The climb back to the surface was slower. Heavier.
None of us spoke. What was there to say?
When we finally emerged, the air felt wrong. Too warm. Too quiet.
I reached for the Codex.
Its pages were blank.
Every one.
Then a single line appeared in the center of the last page.
"He remembers now."
Before I ought to react, Lilith's hand clamped down on my arm. Her eyes have been locked at the eastern horizon.
A storm was gathering—black and gold, twisting like a wound in the sky.
Seraphina raised her staff. "That's not weather."
"No," Lilith said. "That's him."
I closed the Codex. "Then we don't wait for another message."
I turned to my professors, my allies, my friends.
"We go to him."
No more echoes.
No more loops.
We'd break the cycle.
Or burn with it.