The wind howled above the cliffs as Jason stared down into the abyss.
Below lay the ruins of Elowen—a city once filled with light, now swallowed by darkness. The Codex's latest entry had named it the home of the second Anchor, and though the words were few, they burned with urgency: "Beneath the Skyvault lies the flame that remembers. Only the forgotten may enter."
Kaelith stood beside him, her expression tense. "This city... it wasn't just destroyed. It was erased."
Elias knelt near the edge, running his fingers over the broken symbols carved into the stone. "I was a boy when the earth swallowed Elowen. My father was inside it. He never came back."
Leah spoke softly. "We don't know what lies below. But if Jason's father really left keys scattered in places like this... he must've known something terrible was coming."
Jason tightened the grip on the Codex. "Then we're going in."
They descended through a narrow, spiraling stone shaft chiseled deep into the cliffside. The deeper they went, the more the world seemed to lose color. The light faded from the torches. The sound of their own breathing became louder than their footsteps. And then, they stepped into the hollow silence of Elowen.
The city wasn't a ruin—it was a tomb. Tall, fractured buildings leaned like bones. Streets curved like rivers with no end. Glowing moss clung to every surface, casting an eerie blue hue. The silence was so heavy, even their thoughts seemed to echo.
Jason's mind flickered again.
---
Flashback: A Hidden Journal
He remembered his father's study, hidden behind false walls and shadowed paintings. Once, as a teenager, Jason had found a locked drawer beneath the floorboards. Inside had been a journal, its pages filled with diagrams of gates, stars, and cities named in languages Jason couldn't understand.
One page had been marked: "Elowen—The Skyvault is thinning. I saw her in the light. She remembers."
Jason never knew who "she" was. But now, those words clawed their way back to him.
---
"Jason," Kaelith called, kneeling near a ruined fountain. "There's a door here. It's marked with the same glyphs we saw near the first Anchor."
They pried it open, revealing a chamber far older than the city above. The air inside smelled like burnt metal and old storms. In its center stood a pedestal—on it, a sphere of flickering crimson light.
Jason stepped forward—and stopped. Behind the pedestal, written on the wall in glowing blood-red ink, were the words:
"He lies. The Gate was never meant to save."
Before Jason could speak, the chamber shifted. Walls melted into mist. Shadows twisted into figures. And suddenly, he was alone.
---
Memory Illusion: The Father's Trial
Jason stood on the cliffs of Elowen—but it was whole, alive, its towers gleaming gold beneath a burning sky. A man stood at the edge, cloaked in black armor. His face—Jason's father, younger, harder, with fire in his eyes.
Opposite him stood a woman. Silver-haired, ethereal, eyes filled with sorrow.
"You promised," she whispered.
"I kept your promise," his father replied. "But the bloodline has a price."
"The child...?" she began.
"He'll open what I sealed. Whether he survives it is no longer my concern."
Jason tried to shout, but no sound escaped.
The scene shattered. He was back in the chamber.
---
The others had found him, though none saw what he did.
"The second Anchor is here," Elias said, stepping beside him. "But it's bound. Something's... keeping it asleep."
Jason reached for it—and felt heat surge up his arm. Not fire, but memory. Flooding into his veins.
He saw gates. Infinite doors leading to impossible worlds. He saw himself—older, darker, unrecognizable. He saw his father, bleeding before a throne of ash. And he saw the woman with silver hair again.
A single name rang out in his mind: Averia.
Then, the Anchor pulsed. The chamber cracked. The city trembled.
Kaelith grabbed Jason. "Time to go!"
They sprinted through collapsing corridors, barely escaping as Elowen began to collapse further. Cracks opened beneath their feet. Walls screamed. Lights flared and died.
By the time they reached the surface again, the city was gone. Buried deeper than before.
Jason clutched the second Anchor in his palm. His father's secrets were no longer whispers—they were screams.
Elias stared at him. "What did you see?"
Jason looked up at the stars. "A woman named Averia. And my father's betrayal."
Leah asked quietly, "Where do we go now?"
Jason opened the Codex.
Its pages turned themselves.
Third Anchor: The Hollow Sea. Beneath the bones of giants.
Jason whispered, "We go where the dead still remember."