Though the hike to the Calamity, where Voices of Nerat awaited our arrival and report of successes inside the Burning Library, took nearly two days, I scarcely felt tired or compelled to stop for rest. It was only out of compassion for my traveling companions that we made camp, and even then I scarcely slept. There was a warmth within me, an energy the likes of which I had only felt once before – when resolving the Edict after taking the Mountain Spire.

The flames and lava had quieted as we departed the Burning Library, the Silent Archive tucked carefully into my pack. With every step the powerful magic which had assaulted the former home of learning for years began to fade. The wind cooled, the air cleared, and for the first time in ages, the setting sun could be seen through the thinning haze.

As I watched my companions rest I thought back to my meeting with Tunon and his other Archons, the remarks about how I was the first to both proclaim and resolve an Edict, as far back as anyone could remember. And yet at the library I had done it again – the Edict of Fire which I had proclaimed had been by my own hand finished. Had some of the magic stored within the Edict made its way within me?

Scholars with whom I had been in contact regarding the reawakening of the spires cautioned that, in ages past, those who declared or finished Kyros’ Edicts could expect a short and trouble-wrought existence. Perhaps humans weren’t meant to channel such amounts of power, they suggested. That I had weathered such a storm untouched was a marvel, they offered. I wondered what they would say if I told them I had done it again, and this time felt even stronger than before.

No words about my condition were shared with my party, but I saw their expressions when they looked at me – they knew something had changed, something palpable. Barik remained as distant as ever, still sore from my “betrayal” of the Disfavored, but there was a detached respect in his eyes, something maybe even he couldn’t describe. I caught Eb staring at me on more than one occasion, looking away quickly when I met her gaze.

I couldn’t fathom what any of these events meant, or whatever had happened to me could possibly signify. I knew the Blade Grave, formerly known as the kingdom of Stalwart, had been ravaged by another Edict of Kyros during the height of the Disfavord’s taking of their capital. We had collected many informative scrolls during our descent through the Library, and it would take some time to decode and catalogue their contents. Perhaps they could tell me more about the feelings, the power, I felt surging through my body.

Perhaps they could give me some answers.