Chapter 78 — The Echo of Perfection
The Ridge had not known war, sorrow, or silence for three hundred years.
Every sunrise brought music.
Every river hummed in rhythm with the mountains.
Every heart beat in tune with the great song that had once saved the world.
But lately, the song had begun to change.
It wasn’t broken. It wasn’t dark.
It was simply too perfect.
So perfect that it left no space for anything else.
I. The Young Listener
Eira stood at the edge of the Resonance Temple, her silver cloak catching the morning wind. She was only seventeen—young for a Guardian—but her hearing was sharper than most.
The world sang to her differently.
Where others heard harmony, Eira heard repetition. Where others found peace, she felt the ache of something missing.
She placed a hand ag
