Caster did not turn around. He kept his hands resting on the window sill. "We cannot stay here, Solon," Caster said softly. His voice was heavy with absolute certainty. Sikoa stopped wrapping Solon’s chest. She looked up at Caster. "What do you mean?" Sikoa asked. "This is the safest building in the city. Out there, the people are rioting. The monsters are falling from the sky. If we walk out that door, we will be torn to pieces."Caster turned away from the window. He looked at his two brave friends. "If we stay here," Caster explained gently, "the green light will eventually grow so wide it will swallow this building. It will swallow the entire city. The Blackthorn Gate is open. The Ash Void is pouring into our world. A lead wall cannot stop a dimension from eating reality."Solon swallowed hard. He pushed his cracked glasses up his nose. "Then where can we go? There is nowhere safe left."Caster’s gray eyes slowly hardened. The tiny golden seed inside his chest hummed softly. "T

"This was my home," Caster whispered. His voice trembled softly in the cold rain. "It looks like a graveyard," Sikoa said gently, placing a hand on his back. "It is a graveyard," Caster replied. He pointed a dirty finger toward the wide, broken stone steps leading up to the main courtyard. "A hundred years ago, I walked up those steps for the very first time. I was a young, proud boy. I wanted to learn everything."Caster lowered his hand. "And walking right next to me, on those exact same steps, was a boy with bright green eyes," Caster said softly. "Elias Thorpe. We were best friends. We thought we were going to save the world together in this building."Solon pushed his cracked glasses up his nose. "And now he is trying to burn it down.""He broke his own mind," Caster said, his voice hardening with resolve. "The magic here is dead. But the deep roots of the building are still alive. The ancient founders carved unbreakab

The lines connecting the blue dots suddenly lit up. A beautiful, glowing blue picture of an open book appeared on the dark stone. Deep inside the walls, heavy, ancient gears began to turn. The massive stone door trembled. A crack appeared directly down the middle. Slowly, smoothly, the two halves of the giant stone door rolled backward into the walls. The entrance was open. A rush of perfectly clean, dry, ancient air blew out of the room, smelling like old parchment and dried flowers. "Welcome," Caster whispered, stepping through the doorway, "to the Grand Archive."Sikoa and Solon followed him inside. The moment they stepped through the door, the massive stone slabs rolled shut behind them. The loud noise of the broken world above was instantly cut off. The room was completely, perfectly silent. It was a holy silence. They stood on a small balcony looking down into the room. The Grand Archive was breathtaking. It was not a square room. It was a massive, perfect sphere. It look

"It is a graveyard," Caster replied. He pointed a dirty finger toward the wide, broken stone steps leading up to the main courtyard. "A hundred years ago, I walked up those steps for the very first time. I was a young, proud boy. I wanted to learn everything."Caster lowered his hand. "And walking right next to me, on those exact same steps, was a boy with bright green eyes," Caster said softly. "Elias Thorpe. We were best friends. We thought we were going to save the world together in this building."Solon pushed his cracked glasses up his nose. "And now he is trying to burn it down.""He broke his own mind," Caster said, his voice hardening with resolve. "The magic here is dead. But the deep roots of the building are still alive. The ancient founders carved unbreakable wards into the bedrock beneath this tower. The green light cannot reach the deep basements. It is the only safe place left.""Then let's go inside," Sikoa said, pulling her daggers. They walked across the ruined pla

A rush of perfectly clean, dry, ancient air blew out of the room, smelling like old parchment and dried flowers. "Welcome," Caster whispered, stepping through the doorway, "to the Grand Archive."Sikoa and Solon followed him inside. The moment they stepped through the door, the massive stone slabs rolled shut behind them. BOOM. The loud noise of the broken world above was instantly cut off. The room was completely, perfectly silent. It was a holy silence. They stood on a small balcony looking down into the room. The Grand Archive was breathtaking. It was not a square room. It was a massive, perfect sphere. It looked like the inside of a giant, hollow globe. The walls of the sphere were lined with thousands of shelves. But there were no paper books here. Paper rots. Paper burns. Resting on the shelves were thousands of glowing, dormant crystal pedestals. Each pedestal held a small, beautifully carved memory crystal. These crystals contained the true, unfiltered history of the w