Byun's fingers brushed the smooth, cold surface of the obelisk. The stone wasn't just stone, it felt wrong, as though something inside it was moving. It gave off a faint vibration, a heartbeat that didn't belong to the living.
The moment his palm settled on its base, a deep, dull pulse rippled outward. For an instant, the world seemed to hold its breath. Then, without warning, a violent shockwave tore free from the obelisk.
It wasn't sound in the normal sense. It was a pressure, an invisible scream that made the air twist as it rushed past them. Byun's ears rang with the strange weight of it, and his vision blurred.
The pulse rolled outward into the distance, vanishing into the black cliffs beyond. Even when the ground steadied, the feeling lingered, as if the obelisk had just announced itself to something far away.
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