The interior of Resonatia unfolded like a melody in slow bloom.
Each step Aouli and Kaero took across the curved glass pathways elicited a response—chimes, harmonics, bursts of sound so subtle and layered they seemed more felt than heard. The path carried them above wide atriums and between tall structures that pulsed with quiet rhythm. From above, the towers shone like tuning forks frozen mid-vibration. From below, the city's base shimmered like submerged crystal, hinting at greater structures beneath the visible.
They crossed through a series of rings—archways suspended in midair, formed entirely from fluctuating tones. Each one produced a different hum, which passed through Aouli's chest like a tuning key brushing against his ribs. Kaero winced as one resonance passed through him.
"You feel that?" he muttered, adjusting the strap on his shoulder.
Aouli nodded. "It's retuning us."
"To what?"
"To them."
Ahead, the child-figure Aver waited at the end of the pathway.
Today, the sound-skin Aver wore pulsed with shifting green and violet tones, soft bell-like bursts of musical thought. Though Aver still didn't speak, Aouli had begun to pick up the meaning in the vibrations—tones of curiosity, calm, and, faintly, caution.
As they approached, Aver gestured toward a circular opening in the glass wall.
It was shaped like an ear.
No doors, no locks.
Just the outline of listening.
Aver stepped through first, his presence silencing the entrance.
Aouli and Kaero followed.
Inside was silence.
True silence.
Not absence-of-noise—but presence-of-attention.
They entered a vast chamber domed with hanging strands of reflective crystal, each one trembling slightly, held in place by finely tuned wind pressure. The entire space thrummed with latent vibration.
Dozens of figures stood scattered around the periphery—resonators, each in layers of tonal fabric. Most were silent, still. Some had orbs suspended above their heads—pulsing faintly. Others simply stood barefoot on patches of stone, harmonizing with it in real time.
Kaero looked around uneasily. "I don't like this. It feels like being inside someone's skull."
Aver made a low tone of reassurance, almost parental.
Then he led them forward.
At the far end of the chamber stood three tall figures, their sound-skin robes pure white and utterly silent. Even their footfalls made no noise.
They raised their hands in a synchronized movement.
The crystal above shimmered.
Then a tone rose—not sharp, not dramatic. Just true.
It passed through Aouli like a breath of memory.
And then it spoke:
"Seed-bearer. Light-form. You carry tone that does not belong."
Aouli took a step forward. "I carry Gaia's legacy."
The left Echo spoke in a slow descending harmony.
"That tone is no longer her own. It has frayed. It disrupts the weave."
Aouli opened his satchel and pulled the first seed—Gaia's. It pulsed a steady, warm frequency. The air around them stiffened as it harmonized briefly with the crystal threads above, then deviated.
The central Echo stepped down.
His sound-skin shimmered not with notes, but intervals—spaces between tones. Absence shaped into presence.
"You are unfinished. The chimes feel your lack."
Aouli's hands tightened around the seed. "I'm not here to finish anything. I'm here to listen."
The Echo nodded once.
Then turned to Kaero.
The air around the scavenger changed instantly.
Chords shifted. Tones fractured. Something sharp resonated in the back of the chamber.
Kaero took an unconscious step back.
A new voice emerged.
One Kaero had never heard before—his own, layered into chime and tone.
"Let it break. Let the world end. At least then no one has to explain."
A memory.
Unbidden.
Kaero clenched his fists. "I never said that here."
"Your frequency holds rage," the Echo replied. "And refusal."
Kaero turned to Aouli. "This is a trap."
"No," Aouli said. "It's a test."
The chamber shifted again.
A tone emerged—deep, ancient, harmonic.
It passed through every crystal, every stone.
And for the first time, Aouli understood.
The city didn't want to punish them.
It wanted to remember them.
Completely.
The Echoes spoke again in unified sound:
"Come to the Core. Let your harmonics be known. Sing, or silence. Truth, or unmaking."
And without waiting for reply, they turned.
Aver gestured for them to follow.
Kaero's jaw twitched. "We shouldn't—"
"We should," Aouli said softly. "They're not testing if we belong. They're testing if we'll break."
Kaero stared at him for a long moment.
Then nodded.
And they followed the Echoes into the heart of Resonatia.
Where every secret would eventually sound.