Chapter Three: Where the First Once Stood
Part Four – Selka's Journal
The page was already torn when she opened the book.
A corner missing.
As if the paper itself didn't want to carry what she was about to write.
Selka sat near the window, knees drawn up, journal open against her leg, pen balanced in fingers that didn't usually tremble.
She always said writing was for people who couldn't speak.
But now?
She didn't know how to speak this.
So she wrote.
Maelis 29, Year 204 PCR
Location: Caervale Stronghold (South Barracks)
Zephryn stirred again today. He didn't glow. That part of him is quiet now. But the stillness doesn't feel empty. It feels… watched. Not from outside.
From inside him.
Bubbalor won't leave his side. Not even for food. I think he understands more than I do. Maybe he always did.
Kaelen hasn't spoken to me since the ridge. He's training. Sharpening. Waiting. That's how he mourns.
Yolti just watches. I never realized how quiet she can be when she's afraid.
Buta hasn't said it.
But I think he knew this would happen.
I think he's known since the glyph first flared in the Lyceum chamber.
I remember what he told me.
"There are some marks that aren't learned. They're remembered. Like echoes from someone you shouldn't be able to hear anymore."
I thought it was poetry.
I didn't know it was warning.
She stopped writing.
Looked out the window again. The wind didn't move the trees. Just the light. Like the air was breathing—but not for her.
I gave him the necklace again.
He asked if I believed him.
I told him yes.
But I didn't tell him what I really saw.
When the glyph flared—
When the spiral burned—
I didn't see a cast.
I saw my father.
For a moment.
Through the light. Through the memory.
I saw the man Doctrine erased.
He smiled when he looked at Zephryn.
Then vanished.
I don't know what it means.
I just know the glyph didn't lie.
She pressed the page flat.
Breathed once.
Then closed the journal.
It didn't hum.
But her pulse did.
And that was enough.
For now.