Night returned slowly to the Plateau. The shattered runes glowed like dying embers, and the wind carried the hollow note of mana that refused to settle.
Lyn stood apart from the others, fingers tracing the new fracture in his crest. It pulsed softly—steady, rhythmic—like a heartbeat that was not his.
Rhea approached, her steps light on the glassy ground. "You're still hearing it, aren't you?"
"The hum?" he murmured. "It's getting louder. Like something beneath us is calling my name."
—It is, Umbra said from behind her, its voice more subdued than usual. The Fifth Seal lies close—beneath the Resonance Fields. It is not merely sound. It is memory seeking form again.
Arden tightened the strap on his blade harness. "You mean the ground's about to start singing at us?"
Umbra's wings rippled. —Singing… screaming… the difference will depend on whether your hearts stay steady.
They left the Plateau before dawn.Below it stretched a valley of stone ridges shaped like tuning forks, each humming faintly in the wind. With every step, the tone shifted—higher, sharper, until the air itself trembled.
Rhea winced. "Feels like the world's inside my skull."
Lyn pressed a hand to his temple. "It's aligning with our mana signatures. It's trying to read us."
Arden frowned. "That sounds bad."
"Depends who's doing the reading," Lyn replied.
The valley deepened into a canyon lined with crystalline pillars. Each pulse of sound made the pillars flare with light, throwing shards of reflection across their faces. Then a second vibration joined the first—lower, rougher.
Umbra's eyes widened. —Two resonances… impossible. Another presence has already reached the Seal.
Lyn's instincts flared. "Council remnants?"
—No. Older.
A figure waited at the canyon's heart, cloaked in white and silver, face hidden behind a mirrored mask. Around him floated six translucent sigils—each one a Seal fragment burning with faint crimson light.
"You've come far, Shadowborn," the stranger said, voice rippling like two tones layered together. "But you are not the first to hear the Resonance."
Lyn stepped forward, Umbra's shadow coiling at his heels. "Who are you?"
"An echo," the man replied. "A reflection of what your gods left behind."
The air thrummed harder, until even breathing hurt. Rhea raised her staff, flames licking along its length. "He's destabilizing the field!"
"Then stabilize it," Lyn said, eyes narrowing.
Arden grinned despite the tension. "Finally—something I can hit."
He lunged, blades flashing through the glowing mist. The masked figure barely moved; one flick of his wrist sent a wave of resonant force that shattered the ground around them. The sound alone knocked Arden back several meters.
Lyn caught him midair, crest flaring. "Stay down. He's linked to the Seal!"
Umbra roared, shadow stretching into twin wings that blocked the next shockwave. —He channels the Resonance directly. To fight him, you must match the tone.
"Then let's find the right note," Lyn muttered.
He planted his palm on the ground. The valley's hum changed, matching the rhythm of his heartbeat. The silver light of his crest met the red glow of the stranger's sigils, the two frequencies clashing in a violent harmony.
The air screamed. The pillars cracked.Somewhere deep below, something vast stirred—an ancient pulse that made the very sky flicker.
"Stop!" the stranger shouted suddenly, his composure fracturing. "If you continue, the Seal will break completely—none of us will survive!"
Lyn's expression hardened. "Then we're already too late."
He drove his will into the ground. The Resonance answered with a roar. Sound became light; light became force. The stranger's sigils shattered like glass, the echoes collapsing into a single thunderous chord that shook the world.
When the vibration finally faded, the canyon was silent. The figure was gone—only the mask remained, cracked in two.
Rhea knelt, catching her breath. "Is it over?"
Umbra's form flickered, wings folding close. —The Fifth Seal is gone. But the song continues.
Lyn looked upward. In the distance, beyond the broken cliffs, a faint aurora shimmered—dark red, steady as a heartbeat.
"That's where it leads," he said quietly. "To the Sixth."
Umbra inclined its head. —The Seal of Ascension. Where the gods themselves left their echo.
Rhea and Arden exchanged uneasy looks, then turned toward him.
"So," Arden said finally, "we keep walking?"
Lyn's gaze never left the horizon. "Until the last chord fades."
The wind rose again, carrying the faintest hum of the world remembering its own name.