Chapter 1849

"You said you would come back."

The man’s expression softened.

"I did."

"You didn’t."

"I know."

"You left me."

The man lowered his head.

For a moment, the chamber was silent.

Then he looked at Jude again.

"I suppose you have questions."

Jude found his voice.

"Who are you?"

The man smiled faintly.

"You know."

"I don’t."

"Not yet."

"Are you another version of me?"

"No."

"Then what are you?"

The man looked towards the fourth Sol.

"I am the person who made the first promise."

The boy’s breathing became uneven.

Jude stared at the man.

"You made the promise?"

"Yes."

"About nobody ever being lost?"

The man nodded.

"I wanted to keep everyone together."

"And the tree?"

"I planted it."

"The house?"

"I built it."

"The island?"

The man hesitated.

"I asked for it."

Jude’s eyes narrowed.

"You created Elyrion?"

"No."

The answer came quickly.

"I did not create the world. I only gave it a place to remember."

The man stepped aside.

Beyond him was the little room Jude had seen earlier.

The bed.

The table.

The two cups.

The tree growing through the ceiling.

But now the room was occupied.

A child sat on the bed.

Another stood beside the window.

A third was curled up beneath the table.

All three looked like Sol.

The fourth Sol beside Jude made a small sound.

The man looked at him.

"You have been travelling for a long time."

The boy said nothing.

"Have you eaten?"

No answer.

"Have you slept?"

Still nothing.

The man’s expression grew sad.

"I suppose you haven’t."

Jude stepped forward.

"Don’t speak to him as though you know him."

The man looked at Jude.

"I know him better than anyone."

"Then tell me why there are so many of him."

The man glanced into the room.

"Because one was not enough."

Jude frowned.

"Enough for what?"

"To carry the promise."

A child beneath the table lifted his head.

"That’s not true," he said.

The man looked down.

The child crawled out.

He had Sol’s face, but his hair was longer, and his expression was strangely serious.

"One was enough," he said.

The man sighed.

"Not after what happened."

"What happened?" Jude demanded.

The man looked at him.

"The first house failed."

Jude glanced at the room.

"Because of the tree?"

"No. Because of me."

The man walked towards the little table.

He picked up one of the cups.

It was cracked.

"I believed that if I could preserve every memory, nobody would ever truly disappear. I believed that if the house remembered everyone, then even if the world changed, even if the people changed, even if time took them away, they would always have a place to return to."

He turned the cup in his hands.

"But memories are not people."

The fourth Sol looked up.

"You told me they were."

"I was wrong."

"You told me I could bring everyone back."

"I was wrong."

"You told me nobody would be alone."

The man closed his eyes.

"I was wrong."

The fourth Sol lowered his head.

Jude watched them.

There was something heartbreaking about the exchange, but it was tangled in too many unanswered questions.

"Why does the house need the twelve promises?" Jude asked.

The man placed the cup down.

"Because the first house cannot remember the world without them."

"Why?"

"Because the world was built around them."

Jude shook his head.

"That doesn’t make sense."

"It will."

"Stop telling me it will. Tell me what happened."

The man looked towards the children.

Then he spoke.

"The first time I planted the tree, there was no island. There was no sky. There was only a room, and a child who believed that the darkness outside the window was lonely."

The child beside the window turned towards Jude.

"I thought it was," he said.

The man nodded.

"He asked me to bring something into the dark. So I planted a seed."

The fourth Sol whispered, "And the tree grew."

"Yes."

"What did it grow into?"

The man looked at Jude.

"A place."

The room began to expand.

Its wooden walls stretched outward, revealing glimpses of forests, mountains, rivers, and a vast sea.

The island.

Elyrion.

Jude watched as the landscape formed around the little room.

The tree grew taller.

Its roots travelled beneath the mountains.

Its branches spread above the sky.

Small houses appeared among its roots.

Then figures began emerging from the branches.

Thirteen figures.

Jude recognised the shape of the first Keeper.

He recognised the twelve women standing beside him.

But the images were not clear.

Their faces kept changing.

Sometimes they looked like his wives.

Sometimes they looked like strangers.

Sometimes they had no faces at all.

The man continued.

"The first promise was made before any of them existed."

Jude looked at him.

"Who made it?"

The man pointed towards the bed.

The child sitting there slowly raised his head.

"Me," he said.

Jude stared.

The child looked exactly like Sol.

The man continued.

"He asked that nobody would ever be lost again."

"And you granted it?"

"I tried."

The child on the bed looked down.

"You said yes."

"I did."

"And then you made the tree."

"Yes."

"And then you made the house."

"Yes."

The child frowned.

"Then why did everyone disappear?"

The man had no answer.

The fourth Sol stepped forward.

"Because you didn’t understand what the promise meant."

The man looked at him.

The child continued.

"You thought nobody being lost meant nobody could leave."

The little room became silent.

The child beneath the table crawled towards the bed.

Another Sol stood beside the window.

All three watched the man.

"You didn’t let anyone leave," the fourth Sol said.

The man’s expression changed.

"And when someone tried, you made another one."

A low crack echoed through the chamber.

The man looked towards Jude.

"That’s why you must not let the house complete the circle."

Jude stared at him.

"What circle?"

The man pointed towards the wooden floor.

A large symbol had appeared there.