The Mark Beneath

hm, Caelan wandered through corridors that pulsed like veins of a slumbering god, aware now that the normal world-the one filled with ringing bells, muttered gossip, and the scra

eality that refused to be linear, and with each flicker of the crimson-lit windows he passed, he saw alternate versions of himself-some smiling

if some other force puppeteered her limbs, and Caelan couldn't shake the sensation that her soul was still caught in that mirr

logic but flowing like rivers of ink, staircases ascending into inverted ceilings, corridors looping into themselves like serpents d

imself from different ages, surrounded by floating orbs of blue fire that pulsed in tandem with his heartbeat, and at its cen

not open but wept-a slow, ink-thick tear that formed words he had not known but somehow understood, words that describ

of him long buried had clawed to the surface, breathing for the first time in centuries, and with it came an understandin

r writing symbols in ash upon the walls with her fingers, smiling as if each line written was a memory returned, and thou

ched with sigils that moved on their own, and in his hand he carried a black bone key that pulsed with heartbeat and fros

umming with resonance, and Caelan realized that whatever she had become, she no longer feared the descent-the

they approached, each stone pulsing with sorrow, and as Elion fit the key into the lock, it wasn't a click that followed, b

, where rivers flowed skyward and trees bled golden smoke, and they stepped into it not as students or survivors, bu

hm-the beat of the Arcarium's heart, slow and thunderous, vibrating through stone and soul, and Caelan realiz

flection but his regrets: every word he had not said to his mother, every betrayal he had silently witnessed and done nothing to stop, e

r voice reversed, begging in a language that tasted of iron and loss, and Astra reached to touch her, bu

oices that screamed her true name until only silence remained, and the mark on he

tars wrapped in shadow, a place not for ruling but remembering, and as Caelan approached it, the sky split, revealing a mem

e throne did n

nsume

crea

ke in h

tside was no l

as b

ars we

eturned-bu

ed again, but

a girl he did

sm

wed her

ew

begi

turned

er would