Chapter 48

The beacon didn't just scream—it *howled.*

Not with a voice, but with *everything* it had left.

The sound was pressure, light, heat, memory—all colliding in a wave that shook the Citadel from the vaults below to the broken towers above. Kye dropped to one knee, teeth clenched, fingers still wrapped around the broken anchor.

Kaelion stumbled beside him, shielding his face as fractured memories rained down like shards of glass—images, feelings, names that didn't belong to either of them.

"Kye!" Kaelion shouted over the roar. "It's not dying—it's *panicking!*"

Kye didn't respond.

He couldn't.

Because the orb in his hand had melted into something else.

Something… alive.

It pulsed, once.

Then again.

Each time, it sank deeper into his chest—not physically, but emotionally. Like it was looking for a place to hide.

Or maybe a place to be *reborn.*

Kye gasped as something slammed into his mind—a floodgate opening.

Not memories of his own.

But those of **others.**

He saw:

—A girl on a ruined balcony, waiting for a brother who never came.

—A soldier with a broken leg dragging himself through a burning village.

—A child with violet eyes being buried alive beneath rubble, whispering her own name so she wouldn't forget it.

—A boy standing at a mirror, touching his face like he didn't know if it was real.

Each flash burned into him.

Not his pain.

But theirs.

The beacon was bleeding memories it had stolen long ago.

And now they had nowhere left to go but **him.**

Kaelion grabbed his shoulder. "You can't hold them all—Kye—if you take in too much, you'll forget who *you* are!"

Kye looked up, dazed.

"I don't think I have a choice."

The Citadel cracked above them.

The entire tower groaned like it was alive and *dying* at the same time.

---

Above, Renna stood again, palm still bleeding, breath ragged.

Veika pressed a cloth against her wound, trying to stop the bleeding, but Renna didn't flinch.

"I saw him," she whispered. "He was in pain."

"But he's still in there," the boy said quietly, staring at the broken sky. "The beacon didn't erase him."

"Not yet," Renna muttered.

Suddenly, the tower trembled again.

Veika's eyes widened. "Something's coming. Something big."

Renna looked at the pulsing light above.

And then she saw it.

**The core thread.**

It had unraveled.

The roots of the beacon had exposed a glowing white thread suspended in the sky—a living tether of memory.

It was unraveling slowly, thread by thread.

And when it broke—

There would be no fixing anything.

Renna stood.

"I need to get down there."

Veika blinked. "You can't even walk straight."

"I don't care."

Veika looked at the boy. "Is there a way to reach him?"

The boy nodded, pale. "There's one more elevator. Old Council tech. Not safe. Might kill you."

Renna smiled grimly. "That's fine. As long as it brings me close."

---

Kye dropped to both knees now.

His arms felt heavy.

His chest was full—too full.

It was like his soul was inflating.

Kaelion stood in front of him, trying to channel off some of the pressure, but he could only do so much.

"The beacon's failing, but it's trying to take you with it."

Kye looked up. "Let it try."

Kaelion narrowed his eyes. "You're merging with it."

"No," Kye said quietly.

"I'm *reclaiming it.*"

He slammed his hand on the floor.

And everything went still.

The screams stopped.

The tower froze.

Kaelion looked around, breath caught in his throat.

"What did you just—"

"I gave it something it never had."

"What?"

"*A choice.*"

---

Above, Renna and Veika stepped into the elevator.

The boy powered it on with an ancient key crystal.

The floor shuddered.

Gears long-forgotten groaned awake.

Veika tightened her grip on the rail as it began to descend into the black.

Renna held her dagger in one hand and clenched her injured fist in the other.

She didn't know what she'd do when she reached him.

She just knew…

He wasn't allowed to die here.

Not without her.

Not alone.

---

The core changed.

Kaelion saw it first.

The light dimmed.

Not in death.

But in calm.

The storm passed.

And at the center of it all—Kye stood.

Not glowing.

Not crackling with power.

Just… *complete.*

The beacon's remains floated in his orbit now like tiny stars.

Silent.

Obedient.

Waiting.

"You absorbed it?" Kaelion asked.

Kye shook his head.

"I *convinced* it."

"Of what?"

Kye looked toward the ceiling.

"That its job is done."

Kaelion exhaled.

But before he could say anything more—

The floor exploded.

The elevator crashed through the ceiling, throwing sparks and metal.

Renna leapt through the dust before it stopped moving.

"Kye!"

He turned just in time to catch her.

She hit his chest hard—hugging, shaking, crying.

Kaelion blinked. "Well… that's one way to enter a room."

Veika followed, coughing. "Stupid tower's gonna fall apart any second."

Renna pulled back just far enough to look him in the eye.

"You okay?"

Kye smiled softly.

"Still here."

Renna stared at him, then at the fragments floating behind his shoulders.

"What are *those*?"

Kye turned.

And his smile faded.

Because one of the orbs wasn't like the others.

It was *red.*

And pulsing fast.

Kaelion stepped forward slowly.

"That's not part of the beacon."

"No," Kye whispered.

"That's something it picked up along the way."

The orb trembled—

And from its surface…

A voice echoed.

sena's.

"Help me…"