The sky over the Marches had changed.
It wasn't the clouds, or the sun, or even the heavy winds that tore through the trees—it was something deeper. As if the sky itself had begun to watch.
Auren sat alone that night, his hands still faintly glowing. Every breath he took felt too loud. Every heartbeat too slow. The others stayed back now. Even Lys. Even Darien.
They didn't understand what he had touched.
Truth be told… neither did he.
The next morning, they found her.
An old woman—skin like tree bark, eyes like molten glass—waiting by the ruined shrine that hadn't been there yesterday.
She didn't bow. Didn't speak.
Until Auren approached.
"You carry the Echo," she said, voice like dry leaves.
"What does that mean?"
She tapped his chest gently with a crooked finger. "It means you are not a vessel. You are a key."
Caelen stepped forward. "Who are you?"
The woman gave him a sharp look. "Someone who remembers what your Houses forgot."
Then her gaze returned to Auren. "Come. The One Who Knows will speak with you. Once."
They followed her down a canyon path no one remembered. The air grew thin. The trees gave way to stone shaped by time and sorrow. Finally, they reached a cave, lit only by a slow-burning brazier.
Inside, Auren felt it.
Like his own mind echoing back at him.
The One Who Knows wasn't a person.
Not anymore.
It was a voice. A whisper from the glowing runes carved into the walls.
"You touched the Choir's Heart. You carry the last echo of the Broken Song."
Auren stepped forward. "What's happening to me?"
"You are becoming. But the shape of what you will be… depends on what you choose."
"Choose what?"
"The Crown will call you a threat. The Guild will name you lost. The Shardbearers will fear you."
"But the Rift will follow you."
A vision struck him then—of cities burning, of Shardbearers torn apart from within, of the land twisting into songless silence.
And at the center of it all: himself.
He staggered back.
Darien caught him—but held him like someone gripping a weapon, not a brother.
"Auren," he said, jaw tight. "What did it show you?"
Auren looked into his brother's eyes.
And for the first time, he lied.
"Nothing."
But in his mind, the voice still whispered.
"The Gate has stirred. And now, all the world will hear the consequences."