They moved beneath the city like ghosts.
The cult, known now as the Scourge of Purity, gained numbers in shadows. Former zealots, broken soldiers, orphaned thinkers—all drawn by the promise of a world untainted by contradiction.
Their leader, called only the Veilbearer, spoke in broken hymns and fire-forged scripture.
"We remember the order before memory ruled. We return to the time when truth needed no forgiveness."
In his hands, the shard of Helios' sigil glowed—not with light, but with judgment.
Lantern Spire - Council War Room
Lira scanned the reports with a clenched jaw.
Disruptions across the northern districts. Symbols of the old Helian Order etched in alleyways. Disappearances. Fires.
Selene slammed a file on the table. "We were so busy healing the past, we forgot that it left scars."
Kael added, "This group isn't just nostalgic. They're militant. They believe memory is corruption."
Helios stood in silence near the window, face pale.
"It's my legacy. Twisted."
Lira turned to him. "No. It's their choice to twist it. But we must answer."
Altharion, listening from his seat, finally spoke. "Then answer not with force… but with truth they can't deny."
Memory Gardens - Under the Archive Tree
The Memoryborn meditated, branches overhead whispering old names.
It sensed Lira's approach before her shadow touched the roots.
"We need you," she said simply.
The Memoryborn stood. "To remember?"
"No," Lira said. "To face what memory left behind."
It nodded.
"Then I must first see what I left undone."
Undercity - The Forgotten Cathedral
The Veilbearer entered a sanctuary lined with cracked statues. The cult knelt.
He placed the sigil fragment onto an altar.
"The false light rises again. But we shall become the smoke that smothers it."
A girl in the crowd stood. "And if they're right? If the Memoryborn is the redemption we seek?"
The Veilbearer raised his hand. "Then we burn what tempts us."
He opened a book—a scorched remnant of the original Helian Codex.
"The world was pure when it was silent."
Aboveground - Festival of Lanterns
Lira walked with Selene through the crowds. Children danced. Stories were projected in light. The Archive Tree shimmered in gold and green.
But shadows pressed at the edge.
A lantern exploded.
Screams.
Smoke.
The Scourge attacked—silent, masked, coordinated.
Lira drew her staff. "Form a memory ring!"
Citizens locked hands, channeling the city's resonance. Maelis sang a counter-harmonic. Helios pushed back flames with time-fractured wind.
And then—
The Memoryborn arrived.
It walked through fire untouched, reaching toward the attackers.
"I remember you," it said to one masked figure. "You are not hate. You are lost."
The attacker froze.
Tore off her mask.
Tears.
She fell to her knees.
The others faltered.
Until the Veilbearer emerged.
"Don't listen!" he cried. "It wears memory as armor! It is the lie that walks!"
The Memoryborn turned to him.
"And what are you? A wound pretending to be a sword?"
The shard in the Veilbearer's hand cracked.
Lira stepped forward. "Lay it down."
He hesitated.
Then fled.
But not before whispering:
"This city will drown in its own reflection."
Duskfall - Later That Night
Lira sat with the Memoryborn beneath the Archive Tree.
"We won today," she said.
"It wasn't a victory," it replied. "It was a pause. A reckoning still comes."
She nodded.
"Then we'll face it. With eyes open."
The branches above shimmered again.
And somewhere, beneath them, truth continued to grow.