Song of Serenity:

When silence whispers in ancient halls,

When time stands still in dreams so deep,

I seek you amidst echoes that call,

Where memory's a shadow, graves it does keep.

The darkness that swallowed the three travelers wasn't merely the absence of light — it felt alive. The sand underfoot gave way to cold stone, and every step resonated like heartbeats deep within a cavern. The ceiling above them, covered in ancient symbols, glowed with a faint yellow luminescence, as if the very words of Resonance were guiding them deeper.

Tarion walked ahead, holding a staff shard before him. The light emanating from it cautiously illuminated the path and drove away the shifting shadows lurking along the walls.

— "This place…" Laina whispered. — "It wasn't made by humans."

— "Because it was made by those humans who forgot," Greet replied, his sword already clenched in his hand.

On the third level of the underground hall, the space widened. Tall arches, covered in inscriptions, stretched upwards, and in the center, something resembling an altar faintly glimmered. Beside it stood a figure — in shadow but with a halo of light around its face.

— "Stop!" Tarion cried, raising his staff.

The figure turned. It was a person in dark clothing, with a silver sign of the Order of Serenity on their chest. A young face, slightly weary, but without fanaticism in its eyes.

— "I am not an enemy," he said. — "At least, not today."

— "The Order sends spies into sacred places?" Greet growled.

— "I am Lian, a junior acolyte of the Order. But I am not here by their will." He took a step forward, not reaching for a weapon. — "A different silence brought me here. A name I heard in a dream."

Tarion tensed. Lian looked too calm, too… familiar.

— "What are you doing here?"

— "I want to know the truth. About what was before us. And what awaits us. The Order is silent. I seek another source."

His voice didn't waver. But Laina approached Tarion and whispered softly:

— "He… is like those who believe not in truth, but in order. Not in meaning, but in control."

— "And yet he is here," Tarion replied. — "Meaning he either seeks the truth or fears it."

— "I heard a voice in the sand," Lian suddenly said. — "It called your name, Tarion. And another… Laina. But the third name was distorted. It sounded like… Sairea."

Laina flinched. Her eyes grew more serious.

— "Do you know her?"

— "No. But in that name… there's something dark."

Greet's gaze lingered on him. But he said nothing — for now.

— "And what do you want now, Lian?" Tarion asked.

— "I want to go with you. To see what is hidden deeper. If I lie, kill me. But I'm tired of being a cog."

Tarion nodded. The staff in his hand glowed again — and led them onward, downwards, to yet another set of gates waiting to be opened.

The first of many doors closed behind them. And no one yet knew that in the shadows of the next hall, a creature born from war memories already waited.

When the last echoes behind them faded, they stood before an arch inscribed with the dead language of Resonance. Each letter pulsed as if breathing its own life, and the passage led downward — down a staircase too perfectly preserved to be ancient.

— "How did these steps survive time?" Laina whispered. — "They look like new…"

— "It's Resonance," Tarion said. — "It doesn't obey the laws of time, if the place… still remembers."

Greet walked a little behind, watching Lian carefully. Though he didn't voice his suspicions, his eyes spoke louder than any words.

Finally, they descended into a hall where the walls were covered not just with symbols, but with bas-reliefs — scenes of battles between humans and faceless creatures. Among them — the figure of a hooded woman, extending her hands towards a black crystal from which shadows erupted.

— "This is…" Lian began, but then fell silent. His voice trembled.

— "I've seen her…" Laina whispered. — "In the dreams that come after battles. Her silhouette. She always stands behind Cael'Theron."

At that moment, the hall trembled. Black lines erupted from the ground — like cracks, but they pulsed like veins. From them, a figure rose — of bronze and dust, with empty eyes.

It moved like a puppet on strings, and a fragment of a Resonance crystal blazed in its chest.

— "Is it a guardian?" Greet asked, drawing his sword.

— "No… It's a memory," Tarion replied. — "Hidden in the walls. A fragment of what was."

The figure did not attack. It stopped and, looking through them, spoke in a voice that echoed from all sides:

— "She entered. The one who should not have been. An echo of darkness touched the truth. If she is not stopped — the Cycle will be broken…"

— "Who is it talking about?" Laina asked, frightened.

But Tarion already knew. The name was on the tip of his consciousness, but something inside still prevented him from speaking it. He only said:

— "It's a warning."

Suddenly, the hall was engulfed in swirling dust. Outlines began to appear from it. As if another echo… the silhouette of a girl. She resembled Laina — so much so that Tarion's heart tightened.

But her eyes… had no sparkle.

It seemed she was about to say something. But instead of words, fragments of light scattered, and silence covered the hall.

— "What was that?" Lian whispered.

— "Someone wants us to see not everything, but just… an image," Laina said, her voice trembling. — "And that image has my face."

Tarion turned to the bas-relief. Now he noticed more. Next to the hooded woman — another figure, previously invisible. And she had the same features.

— "Someone was playing with the memory of this place," he said. — "And someone… wants us to lose the line between reality and shadow."

— "Or so that we don't trust her," Greet threw in, glancing at Laina.

Their gazes met. But in Laina's eyes, there was only confusion and fear.

— "I don't know what that was. But it wasn't me."

— "We know that," Tarion replied softly. — "And that's why we'll go further."

And as they headed towards the doors at the end of the hall, none of them saw how, in the shadows behind the arch, deeper in the wall, familiar green eyes flickered for a moment. And then disappeared.

