Page 136 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Divine Spark Rising
composed and deleted. She breathed as if learning
how to again. “This is the Archive of the Unsaid.”
“And it’s alive,” Henry said.
At the vault’s far end stood a copper plate set in
the wall like a comet had lodged there. An
engraving of the Spiral. Below it, Serpa’s hand:
CHOICE IS THE WORD. Below that, a later line,
different ink, different hand: CHOICE IS THE
WORK.
Sera placed her palm on the plate. The vault’s
subsonic hum steadied. The archive accepted the
contact like a pulse confirming life.
3. The Stair That Wasn’t
Beneath the plate, a narrow opening ducked into
deeper dark. The chalk spirals grew closer here, as
if the hand that drew them had become hurried, as
if time had told the chalk to run. The passage
constricted, one body at a time. Henry went first,
counting breaths against a panic he didn’t want to
name. The walls narrowed to kiss the shoulders.
Water spoke elsewhere.
Then the corridor stepped down into a
cylindrical chamber more felt than seen. He played
his light across the curve. The beam found letters
carved at shoulder height, old and new hands
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