Lira Valenti coughed, seawater burning her throat as she sprawled on Sarn's jagged shore.
Sand clung to her drenched dress, warm and gritty under a sky blazing with stars.
Her arm ached, silver runes flickering weakly under torn sleeves—their glow nearly drained by the Silent Council's cursed crystal. The parchment in her pocket, once a fiery lifeline, now lay cold and sodden.
Behind her, the sea still roared.
The smuggler's boat was gone—just splinters in Solara's wrath.
Elias knelt beside her, soaked and shaking.
"Lira, breathe!" he pleaded, pressing on her chest.
Warmth sparked through her fog.
His touch… steady.
His voice… pulling her from the edge.
But Kael's face—twisted by dark magic—flashed in her mind.
Mentor. Father figure.
Now puppet of the Silent Council.
Betrayer.
On a dune nearby, Koren stood guard, staff glowing faintly beneath the moonlight.
"They're close," he muttered, scanning the black waves.
The desert stretched beyond them.
Ruins loomed like broken bones under the starlight.
Dust whispered secrets.
Her throat burned.
She wanted to scream.
Why Kael?
Why me?
But her voice… still gone.
Her runes? Weak.
Echowriting? Drained.
Elias helped her up, hand lingering on hers.
"You're alive," he whispered.
Their eyes met.
His breath brushed her cheek.
Close. Too close.
Her heart fluttered.
But Mira's voice echoed:
"My twin. My sacrifice."
Lira pulled back, her gray eyes asking what her lips could not:
What aren't you telling me?
A roar shattered the moment.
A sea beast surged from the waves—massive, gleaming, eyes glowing like Council crystals.
Jaws snapped.
Claws raked.
Koren raised his staff, unleashing a burst of starlight.
"The Accord was a lie," he shouted over the chaos.
"Built by the sixth nation to bind the others—Solara, Sarn, Veyra, Thryme, Kyris."
"But its price… was blood."
Lira's breath caught.
Her blood?
The Voicekeeper's truth… rooted in betrayal?
She dropped to her knees, drawing a star in the sand with trembling fingers.
Silver light flickered.
A vision struck.
Desert skies. Ruins. Screams.
A woman wove glowing runes—
"They lied!"
Lira gasped, vision snapping back.
Sand stung her eyes.
---
☆☆ Mira's Memory ☆☆
Mira stood on the Council ship, clutching the crystal pulsing with her sister's stolen voice.
Lira's gray eyes haunted her.
They'd once laughed on Solara's docks, before the ritual—before the silence.
Mira had been nine.
Lira, eight.
The Council had demanded silence.
Mira had given them Lira.
She hated herself.
But she hated her sister's defiance more.
"You should've stayed silent," Mira whispered.
☆☆☆☆
---
The beast lunged.
Elias dragged Lira behind a boulder, shielding her.
"Stay down!"
His breath hit her neck.
Heart pounding.
Heat rising.
She reached into his cloak, finding a pendant—silver, etched with a tree.
"My mother's," he said, eyes soft.
"She believed in the Accord. I failed her… but not you."
His fingers brushed her cheek.
A silent vow.
Her pulse stuttered.
Could she trust him?
Koren's staff flared again, cutting across the beast's side.
Black blood spilled.
"The crystal's pact binds you to Mira," Koren warned.
"Your curse is her freedom. If one dies… the other falls."
Lira's stomach turned.
She was the sacrifice.
A twin, offered in exchange.
She slashed a glowing rune into the rock.
Light blasted outward—
But pain ripped through her.
Where was Veyra?
Mira leapt from the waves, crimson cloak swirling.
"Sister," she hissed.
"Let's finish this."
Dark energy snaked toward Lira.
Lira etched a glowing star-circle into the air.
Their magics clashed—light against shadow.
The sand trembled beneath them.
Mira lunged with a dagger.
Lira dodged.
Rune flared.
Mira flew backward.
The beast charged.
Jaws gaping.
Koren deflected with his staff, breath ragged.
"The ritual's growing," he warned.
"It'll take your Echowriting—your life!"
Chains of light erupted, snaring Lira's wrists.
From the ruins, a red flare pulsed.
A signal? A trap?
Kael appeared on the Council ship, holding another crystal—larger, brighter.
His eyes—glowing. Possessed.
"The pact claims you both," he said.
Not his voice.
Not Kael anymore.
The beast stilled.
Then turned.
Toward Lira.
Elias threw himself over her, trying to break the chains.
"I won't lose you!"
But a shadow moved behind him.
A figure emerged—curled hair, bloodied shoulder.
Veyra.
She held a third crystal.
"I had no choice," she whispered.
Tears spilled.
The spectral army rose from the sand, blades drawn.
"Blood seals the Accord."
Lira's runes dimmed.
The chains pulled tighter.
And as the darkness closed in, a whisper echoed—
"Your blood, your voice… our Accord."