Back in their small room, Bruce and Kael lit their gold lanterns, letting the familiar, heavy warmth push back the chill of the outer district.
Sitting on his bed, Bruce pulled Elenora's first volume from his ring. He found the passage he'd skimmed yesterday and read it again, this time feeling the crushing weight of Halon's records behind the words.
The Codex spoke to me as if I knew its language already... I came to understand that I had been speaking the pre-split language without knowing I knew it. The imprint had been with me always.
Bruce closed the book, tracing the rough binding. Elenora had walked the exact same path. She had read Halon, recognized herself, and realized the imprint was already inside her. Bruce had just done it in reverse—reading Halon to finally understand what the Akashic Codex had spoken to him before his descent.
