The city beneath them was vanishing.

  From the watchtower, Darius and Ais could see entire streets colpsing into nothing.

  The Recimer had not moved.

  It had no reason to.

  Because Vaelmoor was already being rewritten.

  Ais wiped sweat from her brow. "We need to go. Now."

  Darius' hands curled into fists. "We need to find a way out."

  Ais scanned the distance.

  Then—she stopped.

  "Wait."

  Her eyes locked onto something beyond the edge of the city.

  Darius followed her gaze.

  And then—he saw it too.

  A light. Flickering. Weak. But not erased.

  The light came from a ruined temple at the outskirts of the city.

  The same pce where Vaelmoor's history should have been rewritten already.

  But something remained.

  Darius' breath slowed.

  "That shouldn't be there."

  Ais's expression darkened. "Then we need to get there before the Thanatarchy notices."

  Darius nodded.

  They moved.

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Descending from the tower was treacherous.

  The streets below were unstable, fading in and out of existence.

  A wrong step could mean falling into a space that no longer existed.

  Darius' grip on reality felt thinner than ever.

  Ais grabbed his wrist. "Stay focused."

  He forced himself to breathe.

  The Recimer still stood in the heart of the city.

  It was not following.

  But the moment they moved toward the ruins—

  The air changed.

  Darius felt it immediately.

  The Thanatarchy had noticed. They ran. Through the crumbling streets. Through a city that was not real anymore.

  The temple was close.

  They could feel something pulling them toward it.

  Not like the erasure.

  Not like the rewrite.

  Something different.

  Something that should not exist, but did.

  Darius' pulse quickened.

  Ais felt it too.

  "What the hell is this?" she muttered.

  Darius didn't know.

  But whatever it was—it was resisting.

  And that meant it was their only chance.

  They reached the ruins just as the st of Vaelmoor colpsed behind them.

  Darius turned.

  The city was gone.

  The Recimer was gone.

  Everything that had once been Vaelmoor had been consumed.

  Ais exhaled shakily.

  "We made it."

  Darius nodded.

  But then— A voice echoed from the ruins. Not a voice of the present. Not a voice of the past.

  Something in between.

  "You shouldn't be here."

  Darius' heart stopped.

  Because he knew that voice.

  It belonged to someone who had been erased.

  And yet—they were still speaking.