Page 164 of The Last Remaining Light

Alyra organized those who would come. The engineer gathered what maps he had, though his hands shook as he rolled them. The clinic woman packed the remaining supplies into her satchel and ignored the protests of the wounded man who insisted she should stay. Korvel spoke with the survivors who refused to leave, giving instructions with a steadiness Elowynn resented and relied upon in equal measure.

Caelyn remained beside her, his gaze fixed on the tunnel. She followed his stare.

The darkness beneath the broken arch seemed to wait for them.

She thought of the stars gone from the sky. Of the Spire bleeding light. She thought of Agatha somewhere far away, perhaps lifting her head at the first sign of whatever old truth had begun to stir. She thought of the Starless moving through the lower observatories, not wandering, not hunting, but going toward whatever it was that called to them.

Then she thought of Caelyn’s hand in hers. That was the only thing that felt real enough to trust.

By the time they reached the tunnel mouth, a somber hush fell over the shelter.

Those staying behind watched them with expressions Elowynn couldn't bear to study too long. Those coming with them clustered close, carrying lanterns, tools, bandages, crystals, and whatever courage they had left.

Caelyn stepped into the passage first with Elowynn alongside him.

Behind them, the last dim lanterns of the relay shelter flickered over the old resonance well.

Ahead, the tunnel sloped down into the buried foundations of Veylspire, toward the place where the Starless were gathering and whatever ancient thing had begun calling them home.

Chapter Thirty-Four

“We called them observatories because that’s less frightening than their original purpose.”

— Fragment from a damaged pre-Vigil manuscript

The tunnel descended more steeply than Elowynn expected.

At first, it still resembled the Veylspire she knew. The stonework matched that of the city above, each wall bearing the same intricate craftsmanship. Old resonance conduits ran alongside the passage in regular intervals, their crystal channels long dark, but still recognizable. Even the support arches carried the same elegant Astrari influences that appeared throughout the observatories and lecture halls.

The farther they traveled, however, the more those recognizable details diminished.

The transition happened gradually. One arch would differ slightly from the last or a section of wall would bear symbols she didn't recognize. The angle of a corridor would shift in ways that suggested the passages had existed long before the city above them.

Eventually, she realized she was no longer noticing differences in construction.

She was walking through layers of history.

Veylspire had not been built all at once. Every scholar understood that civilizations layered themselves atop older foundations, and every city contained remnants of the generations that came before. Seeing those layers exposed beneath the mountain felt profoundly different from studying them in an archive. The deeper they traveled, the more it felt as though they were walking backward through time.

The shelter's lantern light had disappeared behind them until only the lights carried by their group remained. Alyra walked near the front beside the engineer, while Korvel stayed close enough to hear their increasingly tense conversations regarding maps and junctions.

Several survivors followed in a tight cluster, nobody speaking above a whisper. It was as though the shadows in the tunnel discouraged unnecessary noise.

Elowynn remained beside Caelyn. She told herself it was practical.

Every time she looked away from him for too long, fear returned. Caelyn walked beside her with caution in his steps, and although the fresh bandages concealed most of his wounds, they did little to hide the strain those injuries placed upon him. He carried himself with the same stubborn determination she remembered from childhood, but she could see the cost now. It was evident in the tightening around his eyes whenever the tunnel descended steeply, or the occasional tensing of his shoulders when pain caught him off guard.

Elowynn waited until the others moved several paces ahead before speaking to him in a whisper. "You're exhausted."

Caelyn sighed. The sound carried the weary resignation of a man who had lost this argument before it began. "I’m managing."

"That was not my statement at all," she argued.

A faint smile threatened to lift the upper corner of his mouth before disappearing again.

“It wasn’t, but I’m alright, El.”

The answer earned a frown from her, but she nodded. “You will tell me if it becomes too much.”