The Editor smiled quietly to himself, watching the effects ripple outward through the academy above. "Fear edits stories faster than lies ever could," he murmured.
Throughout the academy, small seeds of doubt quietly took root in minds that, only moments before, had known nothing but festival joy.
Meanwhile, far beneath the celebrating crowds, Kael followed a faint distortion he had detected rippling through the academy's foundations. His Eclipse Horizon Domain unfolded around him as he moved, thousands of branching possibilities shimmering like translucent rivers flowing in every direction. Each false future he traced pointed, without exception, toward the same forgotten archive he had visited once before.
He entered cautiously this time, more wary than his previous encounter had left him. Ancient books lined endless shelves stretching up into shadow, and several scholars looked up calmly from their desks as he approached, none of them reaching for any weapon.
