The city of Spirefall pierced the horizon with jagged towers of obsidian glass, gleaming black against the twin suns. Its spires stretched skywards like fingers, and its streets pulsed with arcane energy and coded knowledge. Upon entering its gates, Rin felt the weight of a thousand whispered secrets pressing down.Elira guided him through labyrinthine alleys and through a crowd of robed scholars, each bearing symbols of the Obsidian Spire. The air thrummed with power; arcane sigils floated in the air, crafting a lattice of invisible energy that hummed like a heartbeat."The Obsidian Scholars," Elira said, voice low. "They're the keepers of Ethelara's memory, studying the Threads, the Echoed, and the Weaver itself." Her eyes hardened. "But their research is ruthless. Echoed like you are experiments to them, sources of both awe and dread."Rin's gaze drifted to a group of scholars eyeing him with cold calculation. He felt like a specimen in a glass jar—stripped of choice but full of potential.They entered a grand hall where monolithic terminals flickered with endless lines of impossible code. Scholars typed and murmured incantations, the digital and the mystical intertwined seamlessly. Elira introduced Rin to Elandra, a sharp-eyed woman who led the research on Threads."You carry a rare conceptual Thread," Elandra said, inspecting Rin through arcane sensors. "Your ability to manipulate abstractions is unprecedented. Such power could reshape realms—or unravel them."Rin swallowed hard as he learned the Obsidian Scholars' true plans. They harvested Echoed for their power to unlock hidden knowledge, experimenting on memories and weaving their threads into simulations and weapons. Resistance meant confinement—or worse.But the scholars were also his chance—a fragile hope to understand his fate, his Thread, and the Weaver's ultimate design.Tensions mounted as Rin balanced fragile alliances, wrestled with his fading memories, and glimpsed the secrets that could either save or doom Ethelara.
