Lira Valenti's wrists burned, bound by chains of light that pulsed in Sarn's desert ruins.
Sand stung her face, the starlit sky above churning with storm clouds. Her runes flickered, dim and weak, as the Silent Council's sea beast roared, its jaws snapping inches from her.
Spectral warriors, summoned by Kael's glowing crystal, chanted in hollow unison:
"Blood seals the Accord."
Their blades glinted, eyes glowing like Kael's—her mentor, now a puppet with a cold smile.
Veyra stood frozen, her wild curls trembling, clutching a third crystal that pulsed with stolen light.
"I had no choice," she'd whispered, her betrayal sinking the boat, trapping them here.
Elias gripped Lira's arm, his sea-glass eyes wild, tearing at the chains.
"I won't lose you!" he cried. His voice broke, his warmth a lifeline.
But Mira's words—twin, sacrifice, traitor—twisted Lira's trust.
The parchment in her pocket, once blazing, lay cold.
Her Echowriting—her voice—was fading.
Koren, the sixth-nation survivor, swung his star-etched staff.
Silver light sliced through a spectral warrior's arm. It dissolved, but more rose, their chant deafening.
"The Accord was born in blood!" Koren shouted. "The sixth nation paid it, erased to hide the lie. Your blood, Lira, is the key!"
Her heart lurched.
Her blood?
The treaty that bound Solara's tides, Sarn's warriors, Veyra's scholars, Thryme's smiths, and Kyris's riders—
Was all of it a lie?
Her muteness, her curse—it wasn't fate. It was the Council's doing. And Mira's.
Her runes stung—a spark of defiance.
Lira scratched a star into the sand with bloody nails.
Silver light flared, snapping the chains.
The beast lunged.
Elias tackled her behind a broken pillar, his body shielding hers.
"Stay with me," he whispered.
His breath warmed her cheek. Their faces, inches apart.
Her pulse raced.
His Veyran pendant—silver, etched with a tree—pressed against her palm.
"It's all I have left," he murmured. "My mother believed in you Voicekeepers. I do too."
She wanted to trust.
But Mira's voice echoed: "You chose the wrong side, Elias."
What had he done with her twin?
Mira's Memory
Mira clung to the Council's ship, the crystal's pulse searing her palm.
Lira's face—her twin's face—flashed in her mind.
Eight years old, laughing on Solara's docks before the ritual stole her voice.
Mira had been nine, trembling.
The Council had demanded silence to seal their power. She chose Lira—her weaker twin—to save herself.
Now, Lira's Echowriting, that cursed light, threatened everything.
"I didn't mean for this," Mira whispered, rain mixing with her tears.
The beast's roar echoed, chasing her sister across the sands.
She clutched the crystal, torn—end Lira, or defy the Council?
☆☆☆☆
The beast's claws raked the pillar. Sand exploded.
Koren's staff flared, slicing through the strike.
But the spectral army closed in.
"The sixth nation built the Accord!" Koren shouted.
"A Voicekeeper's blood sealed it—but they betrayed her, erased her people. Your Echowriting, Lira, is her revenge!"
Lira's breath caught.
Revenge?
Her runes flared. She scratched a circle-star into the stone.
Light burst, shattering a warrior.
But pain stabbed her arm.
Her power was fading.
Veyra stumbled forward.
"They have my brother," she said, crystal glowing in her hand. "I had to."
Lira's heart twisted.
Another betrayal.
She wanted to write: Why?
But the beast lunged, forcing her to dodge.
Elias grabbed her hand.
"Come!"
He led her into a glowing shrine.
Runes lit the walls.
"It's sixth-nation," he said. "It might save you."
Inside, a scroll rested on the altar.
Her parchment glowed.
Lira touched the scroll—
And a vision struck.
A Voicekeeper screaming under a crimson sky.
Runes burning. Blood pooling.
A young Kael, watching with cold eyes.
She gasped. Her knees buckled.
Elias caught her. "I've got you."
His lips brushed her forehead—a near-kiss.
But Kael… had betrayed them even then?
Mira appeared at the shrine's entrance.
Her crimson cloak dripping.
Her voice soft—but deadly.
"Sister. You can't run."
Dark tendrils shot from her hands.
Lira scratched a rune into the altar.
Silver clashed with shadow.
The shrine quaked.
"You were my sacrifice," Mira said. "But your light ruins everything."
The beast burst through the wall, jaws snapping.
☆☆ Mira's Memory ☆☆
Mira staggered through the ruins.
The Council's whispers clawed at her.
"Kill her, or fall."
Lira's light stirred something inside her—regret?
She remembered laughter, silence, betrayal.
"I can't," she whispered, running toward the shrine.
☆☆☆☆☆
Koren's staff dimmed.
"The blood pact ties you to Mira," he shouted.
"One lives. One dies."
Lira's heart stopped.
She carved another rune—
But the crystal's tendrils tightened.
Her breath faltered.
Veyra knelt.
"I didn't want this," she sobbed. "They'll kill him if I don't."
A red flare blazed in the sky.
Kael's ship loomed, his possessed form holding a second crystal.
"The Accord demands blood," he said, voice not his own.
The spectral army charged.
A second beast rose from the sand.
The shrine hummed—Veyra's signal?
Elias's pendant glowed faintly.
His eyes flicked away, hiding something.
Lira's vision blurred.
The scroll flared, revealing words:
"The Voicekeeper's blood breaks the Accord."
Her heart froze.
She could end it.
But at what cost?
The second beast lunged—its claws aimed for Elias.
Koren faltered.
A spectral warrior grabbed him.
"You hid the truth too," it hissed.
Koren's face paled.
Was he a traitor too?
Mira stepped forward.
Her dagger lowered.
"Lira," she whispered, tears falling. "I can't let them take you."
She turned on the beast—energy flaring.
But Kael's crystal blazed.
"The Accord is ours."
A spectral army poured from the ruins.
And a third figure emerged—cloaked, holding a blade etched with Lira's runes.
"The blood pact ends tonight," they said.
The voice?
Lira's own.