The path beyond Lysborne was paved in old stones and older blood
Kael walked first his steps heavy with memory but sharp with intent
Vael followed without words but every movement of hers was a warning drawn taut
Needle was quiet which was dangerous in a boy who never stopped talking
Ahead the Weeping Tower pierced the sky its top shrouded in smoke like a blade stabbed into the heavens
It had not always wept
Once it stood as a beacon for the Order of the Winged Flame monks who guarded ancient relics and forbidden truths
Now it was something else
They entered through the shattered arch where feathers once flew now only ash drifted
Inside silence reigned
The walls were smeared with forgotten chants etched in bloodless carvings that pulsed when Kael neared
He touched one
It screamed in his mind a scream that echoed from his childhood from the day his sister burned before the Tower ever fell
A memory
He stepped back clutching his temple breathing ragged
Vael touched his shoulder without softness
Don't lose yourself not here
Needle moved toward a crumbled statue of a winged knight
He stared
Who is that
Kael looked and whispered
Aneli
Needle turned his face lifting the statue's broken hand with both his small ones
She looks like she could kill everything
She tried Kael said
She almost did
Then the voice came
She failed
A monk stepped from the shadows but his robes no longer bore the Winged Flame they burned with it now his eyes hollow his mouth sewn shut yet his voice filled the air
He pointed upward
Climb or be buried with her sins
---
Mini Side Story – Aneli's Last Flight
Before fire took her Aneli stood at the top of the Tower not as a priestess not as a sister but as a warrior
She faced the Demon King alone her body bleeding her wings of flame fading
She held the relic in both hands a blade that was not a blade a key to power that cost too much
The Demon King smiled
You know what this will do
She did
And she struck not him but the sky itself tearing the heavens so the light could bleed
The tower wept ever since
---
Kael climbed the inner stair where wind screamed and shadows clawed the walls
Needle cried once when the ground fell behind them a section collapsing into endless dark
Vael threw him forward carrying him for a time until he stopped shaking
At the top Kael found the monk again his chest open split by fire long ago but still standing
He held a page torn from the Book of Origin
Kael took it
The monk smiled and fell apart
The wind carried his ashes to the stars
Kael looked at the torn page
Words burned and twisted but a name remained
Rhazien
He closed his eyes
The path forward was now clear and soaked in fire