Chapter 4: The Unwritten Core
The trio descended for long, frantic minutes, the only sound the hollow echo of their boots on the metal ramp. The air grew progressively colder, clean and sharp, smelling of ozone and crushed stone.
The ramp eventually emptied into a vast, silent, circular chamber carved deep into the earth. It was filled not with scrolls or books, but with thousands of black crystalline shards—the same material as the spire itself—each embedded in the walls, humming with a deep, silent energy. These were the true memory archives of the First Masters.
Kenji stopped dead, his mouth open. "What in the seven hells is this place?"
"This is where the knowledge is stored," Silas explained, his voice low and reverent. "The Authority seeks to destroy these records. We seek to understand them."
Reiyo, however, didn't look at the walls. He was drawn by the incessant, pulsing thrum of his knife to a single, free-standing pedestal in the center of the room. Resting on the pedestal was not a crystalline shard, but a sheet of brittle, gold-leafed metal—a memory written down.
He moved toward it, his hand trembling as he reached out and touched the metal. He didn't read the words; the information flooded him instantly—a raw, blinding wave of knowledge that felt like the world had violently snapped into focus.
He saw the inevitable, cosmic Decay—the slow, creeping rot that the Authority sought to hide. He saw the truth of the Source-bearers—individuals like himself, born with the volatile power, as the only ones capable of fighting it. The text spoke of a select, hidden group that dedicated itself to mastering the Scars.
But the final shock was not the content, but the realization: this memory was left here specifically for him.
Silas stepped up beside him. "The Authority will be here soon. But you have what you came for. The knowledge to survive."
Reiyo looked up, his eyes now clear, focused, and utterly determined. "Where do we go?"
Silas smiled, a terrifying, knowing expression that finally put an end to Reiyo's distrust. He pointed not to a physical location on the document, but to a faint, pulsing, deep purple light emanating from a single crystalline shard in the wall.
"That shard holds the current location of the others—the people who understand how to control the power of the Source. It's time to stop running from your power, and start mastering it.