I wasn't alone in the Hall.
I felt it before I saw it—eyes, or something close to them, watching me from between the rows of ancient shelves. The blue fire dimmed as I stood. The air thickened. Somewhere behind me, a door slammed shut that had never opened.
"You're early," said a voice. "Or late. Depends who you were."
It came from a figure seated on the edge of the black pool, legs crossed, pale as candle wax, wrapped in layers of robes stitched from parchment. No face. Just a smooth, mask-like stretch of skin where one should be—marked with inked runes that shifted as they spoke.
"I don't know you," I said.
"That makes two of us," it replied cheerfully. "But I remember your echo. Sour. Self-righteous. Smelled like smoke and law. You're a bit looser now. More… scrambled."
My fists clenched. "What are you?"
It tilted its head. "Once, a man. A scholar. Then a seer. Then an Echo like you. Then..." it waved a hand vaguely, "I stayed too long in the Hall. Took in too many voices. Now I'm the Librarian. Keeper of the Forgotten. I don't sleep. I don't die. I organize."
"Organize what?"
The Librarian gestured to the endless shelves. "Souls that were too stubborn to move on. Echoes of the dead who screamed too loud. Magic people buried and hoped would be forgotten. You're one of us now. Congratulations."
I stepped back.
"Relax," it said. "I'm not here to hurt you. In fact, I can offer two things you're in desperate need of: power—and direction."
I hesitated.
It extended a scroll, bound in red twine and sealed with wax bearing a broken crown. "Outside these ruins, the world already knows an Echo awakened. Serelith will hunt you. Others will want to use you. But there are places Echoes once ruled from—strongholds, vaults, sanctuaries. You want to live? You need to claim them before they're found by someone worse."
I took the scroll.
"And this power?" I asked.
The Librarian rose. The air around it shivered. Its voice deepened.
"I can awaken one thread of memory. One skill you carried once in another life. Just one. Choose wisely."
Time seemed to slow.
A name surfaced in my mind, burned there by the water's touch. Arelis, the Shadowmind. One of my past lives. A war mage. Assassin. Cursed oracle.
I opened my mouth to answer—
—and the torches flared red.
The Librarian's head snapped to the side. "No. No, no. They shouldn't be here."
"Who?"
It stepped between me and the archway. "They followed your Echo. And they brought a Seeker. You need to run. Now."