Jalen Corv drifted in liminal space. He stood in mirrored chambers where time was broken. In one reflection, he wore the Vanguard crest. In another, he was light. In a third, shadow. He moved between timelines like mist.
He opened his eyes.
Sanctum Aqualis came back into focus, but not fully. Now, he heard thoughts. Not words, but feelings. Grief hummed in the walls. Hope pulsed in floor tiles. Despair lingered at the city's edge like a cold draft.
"I'm becoming the city," he whispered.
Lyra stood beside him, her presence unusually still. "You need a tether. Something outside yourself."
Together, they sought Queen Nyela. In Harmony Grove, she handed him a resonance seed. "Plant it. If it grows, so can you."
Corv planted it beneath the Unity Arch. Hours passed. Then days. One morning, it sprouted—not a tree, but a vine of crystalline light. A living anchor. A heartbeat. It sang in tones only he could hear.
"You are more than echo," Lyra told him. "You are anchor."
