The sleep chamber hadn't been used in millennia.
Deep beneath the Novaah compound—beyond the archive roots and memory pits—lay a Stasis Flame Pod. Not for rest, but for containment. A relic from when Witnesses lost themselves to their blood.
Skyler stood inside it now, heart hammering.
"Once we seal it," Orias said, pressing glowing runes into the pod's lid, "there's no pulling you out."
"You must walk through the dream willingly—or die lost inside it."
Skyler looked at Saya.
She met his gaze, firm despite the quiver in her lip. "Find the girl," she said. "Find the fourth seal. And don't let the past overwrite you."
Skyler nodded, laid down, and exhaled.
The lid slid closed with a hiss.
Darkness.
Then—
Flame.
He was falling through fire. Through burning pages. Through songs in forgotten tongues. The stars melted around him. Time cracked and rewound. He heard himself screaming in languages he didn't recognize.
And finally… he landed.
---
He stood on a stone floor, surrounded by ruins.
A dead temple. Sky shattered above. Silence deeper than the void.
In front of him: four stone obelisks, floating in stasis. Each marked with one of the Seven Seals—three glowing, one dark and flickering.
The Fourth Seal.
It pulsed when he approached. Like it recognized him. Like it had been waiting.
Then…
She stepped out from behind it.
The girl.
White hair. Violet eyes. Barefoot on the stone. Her voice barely a whisper.
"You weren't supposed to remember me yet."
Skyler froze.
"…Who are you?"
She smiled softly.
"I'm the flame Aeria couldn't burn."
"I'm the memory the gods couldn't erase."
"I'm what was taken from you… and hidden inside the Fourth Seal."
She walked forward, lifted a finger, and touched his forehead.
And suddenly, Skyler remembered—
Holding her as a baby in a timeline that never happened
Watching her vanish during the Fall of Archive Thirteen
Promising Aeria he'd protect her, even if it cost everything
And finally…
Letting her be sealed to prevent the Witness Curse from spreading
He fell to his knees.
"You're… my sister."
She nodded. "The one you forgot."
Tears rolled down his cheeks. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be," she whispered. "You sealed me to survive. And now… to awaken… you must let me in."
The Fourth Seal ignited—crimson and violet flame, like a sun being born.
Skyler's body burned.
But he didn't resist.
He reached out, took her hand.
And for a moment, he was whole.
The dreamscape exploded in fire.
And back in the real world—the Fourth Seal burned itself into his spine, wrapping like a serpentine flame across his back.
---
Inside the pod, Skyler's eyes snapped open—glowing red and gold.
He spoke a name.
Not his own.
But hers.
"Aelira."
The pod shattered.
The room filled with heat. The Book of Recalled Flame opened on its own—and seven blank pages began writing themselves in flame.
Saya gasped.
"He brought something back."
Orias stepped forward, stunned. "No…"
"He brought someone back."
And from the shadows behind Skyler, as the flames parted…
Aelira stepped into the real world.