Location: Tunnel Exit Outside the Capital Walls.
Time: One hour before dawn.The team crawled out of a hidden sewage grate in a ditch beyond the city walls. The sky was beginning to redden as sunrise approached.Behind them, the sound of horns echoed through the capital. The official search had begun."We made it," Elara sighed."This was only the first battle," Lirion corrected. "The real war will begin when we gather all the shards."He looked east, where the arid desert awaited."Rest for a while, then we move," Lirion ordered. "The road is long, and the sun will not be merciful."They sat down to rest. Lirion took out the two shards (the first from his chest, the second from his pocket). They began to pulse in sync with a faint light.[Integration Rate: 35%. The road is still long.]Lirion thought of Etherion's vision. Of the fear in the great mage's eyes."I will not repeat your mistake, Etherion," Lirion whispered to the shards. "I will not hide you. I will use you to repair what their hands have broken."Lirion rose, his shadow stretching long across the sand with the first rays of the sun."To the desert," he said firmly.And they set off toward the unknown, leaving the capital behind, carrying a secret that could either save the world or destroy it forever.[End of Arc 3]