Where once there was sand, now there were ruins, columns, archways, towers broken and bent. Jude realized they were standing at the edge of something massive. The Vault of Echoes.
A staircase carved from black stone led downward into the earth. No guards, no barriers. Just a single inscription above the arch: "Speak the truth, or be undone." Nyra touched the stone. "Feels warm." "It's watching," Jude said. "Like the temple." "Then let's not keep it waiting."
They descended in silence. The further they went, the colder it became. Not the chill of weather, but of memory. Jude felt it first, images flickering in the corner of his mind. A boy standing in fire. A woman screaming. A hand reaching, then falling away. Nyra gasped beside him. "They're showing me things," she said. "Things I forgot." "They want us broken," Jude replied. "We hold on."
