The battlefield lay in ruins, the clash of divine and forbidden power leaving the ground scorched and broken. The Veil still trembled, its edges frayed and unstable, but for now, the breach had settled into an eerie silence.
Celestine's heart pounded as she gazed at the figure emerging from the rift. It was neither fully formed nor entirely corporeal—a shifting silhouette of forgotten souls and fractured memories. Its presence felt like an abyss, drawing in the very fabric of reality around it. The Forgotten One stood beside her, his golden eyes narrowing as he assessed the being before them.
The Keepers were frozen, their celestial armor gleaming under the broken sky. Even they, sworn enforcers of the gods' will, hesitated in the face of something beyond their understanding. One of them, the high-ranking Keeper from before, finally spoke.
"This must not come to pass." His voice was rigid with conviction, but beneath it, Celestine detected fear. "Seal the Veil! Contain the anomaly!"
Celestine's grip on her tome tightened. She had no doubt—if the Keepers succeeded, the truth she had fought so hard to unveil would be lost once more. She turned to the Forgotten One, searching for a plan in his expression.
"We cannot fight them all," he said, his voice measured. "Not here."
"Then where?" she asked, glancing at the shifting figure from the Veil. It had yet to speak, yet its very presence radiated an urgency, as if it had been waiting a millennium to finally return.
"We must retreat." The Forgotten One turned his gaze toward the ruined landscape beyond the battlefield. "To the Silent Archives."
The name sent a shiver down Celestine's spine. The Silent Archives—an extension of the grand Archive of Eldoria—was said to hold the most forbidden knowledge, the texts even the gods had feared to erase completely. It was a place that only a Librarian could access.
But they had no time to hesitate. The Keepers had begun their incantations, their celestial magic weaving golden runes in the air, aiming to mend the Veil and trap the anomaly behind it.
"Come!" Celestine called to the figure that had stepped through. She wasn't sure why she did it—perhaps it was instinct, or perhaps the voices from the Veil had already embedded themselves in her mind. Whatever the reason, she knew one thing: she could not abandon the truth again.
The shadowy figure turned toward her, its form solidifying just slightly. It took a step forward, and the moment its foot touched the physical world, a shockwave of energy burst outward. The ground cracked, the Keepers staggered, and the heavens themselves rumbled in response.
The gods had noticed.
"We need to move—now!" The Forgotten One's voice snapped her back into action.
Muttering an incantation, Celestine traced a rune in the air. The space before them shimmered, distorting like ripples in water, before solidifying into a gateway lined with arcane symbols.
The Silent Archives awaited.
She stepped through first, the Forgotten One following close behind. As she turned back, she saw the shadowy figure hesitate for a brief moment. Then, with the weight of history behind it, it crossed the threshold.
The gateway snapped shut behind them, just as the Keepers lunged forward, their magic striking the empty air where the rift had been.
Silence fell.
They had escaped—for now.
As Celestine caught her breath, she turned her gaze toward the figure they had brought with them. It stood still, its shifting form now stabilizing in the quiet presence of the Archives. And then, for the first time, it spoke.
"I remember."
Celestine's breath hitched. She knew, in that moment, that they had just rewritten history once more.
And this time, there would be no turning back.
—
The journey into the Silent Archives had begun, and with it, the echoes of the forgotten would finally be heard.