Page 31 of The Last Remaining Light

Agatha groaned somewhere ahead of them in the darkness, likely remembering that entire fiasco as well. “Every moon that passes, I understand Sister Hannah’s drinking habits more clearly.”

Caelyn and Elowynn just looked at each other after that comment, both of them stifling laughter.

A quarter bell later, the stairwell had finally opened into an enormous chamber carved directly into the sea cliffs beneath the abbey.

Elowynn stopped walking so abruptly that Caelyn cursed under his breath, almost running into her.

The hall had to have been several hundred centuries old.

Massive stone arches stretched far overhead while faded Astrari carvings wound across the walls in their typical silver-white swirling patterns. Thick, crystal resonance pillars lined the outer chamber, their embedded astrylite dimmed with age yet still luminous beneath layers of dust.

And at the center of the chamber stood a starway. Or what remained of one, anyway.

Elowynn’s breath caught, and a wave of dizziness swept over her.

She hadn’t seen a starway since the night Astermere fell. Even then, she'd barely glimpsed it before her mother dragged her through.

The arch of the structure towered nearly twenty feet high, carved from weathered stone, and woven with dense lines of darkened crystal veins. Most of the resonance pylons surrounding it must have cracked long ago, while portions of the arch had partially collapsed inward.

Yet even dormant, the structure radiated power. The air felt thick around it, tangible.

Caelyn had gone utterly still beside her.

Agatha was taking note of their reactions, her shrewd gaze missing nothing. “The starway beneath Lumenshire was sealed during the earlier Ash Wars,” she explained while crossing toward one of the nearby resonance pillars. “The stabilization network began failing after the southern currents weakened.”

Elowynn stepped carefully toward the arch. “It is beautiful.”

“It nearly killed several scholars before they sealed it,” Agatha retorted.

Elowynn had the good sense to look chastised, her cheeks flushing. “Oh.”

Agatha removed a set of brass instruments from her satchel before gesturing toward the surrounding pylons. “The lower resonance systems have been behaving oddly during the last several moons. There have been lantern failures, harmonic surges. And most worrisome of all, aethercurrent instability.”

Elowynn’s brow furrowed as she turned to look at her. “Near a dormant starway?”

A nod was given in response from the Sister. “Precisely.”

Caelyn still had not moved. “El?” he whispered.

She turned toward him, noting his expression had changed. The color had drained from his face while his gaze remained fixed on the starway with unsettling intensity.

“What is wrong?” she asked, moving closer to him.

“I…” He swallowed once. “Do you hear that?”

Elowynn listened carefully. There was nothing but the faint crackling hum of old resonance buried deep within the stone.

“I do not hear anything unusual, no.”

Caelyn stared toward the starway for another long moment before he slowly shook his head. “Never mind. Must be a headache starting, then.”

But his voice sounded off, far away. Like he was distracted. Elowynn wanted to push, to pry his words from his tongue, but she let it go for now.

Agatha had been staring at him with an assessing gaze before turning around to begin their task.

The work was fascinating.

Elowynn assisted Agatha in examining the failing resonance pylons surrounding the starway while Caelyn remained near the outer chamber checking lantern relays along the walls. Dust coated nearly every visible surface while old stabilization glyphs pulsed sluggishly beneath the stone.