Page 121 of The Last Remaining Light

“Are those—?” he began, needing confirmation, but unable to finish asking the question.

The bells rang again and again, with no sign of ceasing.

Then all across Veylspire, resonance lanterns flashed intensely in unison before the room dimmed.

A cold pulse rolled beneath the tower foundations hard enough that both of them felt it through the stone. They looked down to their feet, and Caelyn felt his expression darken, his heart slamming behind his ribs.

“El—” he said in warning.

She was already moving toward the windows, and he followed close behind her.

Below them, the city had begun changing. People had left their rooms despite the late bell and stepped out along the suspended bridges.

Scholars emerged onto observatory terraces looking upward, and the lantern light began to dissipate across entire sections of the lower districts.

The moment he looked up, every muscle in his body locked.

Above them—the stars were disappearing.

Caelyn heard Elowynn choke out a strangled noise beside him.

“No,” she whispered.

A spreading blackness moved overhead while the moon dimmed behind it like something enormous passing over the world. It looked like someone had spilled a bottle of black ink from the center of the city, right above the tip of the Spire, and it was bleeding out over the sky.

The bells continued tolling.

Far below near the lower terraces, shouting erupted.

“Elowynn,” he said, reaching for her hand. Fear twisted through him, and he could tell she was scared, too. The way her fingers twined with his, clinging on as if he were the only thing keeping her grounded.

Another lantern died in the distance. Then a second. A third.

Until the city surrendered its last light to the darkness.

That darkness swept through Veylspire district by district while panic slowly began rippling through the streets below.

Blackwake.

Gods preserve them, it was happening again.

“I thought we still had moons,” Elowynn breathed. “I… I haven't figured it out. Not yet. I… there is still so much I need—”

He could tell that panic gripped her. But he had no opportunity to reassure or bring her panic to a minimum because the city alarm bells pitched to a lower, rhythmic sound.

These were not warning bells anymore. No, he knew this pattern. Sister Agatha had drilled the emergency bell sequences into every novice until they could recognize them in their sleep.

They were containment bells, which meant the Vigil representatives within Veylspire were already mobilizing.

And if Vigil Orders entered the observatory districts while Caelyn remained here—

A violent surge of resonance exploded somewhere beneath the city, making the entire tower shake.

Elowynn screamed, and Caelyn reached for her, pulling her against his chest. He brought her low to the ground with him, covering her head and neck as best he could with his torso, his instinct to protect her overpowering anything else.

Books crashed from nearby shelves while the towering windows rattled hard enough that Caelyn thought they might shatter. Screams erupted through the halls and echoed across the terraces.

Then one of the crystalline bridges connecting the neighboring towers buckled.