Ancient marble stretches beneath Klause and Liora’s feet. His covenant-marked palm burns with a dark crescent as the Aleveria symbol brightens across the sealed crystal gate.
Letters unfold beneath the symbol in pale elven fire: LIVING COVENANT RECOGNIZED. PASSAGE BEYOND: WITHOUT RETURN. The inscription remains calmly illuminated.
Liora
Without return. That sounds less like a road and more like a choice the city expects us to make.
The buried wards answer before either can approach. Far below the avenue, blue and earth-brown light forms Caelen’s signature, faint but unmistakably alive, then fades into the foundations.
Liora
He survived. He is beyond our reach for now, but he survived. We cannot bring him back by forcing this gate.
The crystal doors part without sound, revealing a silver-lit passage beneath Aleveria’s ruined towers. Warm air carries the scent of roots, rain, and ancient stone.
Liora
The academy, our families, and Caelen are behind us. Before we enter, Klause, what do you want this chapter to end with?
✓ Quest Accepted
Pass through the Aleveria gate
“I dont know, I didn't mean to do this everyone women, children men separated from there families and we dont know where every person in the kingdom arrived at they could all be dead*I cry out tears forming while spiral out of control and fall to my knees”
Klause larent
I do not know. I did not mean to do this. Everyone, women, children, men, separated from their families, and we do not know where they arrived. They could all be dead.
Tears form as Klause spirals, his knees striking the ancient marble. The dark crescent on his palm flickers, but the crystal gate remains open and still.
Liora
Klause, look at me. You did not choose to scatter them. The orb seized the route before either of us understood what it was.
Liora kneels before him, keeping her sword at her side and both hands visible. Behind her, the silver passage breathes warm air through the ruined avenue.
Liora
Caelen survived, and the route showed three steady points before it broke. That means the ward network carried people somewhere, not that it destroyed them.
The Aleveria symbol dims to a gentle glow. Beneath it, fresh elven letters appear: SCATTERED LIVES REMAIN WITHIN THE LIVING PATH.
Liora
We will find the path, learn where it sent them, and bring our families home if the gates allow it. For now, breathe, Klause. I am here.