Epilogue: What Velharrow Knows Now

The sky barrier holds. The first seal fragment steadies. The crystal chorus speaks in wounded but honest chords again. Velharrow has names for what happened: seal, guardian, sky barrier, crystal chorus — and, in the marsh, black current and seal-bleed for those who walked the optional road.

What the region does not have is a name for the hand that weakened the supports. The restored barrier showed marks leading beyond the known frontier, toward rumors of a second refuge and a second seal. Book Two waits on that road — and on whether Velharrow will follow the warning before the unseen antagonist can strike again.

Until then, any traveler may arrive at the gate unnamed and leave having changed the shape of hope in a wounded land. That is enough for one book.