“What is that, Lux?” Lia asked as I plucked the weapon from the broken display. “Is it another artifact?”
“No,” I murmured, turning the blade over in my hands. I rubbed the drying blood away from the metal near the crossguard and held it out to her, tapping my finger over the pair of engraved symbols.
Her eyes widened as she recognized the mark I had drawn for her in the dirt back in Lybesa. “Is that…?”
I nodded. “It’s from Alderea. A piece of my past.”
“How is it here?” She looked up into my eyes, her face shifting as she put together the final bits of information explaining my sudden rage and disappearance from before. “Lux, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I smiled back at her, nudging her back into motion towards the elevator. “I don’t know how it got here, but I’m going to find out.” She gave me a wary smile in return as we continued on our way, her shoulder still supporting the majority of my weight.
We reached the opposite wall and stepped cautiously into the hanging metal cage. The seamless marble floor stopped abruptly at the entrance to the elevator shaft, replaced with raw-cut stone that continued up and away into darkness. Val stepped into the elevator after us, causing the cage to sag beneath her imposing frame. She placed her hand on the lever that controlled the counterweight and looked between Lia and me. “Are you ready to leave?”
“Yeah,” Lia answered. “This place gives me the creeps.”
“Agreed,” I added. Val pulled the grated metal door shut and flipped the lever on the wall, and our cage immediately rattled to life as it began to ascend into the dark.
Lux? Lia’s voice echoed in my head.
Yes?
I know you told Val you needed to sleep on it, but...where are we going to go next? I could feel her unspoken worry at the edge of my mind as she continued. And...what about Val?
We’re going home, I answered. We need to take some time to rest, regroup, and come up with a real plan with all of this new information. My eyes turned to the back of Val’s head, watching her until the elevator shaft was pitch black. She can travel with us, for now. We still have some things to discuss with her before I figure out...anything else.
Okay. Her worry turned to relief at the answer, and she leaned her head against my shoulder. I’m glad you’re still here, Lux.
Me too, Lia, I smiled as warmth spread through my chest. I wouldn’t have made it here without you by my side.
I’ll always be there when you need me. Forever.
My fingers tightened around the old leather grip of the rusted shortsword as I gently kissed the top of her head. Forever.
A slight chill ran up my spine as I felt the darkness stir around me, and an icy presence flitted in the back of my mind. Forever.
***
Author’s Note
Well, here we are again! I’ve somehow made my way to the end of another book. As you all may have noticed, this one was a bit longer than the previous entries. Volume 3 ended up at over twice the word count of Volume 1! This wasn’t an entirely intentional choice; I knew where I wanted the story to go, and it ended up taking a bit longer to get there than I thought it would. In the end, I’m incredibly happy with the outcome of Volume 3, and I hope you all enjoyed it!
As always, work on the series continues to progress every day. Volume 4 is well underway already, and I’m doing my best to get it published in a timely manner! It seems that an eight month wait between books is an achievable goal based on my release schedule so far, so my personal goal is to release the next book before the end of 2021. This is in no way a promise, of course. As this is a hobby project for me, I can’t prioritize it above work and life events, so delays are inevitable. If you’re interested in keeping up to date on the project in the meantime, follow me on Twitter @RA_Adam_Ladner, or subscribe to the newsletter on my website at www.adamladner.com.
I’d be remiss to leave out a few special mentions here, so indulge me a moment as I say thank you to the people who made this book possible. As always, a big thank you to Maria for taking the time to edit the manuscript and take time to continually teach me the basics of writing. Thank you to Zack for making sure the physical editions of the book are formatted correctly, no matter how many new challenges I add along the way. And of course, thank you to Jodi for continuing to be my number one fan and supporting me in every aspect of life, on and off the page.
I also wanted to give special mention to Alice, the artist of the series! I’m overjoyed to bring interior artwork back to the books; I felt its absence more than anybody in Volume 2, and the extra pieces here in Volume 3 really elevate the work to another level. You can find the full color, full resolution versions of each piece of art hosted on my website (as soon as I find a place to put them that doesn’t spoil any plot points for new readers!). If you’re looking to find more of her work, you can check out her social media accounts @Seiorai. Expect to see a lot more art in the Restart Again universe from her in the future!
With the page quickly running out, I’ll
