They told stories of the Eighth Note in hushed whispers, warnings passed through generations like rusted relics. A sound so powerful, it once split the sky in two—half dream, half ruin. A note that could awaken what slumbered behind the stars… or devour everything that ever dared to dream.
And now, it lived inside Amira.
A Forbidden Resonance
As dawn broke, the harp began to hum—not gently, but with a low, haunting throb that echoed through stone and soul alike.
Kelu stepped back. "That's not the old melody…"
"It's something deeper," Amira whispered. "Buried beneath Serai's song. Like a secret she never wanted to remember."
Damaris touched one of the strings.
He recoiled instantly, blood trickling from his fingertip.
"It's not just music," he gasped. "It's memory. Weaponized."
Clues in the Dust
Morya led them through a cracked ravine known as the Sighing Scar, a place where echoes lingered longer than sound.
There, in an alcove hidden by ivy and stardust, they found a mural:
A winged figure bound by golden chains.
A harp torn in half.
And eight stars above her, one blacker than void.
"That's the Eighth Note," Amira said. "It wasn't part of the original Flame Song. It was... sealed."
Kelu's eyes widened. "Serai sealed it herself?"
"She must've known it was dangerous," Morya added. "But now it's leaking out. Through you."
Return to the Flame Well
Back at the Flame Well, Amira sat at the heart of the memory pool, harp in hand, the water reflecting not her face—but Serai's.
The goddess's voice was faint.
"I buried that note inside you, my child… to protect the world from what I became."
"But they are unsealing it."
"If you play it before it's whole, you will unravel."
The First Unraveling
Suddenly, the sky screamed.
A Skyhunter descended—not like before, but corrupted, fused with black flame and memory dust.
It spoke:
"Give us the harp, or we take the soul that holds it."
They attacked.
Damaris leapt to defend, and his blade met bone.
But it wasn't enough.
The harp reacted to the chaos—strings bending, vibrating the Eighth Note, even though Amira hadn't played it yet.
The Skyhunter cracked apart mid-air, shattering into a storm of forgotten names.
Echoes of a Truth Unfolding
Amira fell to her knees.
"I didn't mean to—"
"You didn't play it," Kelu said, kneeling beside her. "It played you."
Then the ground trembled.
A voice rose—not Serai's this time.
But older.
"She has touched the edge of the Unseen Flame. The Loom of Songs is breaking."
From beneath the mountain, a chorus of voices began chanting in a forgotten tongue.
"Eighth Note… Eighth Note… restore or ruin…"
Final Lines of the Chapter
As the stars dimmed, and the wind hushed, Amira touched the final string.
She didn't strum it.
She listened.
And in the silence between heartbeats…
A new sky answered.