Elion watched the cup. The vibration had stopped. Every internal inscription was extinguished, and the material was beginning to crumble into dust.
"The call has ended," she said.
Eleonor examined the suspended vessels. The transparent lights had returned inside them. Some were strong and conscious. Others were only small fragments, but none remained connected to the Well.
"There is no command anymore."
Violet approached Alaric.
The man remained where Kael had left him, but he was still conscious. The dark veins had disappeared from his face. For the first time, he looked merely old, injured, and terrified.
"No," Alaric murmured. "It cannot be over."
Kael stood with Sylphie's help.
"It is over."
"You destroyed an archive thousands of years old."
"I destroyed the thing keeping the archive imprisoned."
"Lost knowledge. Entire bloodlines. Secrets that can never be recovered."
Kael looked toward the vessels.
"If any memory survives, it belongs to the person who lived it."
