Ashes Of Aetheria

since the flame bu

but no sleep came. Every time he drifted, he saw them. The wraiths. The eyes

lways, a figure cl

ed in

f his dreams, saying n

tell Seris

ike he was something she'd read about o

Kael kept

ved directly into the chasm wall. Ancient stairs gave way to smooth black stone-obsidian, she'd

of fungus that fed on heat, Seris explained. It had once been cultivated, harv

ly clung to

everythi

of Waki

l, they reached a chamber

ed in glowing script. Between them sat hundreds of statues-humanoid, but wrong. Their proportio

ouched the base, where a carved

said quietly. "He was one of the first to resist

wning. "What does that

y're not dead

tepped

an all

s no

But the fire remembers. One

hed mouth and the way the gold wi

ly felt v

Map

is. Seris climbed it and brushed away ce

cular slab of obsidi

f Eld

ething

t some symbols matched what he'd seen in the Foundry Hall. Inte

said. "Of all the fla

an eyebrow.

Some are tiny. Some-" she tapped one glowing

pretend to

are we

he map. "To find the last open well. The

rms. "And if they

look

l of thi

ers R

Kael's dre

time, h

t-though the platform was cracked now, shattered into drift

adow waite

a step

mouth and shoute

at answered

Broke

hat you

s hand-and flames bu

oke scr

here, crouched besi

you see?"

d, breathing har

a memory. A warning. The Sour

idn't

ing himself to

shadow

g inside him

m more than any