The first sound came as a tremor—not in the ground, but in the silence itself. A flutter. A vibration, so subtle it might have gone unnoticed if Liora hadn’t been listening with every fiber of her being.
She stood at the standing stones, windless air pressing against her like the weight of memory. Kaelen was beside her, his gaze fixed on the dark horizon, the dying stars casting a faint and mournful glow. It had been hours—days maybe—since they first sensed the unraveling, and now, something was taking its place. Not the old resonance. Not yet. But a precursor. A breath before the first note.
The Web was not gone. It had fractured, splintered, yes—but it had not ceased to exist. Beneath the shattered patterns and fading links, something else had begun to stir.
Liora knelt, placing both
