The staircase seemed to descend beneath the foundations of the world.
Rin counted thirty-seven steps before he stopped trying. The stone walls had no torches, yet pale light followed them downward, appearing beneath their feet and disappearing behind them. Every few steps, ancient symbols emerged from the darkness. Some resembled the marks on Eryndor's hand. Others looked like broken circles, their lines deliberately severed.
At the bottom waited a pair of enormous doors.
Unlike the white doors in the mirror chamber, these were black, their surfaces covered in thousands of names.
Rin approached cautiously.
"Are those people?"
Eryndor examined the inscriptions. "Names, certainly. Whether they belong to people is another question."
One name appeared brighter than the others.
AELION.
Beneath it, another inscription had been carved so deeply that the letters seemed to bleed darkness.
THE FIRST BEARER WAS NEVER MEANT TO EXIST.
Rin felt Aelion stir inside his mind.
