some ancient sea creature. Marble columns-once carved with constellations-lay toppled in the overgrown courtyard. Vine tendrils wove through cracked pedestals, and broken star-charts li

, shadows gathering in the hollows beneath his cheekbones. "They say the Archives held every star's memory," he mur

. She felt its warmth pulse against her side, a heartbeat echoing the urgency in he

ripts faded. Liora's boots crunched across fragments of vellum. She knelt to pick up a scrap of chart-its edges singed, the stars mapped in a deli

low. On the parchment, a star once labeled Lyra's Tear blazed defiantly, its dot circled in crimson ink. Beneath it

knees buckled, and he clutched the desk's edge. Wisps of living shadow slipped from his sleeves, pooling a

huddered, and Liora caught a glimpse of ancient runes glowing on the floorboards, awa

ped. "You shou

fell, dust choking the air. Liora coughed, heart pounding. She squared her s

-" Another tremor wracked him, blackness swirling into a dagger-sharp spike. He let out a strangled

embling hand. "It's okay. We'll find a way." Her voice was calm, even as adrenal

ank to her knees beside him. The room was silent except for their ragged breaths. For a moment, she let

tyard. Liora's head whipped toward the entrance arch. Figures in midnight robes slipp

d, voice barely a breath. "

e fragment from her sash and pressed it into Mael's pa

ared, casting long shadows across the hall. Outside, a sorcerer raised a staff, crystalline runes

ehind a toppled lectern. The beam struck the pillars above, sendin

stone. Its warmth seeped into her palms, and she closed her eyes, focusing on the so

e steady despite the fea

eyes fierce

at exploded on impact, carving scorch marks into the marble floor. Liora yanked Mael toward a crumbling archway

t burst from her chest. Dust swirled in the air, stinging her eyes, but she didn't look back. She kept he

inst a pedestal, pressing the orb to his chest. Liora moved to his side, scanning the shadows

ion haunted. "Why are you

is. "Because I know what it feels like to be broken," s

fractured boy beneath-the friend she had yet to know. He gave the orb a gentle sque

scattered in these ruins, waiting to be pieced together-and with each fragment they recovered, the

id softly. "We ha

Archives, the orb's glow marking their path-and il