To the west of Wamena Valley lay a land never spoken of in prayer. People called it the Silent Land a place where stones did no tremble, and resonance could not reach. Yohwa walked there alone, following a call not form the ancestors, not from Sira, but from something older and quieter.
His steps were heavy. The gorund was cold, though the sun shine. The air felt hollow, as if sound itself refused to stay. He foud a small stone embedded in the earth uncut, uncracked, unlit. But whne he touched it, his body trembled. Not from resonance, but from rejection. The stone refused to be remembered.
Numa arrived, breath ragged. "You found it," he said. "The forgotten flame."
Yohwa stared at the stone. "Why did it never ignite?"
"Because it's not part of our history ," Numa replied. "it's history that was discraded."
They sat around the stone. Yohwa tried to carve it, but his chisel broke. He touched it with the Seouk Carving necklace, but the necklace turned old. The stone didn't want ti be remembered. it wanted to remain lost.
But that night, Yohwa dreamed.
He stood in a blue mist, and there stood a woman. Her body glowed, but her face was unkown. She was not an acestor. She was not an enemy. She was a flame that had never been named.
"I am the fire that was never invited." she said. sje saod. "My name is Rava."
Yohwa tried to speak, but his voice vansihed. Rava stepped closer, and when her hand touched his chest, he saw flahes: discarded stones, forbidden songs, and hidden histories.
"Im not failed light," Rava whispered. "i am light that was denied."
Yohwa awoke. The stone began to tremble. A small crack formed, and from within a blue flame burst cold, but alive. The stone didn't glow like the others. it glowed like a wound finally brave enough to open.
Numa looked at Yohwa. "You've awakened a flame that neever wanted to be found."
Yohwa nodded. "Because the forgotten flame is the most honest one."
in the distance, that Soul Eclipse mist moved slowly. it didn't attack. it waited.
And whithin the blue stone, Rava's voice began to speak.