The world was folding in on itself.

  The temple cracked, its walls flickering between stone and nothingness.

  Not crumbling. Not burning. Just ceasing to be. Darius and Ais ran. Through a space that was no longer real. Through hallways that existed only so long as they were seen. Behind them—

  The Inquisitor did not chase.

  Because it did not need to.

  The erasure was already in motion.

  Darius' breath burned in his lungs. His mind reeled. Alden was gone. The st remnants of him had colpsed into nothing. But his words still rushed through Darius' skull.

  "If you do not wish to be erased... then you must make others remember you."

  Darius gritted his teeth. Then he would not be forgotten. He would not disappear. But first—they had to survive.

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  The hallways twisted. Not physically. Not visibly. But in a way that felt wrong.

  Ais stumbled, gripping the wall for bance.

  "The exits—" she gasped. "They're moving."

  Darius realized it too. The doorways were not where they should be. The Thanatarchy was not just erasing the temple.

  It was rewriting the way out. Darius refused to stop. "We make our own exit." Ais's eyes flickered toward him. A beat of silence. Then she nodded. They moved.

  The walls began to fade.

  Not as if they were breaking— But as if they had never been there. Darius' instincts screamed. The Thanatarchy was trying to make them forget the exits ever existed. Ais growled. "They're rewriting it too fast!" Darius' pulse pounded. Then they would have to move faster. His body burned with exhaustion, his mind fought against the erasure—but he refused to stop.

  He had a name. And that name would not be lost.

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  A gap in the wall—a passage that should not have existed.

  Ais saw it first.

  "There!"

  They rushed toward it—but the air around it shuddered. It was already fading. Ais lunged. She passed through just before the passage flickered out of existence. Darius was half a second too te. The wall sealed itself.

  His heart smmed against his ribs. Ais was on the other side. Darius was trapped. The air around him was thinning. His presence was being pulled apart. And then—he heard the voice.

  "DARIUS VAELTHORNE!"

  His name. Spoken aloud. Ais had said it. And in that moment— The Thanatarchy could not erase him.

  The air snapped back into pce.

  His body became solid again.

  And suddenly—the wall was gone. Darius staggered forward, crashing into the other side. Ais grabbed him, breathing hard. Her grip was tight. Her voice was sharp.

  "DON'T YOU DARE DISAPPEAR ON ME."

  Darius exhaled shakily. And for the first time— He understood. If others spoke his name, he could not be erased. Then this was how he would fight back.

  He would make the world remember.

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  They ran again—and this time, the exit did not move.

  Because Ais knew his name. Because he was real. They burst through the st passage—

  And into the open night.

  The temple was gone. The ruins had vanished. It was as if it had never existed. Ais panted, hands on her knees, face pale from exertion. Darius turned back, staring at the empty field where the temple had been. Solmaria was gone. Alden was gone.

  The st remnants of its history had been erased.

  And yet— Darius still remained.

  And that meant— The Thanatarchy had not won.

  Ais straightened, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

  Her voice was steady, but strained. "What now?" Darius knew the answer.

  "We make them say my name."