Chapter 97: The Whisper Beneath the Light
The Ridge was alive again.
For days after their return from the mountain, the air around Moonshadow Ridge pulsed with renewed energy. The forests whispered, the streams ran clearer, and for the first time in months, the villagers felt peace. Children laughed freely again, crops seemed greener, and the once-cursed winds that carried sorrow now hummed with warmth.
Yet Alexandra could not rest.
She stood at the edge of the river one morning, the Heart of the Ridge glowing faintly in her palm. Its light had changed—warmer, yes, but restless. It no longer pulsed with steady rhythm; it shivered, as though responding to something deep beneath the earth.
Ethan approached quietly, the sunlight catching in his dark hair. “You’ve been out here since dawn
