The Twilight Market lived up to its name.

  Situated in Solmere's lower quarter, where the great lux-crystals' glow barely reached, the market existed in permanent dusk. Vendors operated from permanent stalls and temporary tents, selling everything from legitimate goods to items that skirted legal boundaries. Enchanted weapons. Restricted alchemical components. Information that wasn't supposed to leave the Archive.

  Rena had been here exactly once, on a dare from Kes, and had left feeling like she needed a bath.

  Tonight, it felt like coming home to chaos.

  She pushed through crowds of late-night shoppers, keeping one hand on her satchel and the other on the knife Corvain had insisted she take. Not that she knew how to use it, but apparently looking armed was half the battle.

  Third stall past the fountain, Flick whispered, invisible but present. Woman in gray. That's her.

  Rena found the fountain—a crumbling stone structure where water trickled from a sphinx's mouth—and counted stalls. One. Two. Three.

  The vendor was younger than she'd expected. Early twenties, maybe, with auburn hair pulled back in a practical braid and dressed in nondescript gray traveling clothes. She was selling maps, of all things. Detailed charts of trade routes, wilderness paths, even a few that showed the underground waterways beneath Solmere.

  The woman looked up as Rena approached, and their eyes met.

  Green. Startlingly green, like spring leaves backlit by sun. And sharp. Intelligent. Assessing.

  "Help you find something?" the woman asked. Her voice carried an accent Rena couldn't quite place. Educated, but with rougher edges underneath.

  Rena pulled out Corvain's sealed note, kept her voice low. "I'm looking for Lyris. I was told she could help me navigate... difficult terrain."

  The woman's expression didn't change, but something flickered in those green eyes. Recognition. She took the note, broke the seal, and read quickly. Then she looked up, studying Rena with new intensity.

  "Corvain sent you." Not a question.

  "Yes."

  "And you're carrying something important. Something that's attracting the wrong kind of attention."

  How did she—

  "Your aura's practically screaming," Lyris said, answering the unspoken question. "Anyone with decent lux-sight can see you're bonded to a major artifact. You're lucky you made it here without being mugged." She stood, began efficiently packing her maps into a leather case. "We need to move. Now. This location's compromised if Corvain's involving me."

  "Wait, just like that? You don't want to know what I'm carrying? Why I need help?"

  Lyris gave her a look that somehow managed to be both amused and exasperated. "You're carrying the Codex Solis Invicti. You awakened it within the last forty-eight hours. The Council of Radiant Preservation is hunting for it, which means Seeker Vex is involved, which means you have maybe a day before she locks down the entire city." She shouldered her pack. "Am I close?"

  Rena's mouth fell open. "How—"

  "Because I've been searching for the Codex for two years. I know the signs. The energy signature. The panic it causes when it wakes up." Lyris's expression softened slightly. "Corvain wouldn't have sent you to me unless things were desperate. So yes, just like that. I help you because helping you means I get closer to what I've been looking for."

  Fair enough. Transactional, but honest.

  "Where are we going?"

  "Somewhere we can talk without every information broker in Solmere listening in." Lyris finished packing, nodded to an elderly man at the next stall—some kind of signal—and started walking. "Stay close. Don't make eye contact with anyone. And for ancestors' sake, stop projecting your anxiety like a beacon."

  Easier said than done. But Rena followed, weaving through the market's crowds. Lyris moved with purpose, taking turns that seemed random but gradually led them away from the main thoroughfares into quieter streets.

  They'd made it three blocks when Flick's voice rang alarm bells in Rena's mind.

  Shadow signature. Behind us. Tracking.

  "We're being followed," Rena whispered urgently.

  Lyris didn't break stride. "I know. They picked us up two blocks ago. Three of them. Professional, given the way they're rotating positions." She turned down an alley. "Can you fight?"

  "I'm an archivist!"

  "That's a no, then." Lyris's hand went to her hip, where Rena now noticed a sword hilt concealed under her cloak. "Stay behind me. When I engage, run for the street lamp at the alley's end. Don't look back."

  "I'm not leaving you to—"

  Three figures dropped from the rooftops, landing in perfect formation to block their path. Two men, one woman, all dressed in dark leather similar to what Daven Shadowmark had worn. Freelance contractors, probably. Mercenaries hired to do Vex's dirty work.

  The woman stepped forward, hand raised in a placating gesture. "Easy now. We're not here to hurt anyone. Just hand over the artifact, and we all go home happy."

  "Define 'happy,'" Lyris said calmly, already shifting her weight into a fighter's stance.

  "You walk away alive. That happy enough?"

  "Tempting. Counterproposal: you leave now, and I don't have to explain to your employer why her hired muscle got embarrassed by a map vendor."

