The cheers of the Foundation Festival slowly returned to the Celestial Academy.
The false memories projected by the Mirror Archive had begun to crumble beneath the gentle radiance of Living Memory. Disciples embraced forgotten friends. Elders recalled promises they had believed lost forever. Ancient murals once buried beneath illusion emerged once again beneath the academy's stone walls. Laughter drifted through the courtyards, thin and disbelieving at first, then stronger, as though the whole academy were relearning how to breathe.
Yet not everything had returned to normal.
Far beneath the academy, inside the collapsing Mirror Archive, one reflection remained.