The passage ahead was narrower than the previous hall. The ceiling hung low, and every sound — a breath, a step, even a thought — echoed as if inside a skull. It grew cold, and even the magical lights blazing in Laina's palms trembled like candles in the wind.

— "Something here… isn't right," Lian muttered, these being his first words in a long time.

He walked last, but with every step, his breathing seemed to grow louder, as if reflecting not off the walls, but off something standing nearby… invisible.

Greet stopped and crouched. Touching the floor, he raised his palm — dark moisture was on his fingers.

— "It's not water," he said. — "And not blood. It's… alive."

And suddenly… the light went out.

In an instant — no sound, no color, no touch. The silence became deafening. The lights extinguished, and the heroes found themselves in complete darkness.

— "Tarion?…" Laina's voice drifted. But it sounded as if from afar. As if her cry was passing through a thick layer of water.

— "I'm here!" Tarion called back. But he himself was no longer sure.

He walked, but his feet did not touch the floor. The world had changed.

Ahead — a figure. Small. Huddled.

He saw himself.

A boy. Alone. In the dirt. With screams in his ears.

This was a memory.

— "No… This isn't now… This was…" he mumbled.

And he heard — breathing behind him. Heavy. Raspy. Wet.

He turned — and nothing. But the breathing continued.

Then, suddenly — light flared again. But not from their hands — from the eyes of the bas-reliefs on the walls.

There were hundreds of them. Faces. Children's. Elderly. Distorted. They watched.

— "It's a trap," Greet said, his voice rough and dry like gravel. — "This isn't a physical place. It's a Resonance illusion."

— "A mental labyrinth," Laina added. — "They're making us see our own fear."

— "What if I don't remember fear?" Lian whispered.

In response… something laughed. Prolonged, childish, hoarse. The laughter poured from all sides.

Figures began to crawl from around the bend — dark, distorted, with faces half-familiar, half-twisted. Among them — one, with Laina's face, but with empty eyes like coal.

— "Don't look into her eyes!" Tarion shouted, but it was too late.

Lian froze. And the figure approached him, whispering:

— "You will never leave. Because you've already stayed here…"

Then Tarion grabbed Lian and pushed him back towards the others. Laina created a barrier that trembled under the weight of the darkness.

— "This can't be real…" she gasped.

— "It doesn't have to be real to destroy," Greet replied.

Tarion, looking at Laina's distorted reflection, suddenly understood: this wasn't a created shadow. It was an imprint from someone else's memory.

— "These aren't my fears… And not ours… It's someone else's soul left here. She sees us — through her own wounds."

And then… all the shadows vanished.

The hall emptied.

Before them — a stone arch with an inscription: "Who passes this, passes through themselves."

Silence.

— "We need to go on," Greet said.

— "But not as who we were," Laina added.

And as they stepped into the next corridor, whispers remained behind them — and eyes that watched from the walls. Eyes that couldn't close.

Beyond the arch, the tunnel gradually widened, and a massive hall appeared before them — quiet, dark, yet filled with a strange electrical tension in the air. The floor surface glowed with a lace of thin lines, like living veins pulsating beneath the stone's skin.

— "This is… the Node," Laina whispered. — "It's still active…"

In the center of the hall stood a stone construct — resembling a heart suspended in the air. It pulsed with a soft greenish light, and with each beat, something akin to a moan echoed in the air.

— "Stop," Greet halted everyone. — "Something's changing…"

At that very moment, the light around them vanished, leaving the heroes in semi-darkness. And again… a vision appeared. But this time, not a projection, not an illusion of fear.

It was a memory. Living, painful, rooted in the very heart of the Node.

The Vision

A young man, clad in the white robes of a Keeper, stands on the edge of a cliff in a mountain temple. His hair is light, his gaze — full of determination, yet sorrow. Beside him — another figure, female, with a soft smile and a serene look. Her name was Maevaria.

— "We have no right to do this, Cael," she says. — "If you break the Resonance, even partially — the consequences are unpredictable."

— "The consequences have already arrived," Cael'Theron replies. — "Look around. People don't understand magic. They fear it or use it for war. And the spirits… they die because of it. Suffering. Always suffering."

— "So what do you want? To destroy everything to start anew?"

— "I want… to free everyone from memory. From pain. From the legacy of mistakes. If Resonance connects hearts, then I want to — disconnect them. To give humanity a chance to be pure, without the burden of the past."

— "Is that your belief? That emotions are a curse?"

— "They are shackles."

— "And love?" — her voice softens.

Cael'Theron falls silent. His eyes — empty.

— "Love…" he says. — "It was the first betrayal."

Everything dims.

Return

Tarion felt something sear his chest — a faint tremor from his own Resonance crystal. He stood in the same hall, but could no longer breathe as easily. The weight of what had been said and seen hung in the air.

— "Cael'Theron… was a Keeper," Laina murmured softly. — "And he wanted to stop the pain. But at the cost of everything."

— "He believes that feelings are evil," Greet added. — "That Resonance only multiplies suffering."

— "And… maybe he once loved someone," Tarion added. — "But he lost them. And that loss changed him forever."

Lian remained silent. His face was pale, his eyes — attentive.

— "He doesn't seek power," he said. — "He seeks… correction. He wants to rewrite the essence of the world."

— "But by erasing feelings, he erases life," Laina whispered.