The Spire still smoldered. Its walls held, but its soul ached.Smoke curled through the rising dawn as Kael stood over the ruined courtyard, watching the last of the Ravenblade bodies be carried away. Eris leaned on her staff nearby, her eyes distant.“We won,” Kael said softly.“No,” Eris replied. “We survived. Winning comes later.”Behind them, Selune stirred on a healing cot, her breath shallow but stable. The power she’d poured into the battlefield had nearly killed her. And now, even with the battle over, their real journey was about to begin.To the place only spoken of in whispers. Hollowdeep, the fallen capital of flame.Before the Rending, Hollowdeep was a city carved beneath the earth, built around the Ember Throne, the source of all flame magic. It had been the center of the world.Until the Nine turned on the flamebearers and buried the city in war and silence.“No maps remain,” Eris warned Kael, as she rolled out a scrap of cloth bearing only a burned spiral. “This is all