The cold of the stone chamber would not permit sleep. Elara had no idea how much time had passed since Arius disappeared into the darkness beyond. Orion sat with his back against the wall, knees raised, his chin resting on his arms, but his breathing was already deep and regular. His glasses had slipped slightly. Her hand reached out to adjust them, then stopped. She didn't want to wake him. Elara spread the parchment across her lap and thinly applied earth-mark ink to the index finger of her left hand. The torch flame illuminating the stone chamber flickered slightly. The patterns covering the walls seemed to sway and undulate at the boundary between light and shadow. Elara pressed her fingertip to the crescent-shaped pattern on the map. ——Respond. The sensation was different from usual. Not the pulse-like feeling of the earth that came when the earth-mark ink resonated, but something from deeper within. Something close to warmth. (Grandmother.) It was not language. It was not meaning. Just a sensation spreading from her fingertips throughout her entire body——like the warmth she had felt when sitting on her grandmother Evelyn's lap in her research chamber as a child. The parchment began to glow faintly from within, and that light seeped across the back of Elara's hand. Then everything connected. The reason the earth-mark ink had not lost its magical power for 800 years. The reason the map had been designed as part of a sealing technique. The reason her grandmother had continued to hide this map in the attic despite her thesis being rejected by the Institute——the reason she had deliberately cultivated Elara's talent in earth-mark techniques to guide the Restorer here. It was all a promise exchanged between Arius and Evelyn across 800 years. The light slowly faded. Elara kept her finger on the parchment, simply receiving it. She could not hear her grandmother's voice. But something was being conveyed. She could have been angry. She could have wept. But somehow, she did not. "I understand everything." Speaking it aloud might have been for her own sake. There was a faint movement beside her. Orion's eyes were open. Perhaps he had not been sleeping at all, but listening silently instead. He said nothing, simply moved slightly closer to Elara's side. That was all. It was enough. ＊ Night was ending. Through a small crack high in the stone chamber, a sky still dark with night was visible. Arius returned. As always, making almost no sound. But this time, Elara noticed something different in his gait. Within his flowing movements, there was a faint heaviness. He was walking close to the wall——deliberately positioning himself near support. "You were awake." His voice was low and quiet. Elara nodded. Orion also rose, adjusting his glasses. Arius stood in the center of the stone chamber and looked at the back of his hand. The city seal of Arathun glowed faintly in the torchlight. The luminous pattern carved by the sealing technique——it would perform its final task tonight. "I will explain the restoration procedure." The explanation was concise. But the quality of his voice seemed different to Elara than it had been before. Not a warning, not the pronouncement of a trial. Words spoken for the first time as one handing over a mission to another. Words that should not have been spoken to anyone for 800 years. That Arius's life force would be released in stages during the restoration process. That as it was released, he would age. As Elara listened to Arius speak, she asked only one thing. "After the restoration is complete, what do you want to become?" It was not a confirmation for the ritual. She simply wanted to ask what had not been asked of him for 800 years. Arius was silent for a while. In that silence was not calculation or hesitation, but the space of one receiving such a question for the first time. "I want to sleep." A single word. Silence filled the space between the three. Orion opened his notebook. This time, Elara did not stop him. She had made a different judgment than the previous night——"there are records that should be preserved." Orion noticed this and nodded slightly. Without a word, he took up his pen. ＊ It was while they were doing the final confirmation of the restoration. Orion began rummaging through his bag. Elara thought he was pulling out an earth-mark technique field survey form, but instead he drew out a rather thick bundle of documents. Elara narrowed her eyes. "...An emergency survey report?" "I have to submit it when we return. I don't know how to fill in the false statement section." His face was completely serious. Speaking those words while gazing at the documents with complete seriousness. Elara found herself laughing quietly. Not laughing aloud. But the corner of her mouth lifted. A light, effortless laugh——the first of its kind throughout this journey. Arius spoke from the side, as if to himself. "My former companions also laughed together over trivial things before the ritual." It was a short statement. It was becoming heavy. But Orion, returning the documents to his bag, said: "How should I fill in the false statement section?" A brief silence fell between the three. Not laughter, not tears. The unique air that only this stone chamber, at this hour before dawn, possessed. ＊ Elara knelt on the floor of the stone chamber. At the heart of the seal——in the center of the unknown pattern system carved into the floor. The unique pattern system of Arathun, unreadable by normal earth-mark techniques, spread in concentric circles. She took out a small vial of earth-mark ink and carefully applied it to the fingertips of both hands. She spread the parchment with both hands. Arius took position at key points in the stone chamber. Orion positioned himself behind Elara——at a distance where he could catch her if she fell. Elara poured all her concentration into the map. The earth-mark ink responded. The sensation