Chapter 18 – The Whispering Mountain
The journey from the crater was a march through silence. Not the peaceful kind, but the kind that pressed on the ears and settled in the bones. The forest they left behind seemed bruised—trees bent at wrong angles, roots cracking stone, animals either corrupted or fled. Even the wind had abandoned them.
Kael walked in the middle of the group, one hand pressed against his chest as though holding himself together. Every few steps, arcs of faint light flickered across his skin, not lightning exactly but remnants of the infinite resonance he'd unleashed. He tried to hide the tremors in his hands, but Elara saw. She always saw.
Elara's own burden weighed heavier than before. The Keeper's whispers had not ceased since the shard's fall. Thousands of voices clawed at her mind, each memory tugging her in a dozen directions—battlefields long dead, lullabies sung to children who no longer existed, screams of Sovereigns breaking chains that never should have been broken. She clenched her fists around them, forcing herself to remain present. To remain Elara.
Lyra trudged at the rear, trying to fill the silence with words. "You know, if we don't start naming these monsters, I'm going to go insane. 'Crystal stag,' 'eye-wolves,' 'screaming crows'—I'm starting to feel like I'm writing a nightmare bestiary."
No one answered.
"Fine," she muttered. "Tough crowd."
Darius gave her a faint smile, though his usually steady eyes were shadowed. "Naming them won't make them less dangerous."
"Maybe not," Lyra said, her flame sparking in her palm for comfort, "but it might make them less terrifying."
Aelric said nothing. He walked ahead, his hand near his blade, eyes scanning every shadow. His silence wasn't unusual, but there was tension in his shoulders that hadn't been there before. Elara caught it, though she didn't press.
By the second day, the terrain shifted. The trees thinned, and jagged rocks began to jut from the ground like broken teeth. The air grew thinner, sharper, carrying a sound that was almost—but not quite—the wind.
It was whispers.
At first faint, like a trick of the ears. Then stronger. By dusk, the voices rolled over them in waves, too many to ignore.
Elara staggered.
Kael caught her arm instantly. "Elara?"
Her breath came ragged, her eyes wide. "They're louder here. All of them. Every echo the Keepers ever held—it's amplified." She pressed her hands to her head, fighting to contain the flood. "The mountain… it's drawing them."
Darius stopped dead in his tracks. His face, usually calm, paled. "Of course. The Whispering Mountain. I should have known."
Lyra frowned. "I don't like that tone. Care to share with the rest of the class?"
Darius swallowed. "The Whispering Mountain was said to be one of the binding sites. When the Sovereigns were sealed away, anchors were placed across the land—foci of resonance, meant to contain their essence. This mountain is one of them."
Kael's jaw tightened. "And it's weakening."
The voices around them swelled, as if agreeing.
They made camp reluctantly at the base of the cliffs. No fire this time—the air itself seemed to shimmer with resonance, and flames twisted unnaturally when Lyra tried to spark them. Instead, they huddled under cloaks, the mountain's whispers gnawing at their sanity.
Kael sat apart from the others, staring at his hands. The lightning had faded, but the infinite hum remained, like a storm beneath his skin. He flexed his fingers, watching tiny arcs flicker between them. Power. Endless, unstoppable power.
And yet, when he closed his eyes, he saw the faces of the Harbingers he had destroyed. They hadn't screamed in fear. They had screamed in triumph.
They wanted this.
A hand touched his shoulder. He looked up to see Elara. Her face was pale, her eyes rimmed red from the weight of echoes, but her gaze was steady.
"You're drifting," she said softly.
He exhaled sharply. "I can't turn it off. Every breath, every heartbeat—it's infinite. And I…" His voice broke. "I don't know if it's still me making the choices, or if the storm already decided."
Elara knelt in front of him, placing her hand over his heart. "Then let me decide with you."
Her words struck deeper than any shard. For a moment, the hum quieted, as though Infinity itself had listened.
Lyra, watching from a short distance, rolled her eyes but smiled faintly. "Stars save me, if you two get any sappier, I'm going to throw myself into the mountain."
The moment shattered when Aelric returned from scouting. His expression was grim. "We're not alone."
The group stiffened instantly.
"How many?" Kael asked, already rising.
"Dozens," Aelric said. "Moving like shadows, circling the base of the mountain. They're not rushing. They're waiting."
Darius closed his eyes. "Harbingers."
Kael's storm stirred again.
They moved quickly after that, ascending the first cliffs under cover of night. The higher they climbed, the louder the whispers became. At times, Elara staggered so violently they had to stop, Kael steadying her while she bit back cries of pain.
"They're not just memories anymore," she gasped. "They're warnings. Begging us to leave. If the seal breaks—"
The ground shuddered beneath their feet, as if answering. Stones tumbled down the cliffs, echoing into the night.
And then, at the mouth of a vast cavern near the summit, they saw him.
A man in black armor, tall and broad-shouldered, his helm carved into the likeness of a wolf. Resonance bled from him in visible waves, warping the air. His eyes glowed like embers behind the visor.
When he spoke, his voice carried across the cliffs, deep and commanding.
"You carry Infinity, boy. And you carry Keeper, girl. Together, you are the key. The Sovereign sleeps within this mountain—but its chains are rotting. You cannot stop what is already breaking."
Behind him, dozens of Harbingers emerged from the shadows, their eyes gleaming.
Kael stepped forward, lightning sparking at his fingertips. "Then we'll break you first."
The commander's laughter rumbled like an avalanche. "We are not your enemy. Not yet. We are heralds. And we have already won."
As he spoke, the mountain itself groaned. A fissure split the rock above the cavern, spilling blinding light. The whispers became screams.
Elara fell to her knees, clutching her head. "It's… waking."
The Harbinger commander raised his blade, pointing it directly at Kael.
"And when it rises, Infinity will kneel."