Chapter 9 The Echoes Within

• The victory at the Memory Spire had barely settled when Lena felt the weight of the city’s fading past press harder against her chest. The sun dipped low, casting long shadows across Erelith’s cracked cobblestones. Around her, the city seemed to hold its breath, teetering on the edge of oblivion.
• She sat on the cold stone steps of the Memory Spire, the silver pendant hanging heavy against her chest. It pulsed faintly, a steady heartbeat syncing with the rhythm of the city’s fading memories. She felt a strange kinship with it—as if the pendant were a vessel for all that was lost and all that could be saved.
• Cael stood nearby, his eyes dark with worry but resolute. “We’ve won today, yes, but the Severed are relentless. They won’t stop until the last memory is erased,” he said, voice low and serious. “This city is slipping through our fingers, piece by piece.”