The seal glowed faintly beneath Ren's fingers.
Not bright.Not warm.Just enough to let the world know it was still awake.
Lyra held her breath as she watched the symbols pulse—spirals etched into the stone like veins, soft and rhythmic, almost imitating a heartbeat.
"Ren…" she whispered, "step back. Please."
But Ren didn't move.
He couldn't.
The echo inside him pressed against his ribs, vibrating like a second heartbeat, answering the pulse beneath the roots.Two rhythms, out of sync, then slowly, painfully beginning to match.
Borin planted his axe into the soil.
"Kid. Whatever is under there—don't wake it."
Draven whimpered.
"YES. YES, LISTEN TO THE LARGE MAN WITH THE AXE. VERY GOOD ADVICE. BEST ADVICE."
Ren finally spoke.
"I'm not waking anything."
He slid his palm across the surface of the seal.The stone pulsed again—like breath drawn in.
Lyra flinched.
"Ren—"
"I'm listening."
He closed his eyes.
The world dimmed around him.
Not like darkness falling—like memory rising.
The forest held still.The wind stopped beyond the clearing.Even the grass bowed as if bracing for something older than seasons.
Ren saw it.
Not fully.Not clearly.
A figure—not the Shadow,not the one who bowed—
Another.
A presence sealed beneath stone and earth and centuries of silence.
A presence with the same fracture he carried inside him.
Lyra touched his shoulder and Ren gasped as reality snapped back.
He stumbled.
Lyra caught him.
"Ren! Ren, look at me!"
His eyes were unfocused, silver-gray bleeding through the color.
"I… heard them."
Borin stiffened.
"Them?"
Ren nodded, trembling as though the echo had chilled his spine.
"The one sealed here.Their echo… it was screaming."
Draven fell backward.
"SCREAMING?! WE ARE GOING HOME. I AM PACKING. WE ARE MOVING TO ANOTHER COUNTRY."
But Ren wasn't hearing them anymore.
The echo inside him—the fracture—had shifted.
Not louder.Not darker.
Deeper.
Lyra lifted his face in her hands.
"Ren. Stay here. Stay with me."
He swallowed, the trembling in his fingers spreading through his arms.
"I'm trying."
The roots around the seal tightened, curling inward like claws gripping a secret.
Borin glared at the ground.
"Why would the forest hide someone like you under stone?"
Ren answered without thinking—because the echo answered first:
"Because they broke."
Lyra froze.
Her voice barely escaped her throat.
"Broke? Ren… what do you mean 'broke'?"
Ren touched his chest.
"The echo… it wasn't meant to stay inside a person.They couldn't carry it.So the forest sealed them before it tore them apart."
Draven shook violently.
"WHAT ARE WE STILL DOING HERE?!"
Borin shot him a look.
"He's right. This place isn't safe."
Ren shook his head slowly.
"It's not dangerous."
Borin snorted.
"The screaming echo disagrees."
Ren looked down at the seal.
"It's not a threat.It's a warning."
Lyra's fear deepened.
"Ren… a warning about what?"
He placed his hand over hers.
And whispered:
"About what happens if I keep following the call."
The clearing darkened.
Not from clouds.Not from shadow.
From memory.
Ren's breath hitched.
Lyra held him tighter.
"Ren—stop—please—listen to me, stop before it pulls you in—"
But the echo surged.
The forest responded.
The seal pulsed again—once, then twice, then a long, trembling third time.
Ren staggered forward as if dragged by something ancient.
Lyra lunged and grabbed him from behind, arms around his torso.
"REN! Stay with us!"
"I'm here!" he strained out, voice cracking.
The seal brightened.
Faint roots beneath the stone twitched, alive with memory.
Ren felt a pressure push against his mind—
sorrowsicknessfracturelosssilencesilencesilence
Lyra's voice broke through it.
"REN, LOOK AT ME!"
He opened his eyes.
Gray.
All gray.
Lyra cupped his face.
"Ren. Come back."
The echo trembled violently.
Then—
It cracked.
A sharp burst of pain cut through him, forcing him to inhale sharply.He collapsed to his knees.
Lyra caught him as he fell.
"Ren!"
Borin rushed forward.
Draven screamed and ran in circles.
Ren gasped, gripping Lyra's clothes.
"Lyra… I'm here. I'm here. I—"
The echo faded suddenly, leaving a cold emptiness behind.
Lyra's arms tightened around him.
"Ren… what did you see?"
Ren lifted his head slowly.
His voice was barely a whisper.
"I saw the end of the first one."
Borin stiffened.
"And how did they end?"
Ren's eyes flickered with pain he didn't yet understand.
"They didn't die."
The forest fell silent.
Draven squeaked:
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY DIDN'T DIE?! HOW DO YOU 'NOT DIE' INSIDE A GRAVE THAT IS NOT A GRAVE?!"
Ren looked at the seal.
"They weren't sealed because they were dangerous."
He touched the stone gently.
"They were sealed because they were begging for it."
Lyra's breath caught.
"Ren…"
He met her gaze.
And whispered the truth that chilled the air itself:
"They wanted to stop becoming something else."
The roots shuddered.
The clearing exhaled.
And Ren knew—
what waits beneath the stone veilis not dead,not alive,and not silent.
Not anymore.