of resonance transmitted from her fingertips to her arms, to her shoulders, to the depths of her chest. Earth-mark techniques consumed the caster's concentration and body heat——prolonged use caused symptoms approaching hypothermia. Elara's fingertips were already becoming faintly cold. The parchment began to glow. It was a different light than before. Light spreading from the inside, from the center, outward. As if all the will accumulated since her grandmother's time was being released at once. Within the light——characters floated into view. As earth-marks. As patterns of Arathun. The records of a lost civilization, the mechanism of the seal, the true nature of the calamity——for just an instant, they existed in complete form before her eyes. Elara could see it. If she tried to read it, she could. Just a slight movement of her fingertips, and everything would be hers. All the "why" she had pursued throughout this journey. Her fingertips trembled. Just for an instant. Orion must have felt that tremor. Without a word, he placed one hand on Elara's shoulder. It was not words. Just the fact of being there, that was all he offered. Elara closed her eyes. She turned her gaze away from the characters in the light. The sealing restoration ritual fully activated. ＊ The light accelerated. The earth-mark ink on the parchment did not burn. There was no smell of scorching, no smoke, nothing. It simply returned to the earth, quietly. Eight hundred years of magical power was absorbed into the sealing technique. The map grew thin in Elara's hands. White. Whiter still. And then——it was gone. Without even leaving a trace of its existence. Elara's hands became empty. With the loss of tactile sensation came the strange confirmation of what "had been." She thought she heard her grandmother's voice. Perhaps she had not. Either way, it was the same. Orion wrapped her empty hands in both of his. Elara remained like that for a moment. One beat, two beats. Then she squeezed Orion's hands in return. They were warm. The entire pattern system of the stone chamber glowed once, brightly. As if announcing that the seal, weakened for 800 years, had been completely restored. That light filled the space, then quietly receded. The stone chamber was enveloped in deep silence. ＊ It was then that Orion moved. Arius was——nearly falling. His hand was braced against the wall, barely stopping himself before his knees gave way. The features that had appeared to be in his mid-thirties had changed in the light. Even with his silver hair unchanged, the lines carved into his face had deepened. The city seal on the back of his hand was now quietly dark. The life force that had been poured into maintaining the seal had been released——800 years of time had caught up with Arius's body all at once. Orion moved to Arius's side and supported his shoulder. Arius did not resist. The guardian who had never been supported by anyone for 800 years leaned his body against a seventeen-year-old archaeology student. Arius's eyes closed slightly. That was all. That was enough. Elara watched the scene and stood up. Her fingertips were still slightly cold. The exhaustion from the earth-mark technique lingered. But she could stand. Arius, supported by Orion, slowly opened his eyes. They were not amber. They were the eyes of an aged person——deep, weary, yet peaceful. Arius looked at Elara with those eyes. "Your grandmother was my last friend." Something moved in Elara's chest. The reason her grandmother had continued to hide the map in the attic. The reason she had not stopped her research even after her thesis was rejected by the Institute. The reason she had cultivated Elara's talent in earth-mark techniques——all of it was now concluding as a story of trust between Arius and Evelyn that had begun 800 years ago. Elara did not shed tears. Not because she could not, but because she chose not to. What Elara could offer as a memorial to her grandmother was not tears. She simply nodded, deeply. "Sleep." Arius spoke those words and closed his eyes. Orion slowly lowered his body to the center of the stone chamber. The aged form descended gently onto the stone floor. His breathing deepened. Peacefully. Regularly. It was not death. It was true sleep, for the first time in 800 years. ＊ The light of dawn filtered through the gaps in the silent dome——the half-ruined stone dome built on the Hollow Mound. The cracked ceiling, gray until now, was gradually tinged with gold. Elara and Orion left the stone chamber. Elara's bag was light. Physically lighter by the absence of the map. But it felt as though something more than that had become lighter. They walked across the Hollow Mound. This region where the effects of the Great Disappearance lingered most intensely was, even in the light of early morning, a landscape of gray grass and twisted low shrubs, dreamlike in its quality. The distortion of earth-marks made the air slightly heavy, and with each step, the ground beneath their feet returned an uncertain sensation. "I still don't know what to tell my grandmother." Orion thought for a moment before answering. "Tell her everything. Evelyn already knew." Elara received those words while looking ahead. That was true. Her grandmother had known everything. That was why she had left the map, why she had taught Elara earth-mark techniques, why she had hidden the parchment in the deepest part of the attic. Tell her everything——those were the words Elara had needed most. When the entrance to the Whispering Forest came into view, Elara realized something. The two of them were walking in step. It had not been intentional. It had simply happened naturally. "What will happen with your field research?" "Before worrying about how to fill in the false statement section, there's something we need to do first." "Your grandmother's thesis." "To the Head Librarian of the Archive." Elara nodded. Orion nodded as well. The thesis s