Chapter Fourteen

Through falling snow, Mikail, Euyn, and Royo leave Quu’s walls, swap their horses for a large sleigh pulled by four califers, and set course for Lake Cerome and the Temple of Knowledge. They press through the night to reach the temple before whoever killed a Yoksa can erase or alter records.

As Royo sleeps, Euyn and Mikail discuss the murders. Euyn suspects Queen Quilimar is destroying exceptions to the Rule of Distance to keep herself unreachable. Mikail allows Joon may share responsibility, even suggesting Joon and Quilimar could be aligned, though Euyn doubts it given their history of violent enmity.

Their talk shifts to Joon’s larger scheme: collecting the Dragon Lord’s relics. Euyn explains the myth that uniting them would make a king the Dragon Lord on earth, granting godlike power. He asserts Joon would use it to sink Wei’s main isles, ending tribute and securing the continent.

Mikail condemns the plan as genocide. The moral divide escalates; Euyn justifies the strategy as protection and redress, while Mikail’s anger hardens. He drives the team faster, then falls into stony silence, refusing to answer when Euyn asks who Ailor is.

With tensions unresolved and danger ahead, the trio continue through the luminous, frigid night toward the temple, racing time and potential sabotage of Khitan’s recorded truth.