covered in hardened ash that, in the light of the living lamps, seemed to

ouldn'

lab in the center of the Broken Keepers' hall. His right arm, completely

tone

dentical to that of the shard she held in her chest. A sy

an had said. "Now you share

had never touched the Heart of the Temple. Not because she didn't understand

llowed her to t

t, carved in stone and fire. Asha knelt before a circular plaque on the floor, where Aeo

Maeka said from behind he

seen what the Children did with the dark ash: they

t control it?" she aske

ck in the stone. And stone

disappeared i

tretched out her hands. She pl

tion was

mory it contained was not alien. It was wild. It wasn't ordered as in temples, nor sealed in fragments clear as am

s eru

re

orders in forgotten languages. Warriors covered in blac

midst of

ha. An

e same bracelet Asha wore now. But hers burned compl

.." Asha

irectly at her, as if it could

en, th

eding. Dark ash had embedded itself in her

ppeared

f you don't seal the emotio

how?" Ash

nd, revealing a sma

p part of

ed at her

n the dark ash, I must

u put a flame in a glass lamp. The fir

est. The Heart shard was beatin

f I lock aw

shru

you anymore. But

t her

ds still burned, and yet she didn't stop. She knew

ael. Not just

es, she would eventually merge with them. Like a mirro

osed h

er palms bac

didn't try to r

let

early. Aeolina-the woman of memory-was talking with three others. Warriors. S

olen," Aeolina said. "And if we don

to divide the Heart?"

d in being worshipped. I'm interested in keeping

a pang in

ision

re still beneath her hands. They didn't glow

said a voice

as L

. "But to do so, I had to... l

ha

ked at h

ea

nt, as if assessing how much of th

ave. It only makes you more efficient.

too

ected. "The only one capable

ll flecked with ash glinting beneath th

ver. But

t up s

e how to be o

en n

emory sealed there. One that even the Children fear. If you

alley will swallow you, a

she wasn't afraid. But because

e that r

iving

ining had already

till many memori