Chapter 65 The Song of the Earth
The Lithic-Wolves didn’t growl. They emitted a low-frequency hum that made the very bones of the canyon vibrate.
As we stepped onto the floor of the Maw, the creatures began to circle us, their quartz-covered paws clicking rhythmically against the basalt.
“Don’t fire,” I commanded the Reclaimed.
“If we spill blood here, the Node will lock us out forever.”
“Elara, they’re closing in,” Killian said, his body tensing as a massive Lithic-Alpha—a beast the size of a small van—stepped into our path.
Its crystalline fur was a deep, blood-red, and its breath came out as a puff of diamond dust.
I stepped forward, leavi6ng the safety of the circle.
I removed my boots, feeling the ancient, cold pulse of the canyon floor through the soles of my feet.
I didn’t reach for my power. I reached for the memory of the lullaby, the one that had broken the satellite, the one that had opened the vault.
I began to sing. But I didn’t sing the melody.
I sang the rhythm.
The sound was deep, guttural, a vibration that started in my chest and resonated through the floor.
It was the sound of shifting tectonic plates, the sound of ice cracking on a frozen lake.
The Lithic-Alpha stopped. Its blue-flame eyes flickered, then dimmed.
It tilted its head, its crystalline ears twitching as it processed the frequency.
One by one, the other wolves stopped their circling.
They sat back on their haunches, their jagged bodies becoming as still as the statues they resembled.
“It’s working,” Silas whispered, his visor recording the energy shift.
“The Node is responding. The pyramid is stabilizing.”
The obsidian surfaces of the pyramid slowed their movement, eventually forming a single, massive doorway at the base.
A soft, golden light poured out from the interior—the same light I had seen in the twins’ eyes.
“Only the Sovereign and the Heirs may enter,” the Lithic-Alpha spoke—not in words, but in a mental image that flooded my mind.
It was a memory of a time when the world was green, and the Silver Lineage were not hunters but stewards.
I looked at Killian. He nodded, his eyes filled with a pride that warmed me more than any fire.
“We’ll hold the perimeter, Elara. Go. Fix the world. ”