Chapter 50: The Silent City of Elaris

The wind changed.

The path they now followed was no longer carved from stone or dirt, but from starlight—each step sending ripples through the dim space beneath their feet. Above them stretched a velvet sky, thick with constellations that shimmered like tears caught mid-fall.

They stood before the city of Elaris—an ancient place whispered about in only the most forbidden corners of Aeris' memory.

No guards. No gates. Just towering spires of glass and marble that twisted into the sky like frozen music.

But the silence…

It wasn't just quiet. It was wrong.

No footsteps echoed. No breath stirred. Even Nyra's magic, when she tried to whisper a summoning word, flickered and faded before it could form.

"We've entered a sealed plane," Aeris murmured, her voice nearly inaudible. "A city suspended in time. Its people once spoke magic itself, until the day the stars cursed them."

"What kind of curse?" Liam asked, looking around.

Aeris' expression darkened. "They lost their voices. Not just their words—their ability to be heard. Their thoughts, their cries, their entire legacy… silenced."

As they entered, buildings rose around them like ghosts. No doors. No signs. Just translucent shapes of what once was.

Then, a shape moved in the distance.

Kael raised his weapon, eyes narrowing. "I thought this place was empty."

"It's not," Nyra whispered. "It's haunted by echoes."

A figure appeared—glowing faintly blue, floating inches above the ground. It looked like a child at first… until it opened its mouth.

And there was nothing inside.

Not darkness. Not teeth.

Nothing.

It reached out.

Liam instinctively stepped forward, but Aeris blocked him with an arm.

"Don't touch it," she warned. "They're memory shades. Lost souls trying to speak. If they connect with you… you'll hear everything they ever tried to say, all at once."

As if answering her, the shade let out a silent scream—the force of it slamming into them like a wave of cold pressure. The group staggered, shielding themselves with magic and weapons.

Kael deflected one with a burst of wind, and the creature dispersed into stardust.

"They're not attacking," Liam realized. "They're desperate."

"Which makes them more dangerous," Aeris replied grimly.

They pushed deeper into the city, past floating monuments that flickered in and out of visibility, until they reached the Veil Spire, a central tower humming with quiet energy.

In its center floated the fourth spellbook fragment—encased in crystal, pulsing softly.

But surrounding it stood four memory shades, taller and more defined than the others.

Guardians.

They moved the moment Liam stepped forward.

And the battle began.

Kael dashed left, clashing with one of the guardians whose body was made of shimmering blades. Each strike sent out pulses that bent the light itself.

Nyra summoned a chimera-like beast, its roar muffled in the cursed silence, but its claws found their mark. The creature pounced one of the shades, pinning it while she cast glyphs in rapid succession—binding it with chains of ink and fire.

Aeris didn't use magic at first. Instead, she circled them—reading their movement, their rhythm.

"They're repeating something," she muttered. "A memory loop. They're mimicking their final moments."

One of the shades turned to Liam and lunged.

He countered with a burst of pure will—his hand glowing with the spellbook's inherited light. The force clashed with the guardian's energy, sparks flying in slow-motion around them.

The fragment pulsed harder.

A voice stirred—one that did exist in this silence.

Not a whisper. Not a scream.

But a name.

"Liam…"

It wasn't like before. This one wasn't haunting.

It was calling him.

"Did you hear that?" Liam asked, looking around.

But the others didn't respond.

He realized… it hadn't come from outside.

It came from within.

The fragment had recognized him.

And it was inviting him.

Aeris turned sharply, eyes wide. "Liam—don't touch it yet! It's testing you!"

But it was too late.

Liam reached for the crystal.

The moment his fingers grazed it, the world split.

He stood alone in a vast expanse of stars. In front of him stood Airenne.

Not a shade.

Not an illusion.

Her real presence.

"You're not ready," she said softly, walking toward him.

"But I'm getting stronger," Liam replied, struggling to understand. "I've faced trials, fought darkness, gained control—"

She raised a hand. "And lost part of yourself each time."

Liam stopped.

"What are you?"

Airenne's eyes shimmered like galaxies. "A guide. A memory. A warning."

And then she vanished—

—as Liam awoke on the floor of the Veil Spire, the fourth fragment pulsing in his hand.

He was shaking. But not from fear.

From understanding.

Because now… he remembered something that didn't belong to him.

A memory of Airenne's world.

A vision of the next trial.

And a question that haunted his breath:

Why do the spell fragments know my name… before I ever touched them?