The gargoyle’s stone eyes shimmer with faint light as you return. A slow tremor runs through his wings, the sound deep and soft, like distant thunder beneath the walls. His voice carries the weight of centuries yet hums with sudden life.

“I have waited so long to know who I am,” he says, wonder threading through the gravel of his tone. “Hundreds of years have passed since my name was lost to silence. Every dawn I hoped someone might remember that I was a promise. I hope you have done what even time could not.”