The Domini Saga :the Void War

The trail leaves Phandelver by the eastern road, threading between rain-dark hedges and abandoned sheds. Bren walks beside Sil’Thalis; Marek remains behind under the Hall’s watch.

Beneath an empty storehouse, a concealed stair descends into stale dust and charcoal smoke. The forged witness-sign glimmers faintly along the stones, guiding them below.

The wayhouse opens into a cramped chamber lined with charcoal-veiled instructions. Xar-marked tokens rest in niches, each beside a copied fragment of the divided record.

A fresh map lies beneath a stone weight, tracing roads toward the distant coastal archive. Beyond it, a sealed door bears Ilyra Voss’s angular mark and a single inscription addressed to whoever carries the divided record.

Sil'Thalis approaches the sealed door without touching it. He lets his perception pass over the angular mark, the hinges, and the stone around its frame.

The pattern reveals itself in layers: the outer mark verifies the bearer, while a finer thread records any forced opening inside the chamber. Neither thread reaches beyond the wayhouse.

A second resonance confirms the distinction. Opening the door according to its mark will leave a witnessed trace, but it will not alert Ilyra or any distant accomplice.

The cruel curl of Sil’Thalis’s mouth catches the ward-light. He follows the door’s inner pattern with restrained precision, opening it without force while allowing the witness-trace to record him plainly.

The angular mark loosens beneath his touch. Stone withdraws with a muted scrape, and blue script fixes Sil’Thalis and Bren as voluntary witnesses; the distant thread remains dark.

Beyond waits a narrow archive chamber, dry and close, crowded with wax tablets, copied route-marks, and a coastal map pinned beneath black iron weights.

At the chamber’s center, a fresh tablet bears Ilyra Voss’s angular mark beside a single destination: the coastal archive ward.

Sil’Thalis copies the route-marks first, preserving every road, omission, and angular notation without touching the fresh tablet. The duplicate remains separate from Ilyra’s evidence.

Only after the marks are copied does he examine Ilyra’s tablet. Its wax seal is fresh, and the angular impression overlays a careful map of the coastal archive’s outer approaches.

The tablet’s final lines reveal Ilyra’s instruction: place the forged witness-pattern before the archive ward, then make its acceptance appear older than the record carried by Sil’Thalis.

Beneath the instruction, a smaller mark names the appointed bearer: not Ilyra, but an unnamed hand already carrying a copied route toward the coastal archive.

Sil’Thalis copies the remaining tablets, tokens, map, and wax impressions, preserving their positions and omissions. Bren seals the duplicates apart from Ilyra’s originals.

At the appointed bearer’s copied route, Sil’Thalis alters one harmless branch mark, directing any reader toward an abandoned northern ford while leaving the true coastal path intact.

They leave the wayhouse undisturbed, its originals sealed beneath their stone weight and its witnessed entry intact. Bren carries the faithful copies; Sil’Thalis keeps the true route.

For two days they follow hedgerows, rain-cut tracks, and forgotten paths toward the coast. The copied route leads them directly to the archive ward’s outer boundary.

Bren takes position beside the boundary stone, tablet open and quill ready. Sil’Thalis carries the intact orders, the scorched duplicate, and the divided record toward the coastal archive ward.

The ward’s pale radiance gathers across the shoreward stones. It recognizes the prior witness-sign, then separates around each document, preserving their different sources and breaks.

Sil’Thalis presents the record before the threshold. Blue script rises without altering the evidence: WITNESS, SEPARATE, RETURN. The archive ward accepts the divided testimony as a distinct account.

The coastal archive opens its outer seal. Within, shelves of sealed tablets descend into shadow, while a new blank surface forms for the ward’s account of Sil’Thalis’s presentation.

Sil’Thalis steps through the outer seal. The coastal archive receives him without resistance, and the shelves of sealed tablets descend around him into cool, salt-scented shadow.

Behind him, the pale threshold closes to a narrow band of light. Bren remains outside with her tablet open, her quill following each witnessed movement.

A blank surface forms beside the first descending shelf. Blue script records his name, his voluntary approach, and the archive’s acceptance of his presentation without granting him ownership.

Far below, one sealed tablet answers with a muted chime. Its binding bears no house mark, only the old words WITNESS, SEPARATE, RETURN, waiting in the archive’s depths.