The Sourceward Stair ends at the low stone landing remembered from the Archives. The iron door waits beneath Bob's carved name. Beside it, the scraped inscription still holds the Caretaker's outline in dust.
The Caretaker
I know this door. I know the shape I left here. I do not know what I was before it.
The Warden Key warms in Bob's grasp. Ledger clasps unlock one by one, not opening the door, but exposing words beneath the dust: BROUGHT BACK BY BOB, RETURNED AS WITNESS.
The Caretaker
That is why the Archives could not record me. I was not taken from them. I was carried out.
The final clasp falls. Beyond the iron door waits a narrow chamber lined with vanished portraits. In every frame, the face has been scraped away except for the eyes.
The Caretaker
I was the presence you brought back through the seam. Not a guardian. Not a prisoner. The one who remembered the way home.
✓ Quest Accepted
Restore the Caretaker's identity