was known, and the path to the only weapon that offered them freedom—and the means to save Aerthos—was revealed.