  The woman's smile turned cold. "Funny. Let's see if you're still joking when—"

  She lunged.

  What happened next occurred too fast for Rena to properly track. Lyris moved like liquid lightning, her sword clearing its sheath in a silver arc that caught the attacking woman's blade and redirected it past her shoulder. She pivoted, drove an elbow into the second attacker's solar plexus, and somehow ended up behind him before he'd finished doubling over.

  The third man barely got his weapon up before Lyris's boot caught him in the knee with a crack that made Rena wince.

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  Three heartbeats. Three attackers neutralized.

  "I did warn you," Lyris said mildly, sword still ready. "Now, last chance. Walk away, or I demonstrate what I learned from the royal combat instructors."

  Royal?

  The woman on the ground groaned, clutching her sword arm. "This isn't over. Vex will—"

  "Vex will receive a very detailed report about how you failed to apprehend two unarmed civilians. I'm sure that'll go well for your careers." Lyris gestured with her sword. "Run along."

  They ran. Well, limped. But they left.

  Rena realized she was holding her breath and let it out in a rush. "Royal combat instructors?"

  Lyris sheathed her sword, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "Figure of speech. Come on, we need to keep moving before they send reinforcements."

  "That was not a figure of speech. You moved like someone with years of military training. And you mentioned royal—"

  "Drop it," Lyris said sharply. Then, softer: "Please. I'll explain everything once we're somewhere safe. But right now, we need to focus on not getting caught."

  She's hiding something big, Flick observed. But she did just save us. Maybe earn some trust before interrogating?

  Good point.

  They continued through a maze of back streets and service alleys, Lyris checking constantly for pursuit. After fifteen minutes of tense walking, she led them to a nondescript building with a faded sign: "MERIDIAN GUEST HOUSE - Rooms by Night or Week."

  Inside, the proprietor—a heavyset man with impressive mustaches—nodded at Lyris. "Usual room?"

  "Please. And we weren't here."

  "Never saw you." He handed over a key. "Third floor, end of hall. Leave by sunrise, yeah?"

  "We'll be gone before then."

  The room was small but clean, with two narrow beds, a washbasin, and a window that overlooked a quiet courtyard. Lyris locked the door, checked the window, then slumped into a chair with a heavy sigh.

  "Alright," she said, suddenly looking exhausted. "We've got maybe six hours before we need to leave the city. Talk. Tell me everything about the Codex. How you found it, what you've learned, where you think we need to go."

  Rena sat on one of the beds, pulled out the Codex, and began the story. Finding the hidden chamber. Touching the book. Flick's appearance. The interrogation. Corvain's help. All of it.

  Lyris listened without interrupting, her expression growing more serious with each detail. When Rena finished, she was quiet for a long moment.

  "You realize what this means," she finally said. "The Codex has chosen you as a Seeker. There should be two others. Until all three unite, the Codex can't reach its full potential. But even partial power makes you a target for every faction that remembers the old wars."

  "So I've gathered. But why? Why is it so valuable? Flick said it can manipulate reality, but that seems..."

  "Impossible? It's not." Lyris stood, began pacing. "Three centuries ago, the Grandmasters discovered something fundamental about our universe. That reality itself is information. Light doesn't just illuminate—it encodes. Every photon carries data about the world it interacts with. The Codex is a tool that can read that data, interpret it, and rewrite it."

  "Meaning?"

  "Meaning in the right hands, it could end wars before they start. Cure diseases thought incurable. Literally reshape the world into something better." She paused. "In the wrong hands, it could unmake reality. Erase cities. Consume dimensions. That's what the Voidbringers tried to do—use similar technology to devour all light, all information, reducing the universe to entropic void."

  Rena felt cold. "And I'm carrying this around in a school satchel."

  "Which is why we need to find the other Seekers. Fast." Lyris pulled out one of her maps, spread it across the small table. "The Codex's pages are scattered. Do you know where any of them are?"

  Rena placed her hand on the book. "Can you show me?"

  Words appeared on the first page:

  THREE FRAGMENTS REMAIN HIDDEN

  FIRST: THE SILVERGLADE FOREST, HEART OF ANCIENT MEMORY

  SECOND: THE FORGES OF ASHENHEARTH, WHERE FIRE MEETS SHADOW

  THIRD: THE MIRROR LAKE, REFLECTION OF FORGOTTEN TRUTH

  Lyris traced the locations on her map. "Silverglade is closest. Three days' journey northwest. It's protected territory though—the old growth there has Guardian spirits. They don't welcome outsiders."

  "Do we have a choice?"

  "Not really." Lyris looked up, meeting Rena's eyes. "Before we do this, you need to understand something. I'm not just helping you because it's the right thing to do. I have... personal reasons for wanting the Codex recovered."

  "What reasons?"

