Luke and Cienna stood at the heart of Lootwell and activated the skill together.
The light spread through the territory in a wave so soft that, at first, it almost looked harmless.
Then it touched the people.
And memory returned.
Across Lootwell, people stopped where they stood.
Some dropped tools. Some covered their mouths. Some simply froze as if their bodies had lost the strength to continue pretending the day was normal.
The workers remembered who had built with them. The children remembered who had smiled at them. The monsters remembered the hand that had brought them into the light.
And when they saw that Lucien is dead—
Everyone in Lootwell wept.
Because now they could imagine it.
They could imagine what Lucien had faced alone after being forgotten.
Among all those struck by memory, Morveth and Aerolith were the most shaken.
Because they had been there.
They had stood close enough that they should never have failed him.
And yet they had.
