Chapter 77 — The Awakening Song
The first thing Arin noticed when he opened his eyes was silence.
Not the empty kind—the kind that pressed, warm and alive, against his skin.
It wasn’t the silence of absence. It was the silence between notes. The pause before breath. The moment when the world leaned in to listen.
He sat up slowly. The temple chamber glowed faintly with morning light, the walls humming like distant strings beneath his palms. Lyra was still asleep beside him, her hair fanned like gold fire against the silver linen.
For the first time in days, her face looked peaceful.
No tremors. No whispers. No shadow flickering beneath her eyelids.
He let out a slow breath. “It’s quiet.”
And then the quiet answered him.
“It’s listening.”
Arin froze. The voice wasn’t the Hollow’s—a
