The library of Frosthold was vast, its shelves stretching into shadows that the firelight could not reach. I had spent days here, searching for any mention of Erebus, any clue that might help us understand what was breaking the seals. But the name remained elusive, hidden in the gaps of history that the Church had carefully carved.
Elara found me in the eastern alcove, surrounded by stacks of ancient texts, my eyes burning with exhaustion. She carried a candle and a folded piece of parchment, her face pale in the flickering light.
"I've been thinking," she said, sitting across from me. "About the Church's forbidden archives. About the texts they hid."
I looked up, frowning. "We can't reach them. Not from here."
"No." She unfolded the parchment, revealing a map of the library, a map I had never seen, with sections marked that I did not recognize. "But there might be something here. Something the Church missed."
