They walked for two days beyond the edge of every known border.
Past the Sealed Plains, where the soil shimmered with glass beneath the ash.
Past the Wraithlight Forest, whose trees whispered forgotten names in the wind.
And past the edge of every map ever drawn by bearers, flamecallers, or starwatchers.
The land should have ended.
But it didn't.
It opened.
---
The Ninth walked without rest, without food or water, as if the world itself bent around its path. Isen and her group followed closely — Darian at her side, Kaela scouting ahead, Nima clutching a small satchel of scrolls and fragments from the old archives.
There were fifty-six of them in total.
The ones who had chosen not comfort, not tradition — but truth.
And truth, it seemed, had no path.
Just signs.
---
On the third morning, the mists parted… and they saw it.
A city.
But not like the City of Stars.
It floated.
Not in the sky — but in memory.
