I left with matters still undecided.

The nobles must have had a mole. As I departed, many stressed how much they awaited my return. They were betting on the knights. Scholars could be reasoned with or repressed with arms, and they had little respect for the ordinary soldiers.

I would need to decide on the matter of the dragon myself. If we took her deal, I assumed the crystalians would be dealt with. If not, then they remained a looming danger. Hopefully my wife would have a plan.

The knights would not let me go alone again. Not to the ruins of the Nox, still haunted by their creations and by the monsters they no longer chased from the chasms.

One of their number left with me, a cheerful boy who had patrolled the north of the lakes before the world burned. Even all this did not bring him down. He was the sort who could find friends among enemies. As we walked, he kept my thoughts from growing dark as I dreaded what I would find. He distracted me with his idyllic hopes that one day wolves would return to Liurnia.

Reaching the well was no great task. The squat structure was surprisingly intact. Prying open the melted doors took the better part of an afternoon. I would heat the metal, and he would pull just a little more.

Inside, the lift was still down. Either no one had left or someone else had entered. Fortunately, it still worked and seemed to have avoided the worst of the heat.

At the bottom, we found the riverbed. It was not dry, but neither was the water flowing. The Ainsel River was not at its strongest here by any means, but it had been reduced to a handful of ponds where the bed was especially deep.

I followed the knight down into the dry bed. He had been chosen as my escort for two reasons. The first was that he was experienced in being the vanguard. He carried one of their enchanted greatshields, impervious to mundane attack and rock-solid against the power of the stars. The other was that he was an expert tracker.

My family would not have left behind many traces, but I say again, stealth was never our way. The Frenzied Flame had still reached this place, perhaps spreading from the minor Erdtree to the north. It had consumed everything alive and tried to consume that which wasn't. Yet it could not burn which was already ash.

Giantsflame was still essentially natural; it did not reek as the Frenzied Flame did. We followed its traces along the riverbed and then up through ruins now twice destroyed.

At last we entered the great chasm which held one of the Eternal Cities. It was said that the Nox, grandiose even in exile, had crafted an artificial firmament. The cavern walls were set with cold artificial stars which showed their utter mastery of glintstone.

So it was said.

I never saw them, though I have been told they were real. The place had already been ruined. A terrific crack in the cavern wall let ashen daylight shine through. I could see the wall of Altus Plateau through it. The city was not so deep as legend had said.

The Frenzied Flame had bested itself here, though. It had dammed the river, and now half the city was flooded. A veiled woman in white stood perfectly still on an island in the new lake. I couldn't see much of her face, but she had the looks of a Nox survivor or descendant. After a moment, she bid us follow.