The boy’s song stopped, and silence fell—not the kind that comes when sound ends, but the kind that settles into your chest and stays, like the pause between heartbeats. Not empty. Not still. Just waiting.The flamevine at his bare feet dimmed, its glow softening to a hush. The petals curled against the dark earth like they, too, were listening. Around the fire, the camp stilled—not with fear, but with something stranger. Reverence. Stillness gripped them all—mid-breath, mid-blink, as if the world had held its inhale and forgotten how to let it go.Azriel didn’t blink. The sixth flame flickered in his chest, not frantic, not warning—just aware. Awake. He’d felt this before, once, in the Archive ruins, when truth had stepped into their circle wearing a child’s face. But this was different.This time, truth wasn’t returning. It was arriving.Velan moved first, edging toward the boy with that unnatural calm that belonged to people older than their bodies. His white eyes were wide, lit by
Last Updated : 2025-07-25
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