Chapter 7: Whispers Beneath the Waves
Theme: Trust in Shadows / Echoes of the Past
The ruins of Meridien rose from the mist like the bones of a forgotten god. Spires leaned at broken angles, half-consumed by the sea, and moss-covered statues stared blind-eyed at the tide, their faces cracked but eternal. Water lapped through shattered arches, where once market bells rang and children laughed.
Kael stood at the edge of the causeway, wind biting into his cloak. The shard at his chest hummed faintly beneath the fabric—more of a heartbeat now than a jewel. The air here tasted like rust and sorrow.
"Are you sure this is it?" he asked.
Seraeth nodded. "The Sea Shard lies beneath the temple. The city drowned trying to protect it."
Vaelen traced a sigil in the air and murmured, "If the Echo still lives here, we'll hear it soon."
They stepped forward.
The water didn't splash at their feet. It parted.
Kael blinked. "Is that... supposed to happen?"
"No," Seraeth said, too quickly.
Vaelen's eyes narrowed. "The shards are growing aware of each other. Or something else is calling them."
They moved through the submerged city, the stones shifting faintly beneath their feet. It wasn't just moss that grew here—ghostlight flickered in the corners, and once, Kael could have sworn he saw a child's face smiling up at him from a well.
He looked again.
Gone.
---
They reached the Temple of Salt and Stone by midday. Seaweed clung to its gate, and coral had grown along its walls like an invading kingdom. The sky darkened as they passed the threshold.
Inside, silence.
But not empty.
Kael felt it immediately—a pressure in his ears, in his chest, in the space behind his eyes.
Then came the whispering.
Not words. Not yet.
Just the sensation of being watched by something old.
Vaelen lit a shardlight and cast it toward the altar.
There it was. Suspended in water, held in place by a sphere of silver energy: the Sea Shard.
But the water wasn't still. It moved—rippling inward.
"A whirlpool," Kael said. "In reverse."
Seraeth stepped forward.
"We don't touch it. Not yet."
Kael moved to follow her—but something tugged at his wrist.
He looked down.
A hand.
Ghostly. Child-sized. Clutching his arm.
He yelped and fell back. The vision vanished.
"Did you see that?" he gasped.
"The city remembers," Seraeth said, quietly. "It doesn't want to forget."
Vaelen stepped forward. "This temple isn't a tomb. It's a prison. And the shard is the key."
Then the walls began to hum.
A low, resonant sound like distant singing—voices trapped in stone.
"We must move quickly," Seraeth said.
Kael reached for the shard—but the moment his fingers brushed the water's surface, his vision fractured.
---
Echo
He stood in the same temple.
But it was whole.
Clean.
Sunlight poured through stained glass. Priests walked in white robes. Bells rang. Children laughed outside.
"Kael?" said a voice behind him.
He turned.
A woman stood there. Silver hair. Eyes that shimmered blue and gold. Familiar.
"Mother?" he whispered.
She smiled.
"You shouldn't be here."
He took a step toward her—but she stepped back into the light and vanished.
He ran after her.
But the temple was gone.
He was in the waves now.
Sinking.
Drowning.
---
A hand gripped his arm.
"Kael!" Seraeth's voice cut through the veil.
He gasped awake, water spilling from his lungs.
He coughed, shivering. "What—what was that?"
Seraeth didn't answer.
Because she was staring at her own hand.
It glowed faintly blue.
Vaelen saw it too. "You've been marked."
"The shard knows me," she whispered.
"Knows you, or remembers you?" Kael asked.
She hesitated.
"Both."
Then came the tremor.
The temple shuddered. The water around the shard cracked like glass.
"It's waking," Vaelen said.
Kael and Seraeth ran to the altar.
The shard pulsed once. Then again. A third time.
Then it split in two.
Kael reached for one half—Seraeth the other.
When their fingers touched the crystal, the room exploded with light.
---
Two Visions
Kael saw a fleet of ships breaking apart in a storm of green fire. He saw the Queen of Glass kneeling before a silver throne, her mouth bleeding light. He saw a tower crumbling inward, and a black crown falling into fire.
He screamed.
Seraeth saw the Moonbinder temple, burning. She saw a child—hers—sinking beneath a black tide. She saw her own hand releasing the Sea Shard into the water.
She remembered everything.
She was the one who drowned Meridien.
---
They woke at the same moment.
The shard hovered between them—whole again.
But the silence was gone.
A voice now spoke.
"You are not ready."
It echoed from the shard.
"Prove your worth, or lose yourselves."
The water around them rose.
A figure emerged from the deep. Eyes like hollow pearls. Skin of kelp and stone. The Warden of the Shard.
It raised a trident and struck.
---
Battle in the Echo
Kael flung fire. It fizzled into steam.
Seraeth drew a blade of moonlight and slashed—but the Warden flowed like water, reforming.
Vaelen raised both hands and called on ancient winds. The roof cracked.
"The shard!" he shouted. "It must choose!"
Seraeth ran for it.
The Warden blocked her path.
Kael leapt forward, drawing both shards from his chest. Ember and Wind burned in his palms.
He struck.
The explosion ripped through the temple.
The Warden screamed as steam and light poured through it.
Then silence.
The figure dissolved.
The shard floated again.
And then it sang.
A clear, high note that echoed in the heart.
It descended into Kael's hand.
It had chosen.
But as the sound faded, Seraeth turned away.
Kael saw her wipe tears from her eyes.
"You knew," he said quietly.
She nodded. "I tried to seal it away. I didn't know it would cost a city."
He looked at the shard. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you needed to choose it freely. If I'd told you who I was—what I did—you'd never have trusted me."
He was silent.
Then he held out his hand.
"Now I do."
A long pause.
Then she took it.
---
Far above, the tide began to recede. For the first time in a century, the sun touched the highest spire of Meridien.
Below, three shards pulsed in harmony.
And far away, in the Ashlands, the Hollowed King stirred.
"He has found the third."
A voice, dry as parchment.
Another answered.
"Then it begins again."
---
End of Chapter 7