Chapter Four: Echoes Between the Stone
Part One – Selka's Offer
Zephryn hadn't cast in three days.
Not a flicker.
Not a hum.
Not even a twitch of pulse along the threads of his Veilmark.
He walked like someone still waiting to find out if he survived.
And spoke even less.
That morning, he stood by the edge of the training field where older glyphs were etched into the stone.
Not active.
Not erased.
Just… forgotten.
He stared at them like they were pieces of a name he didn't know how to pronounce anymore.
Selka approached from behind.
Didn't say anything at first.
Just stood beside him. Looked at the same markings. Let the silence stretch.
She finally spoke.
"They'll be watching you more now."
He nodded.
Didn't look at her.
"Let them. I'm done flinching."
That made her smile. Just slightly.
Then she said something quiet. Like it was for the stone, not for him.
"I want to take you somewhere."
He turned.
"Why?"
"Because it's the only place I've ever heard your hum when you weren't in this world."
That stopped him cold.
She met his eyes.
Steady.
Unshaken.
True.
"I didn't tell anyone. I didn't even believe it myself at first. But when you disappeared… I kept hearing it. Quiet. Low. Like something stuck between Veil and wind."
"I followed it. And it brought me to a place Doctrine says doesn't exist."
Zephryn didn't breathe for a moment.
She stepped back.
"Come with me."
They didn't take a path.
There was no marked trail.
No glyph-road.
No pulse-anchors.
Just forest.
And memory.
She led the way. He followed.
Not because he trusted the destination.
But because he remembered her voice when she said:
"I heard your hum."
That was more than belief.
That was survival.
They walked in silence until the air changed.
Not colder.
Not brighter.
Just… clearer.
Like the atmosphere itself had stopped carrying weight.
Like the wind remembered how to move without Doctrine permission.
The trees parted.
And there it was.
A waterfall.
But not loud.
Not crashing.
Just falling—slow, constant, resonant.
Like a song that had been humming for years with no one to hear it.
The pool beneath it was smooth as glass, unbroken by ripple or glyph signature.
Selka stopped at the edge.
Didn't look back.
"This is where I heard you. The night they told me you were gone."
Zephryn stared at the water.
He didn't speak.
Didn't move.
But his fingers twitched—just once—like the hum inside him recognized the place before he did.
Selka finally turned.
Her voice was almost a whisper.
"I don't care what they call you now. I know what I heard."
She stepped closer.
Not enough to touch.
Just enough to feel.
"You weren't gone. You were humming."
"And I was the only one listening."