Chapter 33 — The Name the World Forgot
The first sign that something had changed came with the bells.
They rang at Blackspire not in alarm, nor in celebration, but in a low, measured toll that echoed through stone and marrow alike. Three slow chimes. A pause. Then three more.
Elowen woke before the last reverberation faded, breath already quickened, hand pressed to her chest as if she could still the rhythm there. The air felt different thinner somehow, sharpened at the edges. The shadows in the corners of the chamber did not retreat from the dawn. They lingered, attentive, as though waiting for instruction.
Kael stirred beside her.
He did not sleep often, and when he did, it was light and brief. Now his eyes opened at once, dark and alert, the faint glow of the void stilling beneath his skin as he took in the room.
"You felt it," he said quietly.
"Yes," Elowen replied. "Before the bells.
