Page 174 of The Last Remaining Light

The observatories.

The aethercurrents.

The convergence arrays.

The stabilization sigils.

The structures hidden beneath Veylspire.

Individually, each discovery had seemed insignificant.

Together, they formed something far greater and more complex.

Elowynn inhaled a deep breath then held it, letting it burn in her lungs. Then she let it out and voiced the theory taking shape in her mind.

"This is not a collection of observatories. It is a network. Every observatory, every convergence point, every major current line—they were designed to work together as part of the same system."

Unease grew steadily inside her chest as her gaze drifted once more toward the symbol marking the Celestial Spire.

A possibility had begun to form in her mind, and everyone waited with bated breath to hear her thoughts. It was incomplete and disconcerting, lacking enough evidence to become certainty, but she could no longer ignore it.

“Maybe the Great Vigil had not built this network at all.” She lifted her eyes to the others. “Maybe they had found it.”

A shudder ran through her as she spoke those words. Every single face staring back at her turned ashen.

Because if that were true, then every scholar in Aetheris—including Elowynn herself—had been asking the wrong questions.

The mystery was no longer what the Great Vigil had built.

But who built it first?

And for what purpose?

Chapter Thirty-Eight

“The Starless do not travel at random. We simply don't understand the destination.”

— Restricted Vigil Order report

Caelyn couldn't stop thinking about the map.

The others continued discussing it long after they left the chamber behind, though their conversations eventually fractured into smaller theories and arguments as the descent continued.

Elowynn spent most of the journey speaking with the engineer and Korvel while Alyra challenged every conclusion they reached. Lora periodically interrupted everyone whenever the discussion became too grim.

Under normal circumstances, the easy cadence of their exchanges might have comforted him.

Instead, it barely registered.

His thoughts remained fixed on the chamber they had left behind.

The observatories. Currents. Convergence points. The gods damned network.

None of that was what bothered him, though.

What bothered him was how much the chamber had felt like a memory.

He had never seen it before. He had never walked those corridors. He had never studied those current maps or observatory records. Most of what Elowynn and the others discussed existed entirely beyond his experience.