Kael dreamed of light.

  He floated in an endless silver sea, surrounded by points of brilliance that might have been stars or might have been something else entirely. There was no up or down, no before or after—just the gentle pulse of existence itself.

  *You are here. *

  The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. Kael tried to turn, to find its source, but he had no body in this place. He was just awareness, drifting.

  "Where is here?"

  *Inside. Between. The place where I have been for a very long time. *

  A shape began to form in the silver—not solid, but suggested. Kael saw the outline of a great wolf, then a bird with wings of light, then a serpent coiled around a world. The shapes shifted and flowed, never quite settling.

  *I had forgotten what it was like to not be alone. *

  Kael thought of Lyra, of the way her small hand felt in his. "I know that feeling."

  *Yes. You would. You are young, but you have known loneliness. It is written in your soul. *

  The shape drifted closer. Kael felt no threat from it—only a vast, ancient weariness.

  *They trapped me, long ago. Your kind. The ones who came before. They built their Spire over my prison and drank my power for a thousand years. *

  "The Gilded."

  *If that is what they call themselves now. They have had many names. But the name does not matter. What matters is that you opened the door. *

  "I didn't mean to." The words came out defensive, almost angry. "I just wanted to pass the Rite. I wanted to protect my sister."

  *Protection. * The shape seemed to consider this. *Yes. I understand protection. I was protector once. Of all this world. Before they grew afraid. *

  A wave of grief washed through the silver sea—ancient, profound, heavy with millennia of loss. Kael felt tears on his face, though he had no face in this place.

  *They are waking, you know. The others. My siblings. They feel me free, and they are stirring in their prisons. *

  "Others?"

  *Sixteen. Trapped beneath their cities, their power feeding the Gilded just as mine did. They sleep, but they dream. And in their dreams, they call for release. *

  The shape began to fade, the silver sea growing dim.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  *I am weak. The prison took much from me. I must rest. But when I wake... we will find them, you and I. We will wake them all. *

  "Wait—" Kael reached out, or tried to. "What do I call you? You have a name, don't you?"

  The shape paused at the edge of dissolution. For a moment, it coalesced into something almost solid—a creature of impossible beauty, all light and grace and ancient power.

  *Names are for things that can be contained. But you may call me what you feel when I am near. *

  Kael thought about it. The weight in his mind. The vastness. The sense of something sleeping that could shake the world if it woke.

  "Vex," he said. "It means to cause trouble. To stir things up. You've definitely done that."

  The creature—Vex—made a sound that might have been laughter.

  *Vex. Yes. I like this. Rest now, little one. Tomorrow, we run again. *

  The silver sea dissolved into darkness, and Kael slept without dreams.

  He woke to Lyra shaking him urgently.

  "Kael. Kael, wake up. Something's coming."

  He was on his feet instantly, years of survival instinct overriding exhaustion. He pressed himself against the curved wall of the pipe and listened.

  Footsteps. Heavy, measured, deliberate. Not the shuffling of a desperate scavenger or the careful steps of someone trying not to be heard. These were the footsteps of someone who owned the ground they walked on. Someone who wanted to be heard.

  The spiral on Kael's arm blazed to life, flooding the pipe with silver light. Lyra gasped. Finn woke with a yelp, scrambling backward until he hit the curved wall.

  *Danger. * Vex's voice was clearer now, more focused. *Enemy. Gold-Tier. Coming fast. *

  "I know," Kael muttered. "But what do you expect me to—"

  The presence didn't wait for permission. It moved.

  Kael's vision went white. For a terrifying second, he was nowhere—just a point of consciousness floating in an infinite sea. Then he slammed back into his body, and everything was different.

  He could see. Not just shapes, but the heat of Lyra's body, the cold of the stone, the faint traces of moisture in the air. He could feel the ground through his feet, sense the vibrations of those approaching footsteps. The world had texture now, depth, meaning.

  He looked at his hands and saw that they were glowing—faint tendrils of silver light curling between his fingers like smoke.

  "What's happening to me?" he whispered.

  *You are Resonating. * Vex's voice was tired but satisfied. *First time is always strange. You will adjust. *

  The footsteps stopped. Right outside their hiding place.

  "Well, well." The voice was smooth, cultured, utterly confident. "Hiding in a drain. How appropriately vermin-like."

  Kael stepped forward, putting himself between the voice and his sister. The silver light from his hands illuminated the entrance to the pipe, and he saw a man standing there.

  He was tall and elegant, dressed in robes that seemed to be made of liquid light. His hair was silver, his eyes gold, his skin almost luminous in the darkness. At his side stood a beast that made Kael's breath catch—a great cat, larger than a horse, its fur patterned with shifting constellations. Each time it breathed, stars blinked in and out of existence along its flanks.

  Kael's enhanced vision showed him more. He could see the Aether flowing through the man, through the cat—four distinct rings of power circling their cores, pulsing with stolen light.

  "Four rings," Finn breathed behind him. "He's got a four-ring beast. Gold-Tier."

  The man smiled. It was not a kind expression. "Observant. I am Arcturus, Sentinel of the Gilded Spire. And you, boy, have something that belongs to us."

  Kael felt Vex surge, a wave of ancient anger that made his hands flare brighter.

  *Mine. * The thought was a roar. *Not theirs. Never theirs. *

  "Come out peacefully," Arcturus continued, "and I'll make your deaths quick. Your sister too. The girl has done nothing wrong—she doesn't need to suffer."

  Kael's vision went red. The silver light around his hands flared, and the spiral on his arm began to spin, the points of light whirling like a galaxy caught in a storm.

  Arcturus's eyes widened slightly. "Interesting. It's already bonded deeply. No matter." He raised his hand. "We'll cut it out."

  The constellation-cat lunged.