  Lyris hesitated, clearly struggling with something. Then she reached up and pulled a chain from under her tunic. A pendant dangled from it—a royal crest. The seal of Solmere's ruling family.

  "My full name is Lyris Thornheart. My father is King Aldric Thornheart." She met Rena's shocked expression with a rueful smile. "I'm the Crown Princess of Solmere. And I've been searching for the Codex because I believe it's the only thing that can save my kingdom from the war that's coming."

  Rena's world tilted. "You're... the princess? But you're here. Selling maps. Fighting in alleys. The princess is supposed to be in the palace, doing... princess things."

  "I ran away six months ago. My father wanted me married off to forge a political alliance. I wanted to prevent the war he couldn't see coming." Lyris's voice hardened. "The Voidbringer seals are failing. I've seen the signs. Felt the disturbances. If we don't act now, if we don't use the Codex to reinforce those ancient bindings, they'll break through. And when they do, no alliance will matter. No army will be enough."

  "Does Corvain know?"

  "He figured it out three months ago. Kept my secret in exchange for information about what I'd learned." She tucked the pendant away. "So now you know. I'm a runaway princess with apocalyptic theories that my own father thinks are paranoid delusions. Still want my help?"

  Rena thought about it for exactly half a second. "You just fought off three armed mercenaries to protect me. You've been tracking the same threat I just stumbled into. And you have maps." She grinned. "Plus, I've never had royal backup before. Seems like an upgrade from my usual Tuesday."

  Despite the tension, Lyris laughed. "Your usual Tuesday must be pretty boring."

  "You have no idea."

  I like her, Flick chimed in. She's practical. And she didn't scream when I appeared.

  "Speaking of which..." Lyris gestured to the air beside Rena. "Your Glimmersprite companion. Can I see them?"

  May I? Flick asked.

  "Go ahead."

  Flick materialized in a shower of golden sparks, performing an elaborate bow in midair. "Flick, at your service! Codex interface, comedic relief, and occasionally helpful guide to ancient magical apocalypses!"

  Lyris's eyes widened with genuine delight. "A Glimmersprite. I've only read about these. You're beautiful."

  "Flattery will get you everywhere!" Flick zoomed around her head. "I like this one, Rena. She appreciates quality magical constructs."

  The moment of levity faded as reality reasserted itself. They had hours, not days. Vex would be intensifying her search. The mercenaries would report back. Every minute in Solmere increased their risk.

  "We should rest while we can," Lyris said, moving to one of the beds. "Three hours of sleep, then we move. I know a route out of the city that doesn't use the main gates. We can be in the foothills by dawn."

  "And then?"

  "Then we find the first fragment. Learn what we can. And pray we're fast enough to stay ahead of whoever else is hunting for the Codex."

  Rena lay down on the other bed, still fully clothed, her satchel within arm's reach. Exhaustion pulled at her, but her mind wouldn't stop spinning.

  Two days ago, she'd been cataloging crystals. Now she was bonded to a reality-warping artifact, traveling with a runaway princess, and about to journey into enchanted forests to recover magical fragments while being hunted by Council enforcers.

  "Hey Lyris?"

  "Yeah?"

  "If we survive this, nobody's going to believe it happened."

  "Then we'd better survive, so we can bore people with the story for years."

  Rena smiled in the darkness. "Deal."

  She closed her eyes, and against all odds, slept.

  ---

  They left before dawn, slipping out through the guest house's service entrance. Lyris guided them through sections of Solmere Rena had never seen—maintenance tunnels, forgotten passages, routes that only someone with intimate knowledge of the city could know.

  Princess knowledge, apparently.

  They emerged outside the walls just as the sun crested the horizon, painting the world in shades of rose and gold. Before them, the road stretched northwest toward distant mountains. Somewhere in those peaks lay Silverglade Forest.

  And somewhere in that forest waited the first piece of their quest.

  Rena took one last look at Solmere's crystal spires, at the city that had been her home for three years. At the life she was leaving behind.

  Then she turned her back on it and started walking.

  Lyris fell into step beside her. "No second thoughts?"

  "Oh, I have about a thousand second thoughts. But I'm doing this anyway."

  "Good. That's the spirit that saves the world." Lyris grinned. "Or gets us spectacularly killed. Either way, it'll be interesting."

  I'm still voting for survival, Flick added. Death is so permanent, and I've got at least three more centuries of witty commentary to deliver.

  Despite the danger ahead, despite the impossible task they'd undertaken, Rena felt something unexpected blooming in her chest.

  Hope. Purpose. Excitement.

  For the first time in her life, she wasn't cataloging someone else's adventure.

  She was living her own.

  "Come on," she said to Lyris and Flick. "We've got a world to save."

  And together, the three of them walked into the rising sun.

  ---