Field notes · the first expedition

Day 9. We found the Sunken Court. A ring of black stone stands before a carved facade, and its three medallions carry the same glyphs as three stelae in the court. An address, we think.

Day 10. Light opens it. The sun falls through a notch in the west cliff onto a bronze mirror, and the builders passed that light round the court with mirrors that turn on stone drums. A stela wakes when the light strikes its crystal head on.

Day 11. Mira found a bronze orb in the rubble. It draws light from crystals and channels it into distant mechanisms. She wears it on her belt.

Day 12. All three glyphs lit. The ring is a door, with a whole sky behind it. Mira calls the network a map with no last page. We are going through.

If you follow us: jump to the west platform, hang from its edge, then take the crack in the wall. Our rope is still there.

Mira's journal · the dawn isles

Day 14. The Wardens kept my orb at the checkpoint. We came through the far door with empty hands.

Day 15. At first light the isles drift together. We roped across while they touched, and the ropes parted behind us. One isle never stops wandering: we rode it over. The little stones past it will not hold a standing foot.

Day 16. This ring wants three glyphs. Two are carved on its stones; the third is on no stone we can reach.

Day 17. Given the two glyphs, the ring opens halfway, onto ice. The third must be carved on the far side. We go through.

Nyra, if you are reading this with my orb in your hand, keep it. Follow the light. My field pistols are in the open case on the crate beside this one: take them. The orb never wounds, it only stuns; whatever bites needs a bullet, and the builders' seals still need light. You always said a map could not end at its edge. I am going to find out. M.