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And rising above all of it—the Celestial Spire.

The entire caravan was awestruck as they took in the view. Even those who had made the journey several times before took a moment to appreciate it.

“This sight never gets old,” said one of the guarding escorts.

Elowynn couldn't remove her gaze from the incredible vista.

The enormous central observatory reached up toward the heavens, so far that Elowynn swore it touched the stars. The Spire was surrounded by rotating astrylite rings and spheres similar to an orrery; it was larger than the abbey’s main hall. They caught on the light from the setting sun each time they moved outside of the Spire’s shadow, streaming blinding rays of gold and white across the mountains.

Veylspire shimmered. There was no other word for it. It actually shimmered.

Alive with resonance.

Alive with history.

Alive with possibility.

The caravan finally moved again, beginning the descent toward the heart of Aetheris.

Somewhere deep inside Elowynn’s heart, deep inside her very soul, wonder and excitement began winning its long-fought war against grief.

PART II

“Some scholars spend their lives searching for the truth.

Others spend them ensuring the truth remains buried."

— Anonymous note found in the archives of Veylspire

Chapter Twelve

“The farther up one climbs within Veylspire, the easier it becomes to forget the world beneath.”

— Senior Archivist Arcturus Thalvio

Frostfall, 749 A.V.

One span had passed since Elowynn arrived in Veylspire. She had quickly learned that the city possessed a rhythm unlike anywhere else in Aetheris. Even during the deepest bells of the night, it pulsed with life.

Light shimmered across the mountainside city like fallen constellations scattered upon the earth. Astrylite lanterns glowed from crystalline towers built directly into the cliff faces while huge observatory domes rotated beneath the winter sky, their massive telescopes forever tracking the stars above the world.

The city stretched impossibly far around the Celestial Spire, layered with ascending terraces, observatory bridges, resonance halls, archive towers, scholar districts, and vast crystalline structures unlike anything she had ever imagined. Even the roads held a glimmer beneath the snow, the luminous astrylite threaded through the stonework creating a muted glow.

The city breathed with resonance.

The humming song beneath the city was so powerful at times that Elowynn swore she could feel it vibrating through her very bones. Lumenshire had always carried resonance in soft undercurrents, like distant music drifting through old halls.

Veylspire thundered with it; Elowynn found it overwhelming at times.

Her quarters within the Celestial Spire reminded her of the rooms she once occupied in Astermere Hold. They were far grander than the small space she had called home at Lumenshire.

Yet for all its beauty, it lacked the comfort of the abbey.

Bleached stone walls curved upward into elegant arches streaked with gentle glowing astrylite, while enormous windows overlooked nearly half the eastern side of the city below. Silver-blue light filled the room from suspended resonance lanterns that floated near the ceiling like captured stars. A wide bed draped in layered ivory and sapphire fabrics rested against the far wall beside carved shelves already overflowing with manuscripts, celestial charts, and crystal instruments left by previous scholars of the Spire.

A large brass astrolabe occupied one corner near the windows, its rotating rings tracking the movement of the constellations overhead. Nearby stood a writing desk fashioned from cedarwood; it was cluttered with fresh parchment, ink vials, resonance calipers, and fragile convergence tools arranged in systematic precision. There were even hidden ventilation shafts carrying cool mountain air through the tower, causing the long, gauzy curtains to stir.

Lines of luminous astrylite threaded along the polished stone beneath her feet. She watched them for a long while upon first entering the chamber, having never seen anything like it. They pulsed with a hint of resonance and were utterly mesmerizing.