The third realm they scrutinized was way north. Past the Frostvein Mountains, where a breath froze in the lungs and all memory crystallized to silence. Once, the locals had called it Eldmere, the Land of Songs Forgotten. Only the White Hush it was known as now.
[QUEST OBJECTIVE: Restore Eldmere] Warning: Emotional Isolation Detected
Yumi and Ren traveled by borrowed sled across the icebound passes. Overcast skies reigned supreme, and every crunch of their footfalls disturbed yet another layer of snow that had long forgotten heat. With each passing moment, the few thoughts they possessed grew fainter, as if their memories themselves were now at risk of slipping into the cold abyss.
"That is not silence," Ren said on the second day. "It is suppression. It feels like snow is just burying everything."
Yumi let out a whisper, "I can hardly remember what we're doing here."
They rested under a stone arch, half-embedded with frost. Beneath it stood an old statue: a woman with one hand on her chest and her mouth open in a silent scream. Almost completely eroded was the plaque below it.
Yumi brushed the ice off it: "For those who could not be heard."
It felt like a punch. She sank to the ground, letting her fingers touch the frozen soil. The flickering light of Empath's Radiance—then it changed, swelling into a surge. Warmth streamed through the snow. A whisper. A song.
Not sung aloud, but felt.
She glanced at Ren. "They weren't only silenced. They were forgotten too." They made a fire next to the statue that night. Yumi put one of their lamps at the feet of the woman. No memory poured in this time- it was an invitation for one to surface. Hours went by without nothing happening. But near midnight the wind changed. It brought not cold- but a melody: A girl's voice, humming. Low and steady. A lullaby without words.
The snow started melting around them in a wide ring. Pale figures emerged from the forest- villagers, thin and unsure. Most still did not speak, but they encircled the flame. Their breaths went out in unison, formed not into words, but into sounds: Yumi recognized it. "They're singing," she whispered. The next day, the lantern burned blue and gold. The statue woman now had color in her cheeks thanks to the flame.
There was more. A girl with frost-colored eyes and a bell on her wrist came to them that morning. She held out a bundle wrapped in hide. Inside was a memory shard- clear and faintly glowing. Unlike the others, this one pulsed with energy that made Ren wince.
"It's not just a memory, it's a warning," he said. The piece revealed them a vision: a distant tower beyond the sea, wrapped in storm and lightning, where silence was not passive, but enforced by a power still rooted in the Veil.
[NEW QUEST: Seek the Tower of Quiet] Objective - Confront the Source of Suppression.
Yumi looked to the horizon. "We've been healing. Mending. But this one... this is still alive. Still choosing silence."
Ren exhaled slowly. "Then it's not just a place. It's a will. And it doesn't want to be found."
They left Eldmere with blessings from the villagers—tiny bells braided into cords, worn around their wrists to remind them of their voices.
That night, as the stars reflected off the snow and their fire crackled softly, Ren turned to Yumi.
"Three Realms down. Four to go.
" Yumi held her lantern close. "And one shadow that still fights to silence them all."
The snow fell, gentler now. Not erasing, but covering gently-like a blanket over stories ready to be told.
And the Lantern Trail glowed on.
One ember at a time.