That night, silence was heavier than any sound. They moved away from the ruined temple, following a fissured road that wound between mountains of ash. No wind stirred, no spirit wailed. Only their footsteps marked the world.
Ahri felt the weight of the unspoken pact pressing at her chest, a phantom knot tightening each time her lantern dimmed. Jin walked at her side, though farther than usual, as if the very space between them had grown sacred or dangerous. His shadow trailed behind them both, not separate now, but not fully bound either—a half-presence, watching.
Aya broke the quiet first. "Why does it feel like even the air is listening?"
Mino's voice was low, cautious. "Because it is. This realm was woven from silence as much as from thread. Every knot left untied here waits to be overheard."
Ahri touched the lantern glass, staring into the flame. Its glow rippled faintly, threads curling outward like whispers seeking form. She spoke softly, to herself more than to them: "Knots hold memory. Knots hold shape. But silence… silence is what binds them together. What if I'm meant to listen, not to weave?"
Her words seemed to stir the very ash beneath them. The road shifted, revealing faint patterns etched into the ground, half-buried under centuries of dust. The markings resembled a loom, vast and broken, stretching into the horizon.
Jin stopped abruptly. His voice was sharp, almost pained. "Don't follow that thought, Ahri."
She looked at him. "Why?"
"Because silence is not empty here. It answers back."
As if on cue, the ash patterns trembled. A low hum rose, too deep to be called sound, too steady to be mere vibration. It was silence given shape, a presence without voice. Ahri felt it pass through her like a needle without thread, piercing her thoughts.
She staggered, clutching her lantern. The hum carried an unspoken question that filled her head: Will you tie the knot, or will you unbind it?
Jin grasped her shoulder, his shadow flaring on the ground like oil spilling across stone. "Do not answer it," he hissed. "Once you speak into silence, it will never let you go."
But Ahri's lips parted anyway, words trembling at the edge.