Chapter 64: Romie

Romie and the group enter the Sunforge carved into a volcano, while Gwenhael remains outside with Golden Helm draconics to secure freedom. Inside, geysers and steaming rivers signal danger. Vivyan senses death, and they soon find the massive carcass of a dragon before a black, fire-veined arch etched with a golden spiral: the fourth world’s door.

Tol, drawn by a sirenlike call, approaches the spiral, which bears a heart-shaped groove, recalling past doors that demanded a price. Emory names the cost: Tol’s heart. Virgil objects; Tol offers to die if it will save the worlds, but Emory insists she cannot heal or reverse this sacrifice.

Romie suggests reanimation, glancing to Keiran’s revived body as precedent, but Emory refuses Reanimator magic, warning she can barely manage other Eclipse magics and that Keiran’s resurrection left uncertain how much of him remains versus Sidraeus. The exchange exposes a growing divide: Emory’s link to Sidraeus and Romie’s creation by Atheia heighten mutual suspicion.

As the group wavers, Romie rejects retreat and urges pressing on, while Aspen pleads for another solution. Emory, locking eyes on the collared Sidraeus, proposes a different path: forgoing sacrifice and blasting the door open.