— you stand within —

THE TEMPLE OF ECHOES

five stations wait · tread upon one and learn its nature

— TRIAL I OF IV —

THE ASTROLABE OF THE SILENT SKY

— three wheels · turn them until the verses speak true —

SATISFIED: 0/6

TURNS: 0

— the wheels drift —

I · The Six Verses

"Upon the crown of the Heavens, the Sun must stand."

"The Serpent coils at the nadir of Heaven."

"Beneath the Sun's crown, the Stone of Dawn awakens."

"Across the circle from the Stone of Dawn, the Void is kept."

"At the heart of the Cycle, the Eclipse is born."

"To the rising side of the Cycle, the Morning opens."

II · The Three Wheels

Outer — Heavens

☀Sun ☾Moon ⚔Blade ⫶Gate ∞Serpent ♕Crown ◉Eye ⚖Scale

Middle — Stones

Dawn Spire Unbowed Ash Void Coil Anomaly Radiance

Inner — Cycle

●Night ⊕Conjunction ⎓Meridian ⇌Opposition ◐Eclipse ⌂Zenith ↗Morning ↘Dusk

III · The Law of Turning

Strike any wheel to turn it one house clockwise. A symbol at the Crown sits under the pointer. At the Nadir is directly across the center. To the Rising side means the east quadrant.

— TRIAL I COMPLETE —

THE WHEELS ALIGN

✷

— The First Echo —

"First, the fire was given."

"Then we took a second flame from the same hearth — without asking."

"The hearthkeeper set down her loom, and watched."

— TRIAL II OF IV —

THE WOVEN CONSTELLATION

— three verses · three threads · each ending becomes the next beginning —

VERSE: I

STEP: 0/4

WRONG: 0

— the sky waits —

I · The Three Verses

Three threads must be woven in order. Each verse ends where the next begins — the last star of one is the first star of another.

— The Amber Verse — "Lift the naked fang from the field it slumbers upon.
Offer it to the rising hearth.
What the hearth kindles, the open lid beholds.
What the lid beholds, it weeps."

— The Violet Verse — "From where the lid weeps, the water runs.
The water remembers the horn that hooks the sky.
The horn watches in silence; it has a second face —
the coin of night."

— The Green Verse — "Where the coin of night dips, the three-pronged crown rises.
The crown passes its weight to the scale in balance.
The scale, tilting, calls the gate that was never opened —
and the gate answers."

II · The Lexicon of the Sky

The sky speaks only in shapes. More than one verse may hint at the same star.

⚔ A blade. A fang. A sharpened tooth.

☀ A fire in the sky; a hearth unbanked.

◉ An eye; a lid open wide; a pupil.

◇ A tear; a droplet; a cut diamond.

≋ A wave; a running river.

☾ A moon; a horn that hooks the sky.

● A full face; the coin of night.

♕ A crown with three prongs.

⚖ A scale balanced, or tilting.

⫶ A gate or a threshold.

△ A mountain; a silent peak.

∞ A coiled wyrm; a snake that eats itself.

❋ A bloom; a sixfold flower.

⧫ A knot; a riddle bound in rope.

♡ A beating heart.

✧ A lantern.

⬡ A hexagon; a honeycomb cell.

⌘ The four winds.

— TRIAL II COMPLETE —

THE WEAVE IS DRAWN

✷

— The Second Echo —

"The eye in the sky blinks once a world."

"With each blink, the song is unsung."

"With each blink, the singers are new."

— TRIAL III OF IV —

THE STONE OF TONGUES

— a carved speech waits · read it, and the way will open —

— the stone reads —

click a glyph · type your guess

DECODED: 0/0

WRONG: 0/10

RESETS: 0

— the stone is silent —

THE STONE SHATTERS

The old carvings vanish in a scatter of dust.
A new stone rises in its place — with new words.

— TRIAL III COMPLETE —

THE STONE SPEAKS

✷

— The Third Echo —

"A messenger was sent to fold the flock into one pen."

"He mistook the flock for his family."

"The gate he was made to guard, he unlatched from within."

— TRIAL IV OF IV —

THE CEREMONIAL STONES

— read the runes · match the verses · place in the order of the first cycle —

— the ceremonial stones —

PLACED: 0/5

ATTEMPTS: 0

— silence —

— TRIAL IV COMPLETE · THE CYCLE BREAKS —

THE CYCLE BREAKS

✷

— The Fourth Echo —

"Five were set, to end what must not continue."

"A sixth was struck from a mold no maker should have shaped."

"You hold it now, warm against your palm."

"The hand that forged it has never stopped watching."

— THE CELESTIAL ORRERY —

THE COSMIC CLOCKWORK

— turn the wheel of years until the wanderers gather upon one line —

Year

0

— THE WHEELS ALIGN —

THE CYCLE ANSWERS

✷

— The Voice of the Cycle —

"Five wanderers walk five paths."

"Yet for one breath in every age, they speak the same line of the song."

"You have found that breath. The veil between the planes grows thin —

and beneath the line they share, a door no one built begins to open."