Azure Blue had not sung in centuries.
Now, every living thing on the planet felt it—the low, resonant hum beneath their feet, in their veins, in their dreams. Rivers shivered with light, trees trembled in chorus, and clouds turned to molten sapphire above. The world was whispering, but none knew to whom.
Except one man.
High in the Eastern Sky Dominion, atop a drifting monolith carved from celestial jade, sat Master Ryugan Tenrai—the Azure Sage of Ninefold Resonance. His long silver hair floated like threads of moonlight as his eyes opened, revealing concentric rings of blue and gold. Each ring spun slowly, reflecting every frequency of the planet's song.
He heard something new within it—something vast, ancient, and uninvited.
"This tone…" Ryugan whispered, rising from his lotus seat. "It does not belong to Azure Blue."
A pulse of power rippled from his feet, and the air cracked open like a mirror. He stepped through it, his robes fluttering in the wake of spectral wind, and vanished.
Far above, on Auralis Peak, Lucien's clone stood near the edge of the world.
He was quiet, looking up into the firmament where stars blinked and rewrote themselves in his reflection. Around him, the planet's spiritual energy coiled tighter, resonating with his aura—both drawn to him and terrified of him.
He knew someone was coming.
He felt the ripple of an intent that was calm but curious, sharp but not hostile. When the air before him split open, and Ryugan stepped out, Lucien merely turned his head slightly, violet eyes gleaming.
"So you've come," Lucien said, voice soft but layered, as though a thousand harmonics hid behind every word. "I was beginning to wonder how long it would take before Azure Blue sent one of its voices."
Ryugan bowed slightly, not out of subservience, but respect. "Forgive my intrusion, stranger. The planet trembles, the Song of Azure hums anew—and at its heart, I find you. May I ask your purpose here?"
Lucien tilted his head. "Purpose?" He smiled faintly. "That's such a mortal word."
The wind swirled. The sun dimmed. The river below shifted to match the rhythm of his voice.
"I did not come to destroy or to bless. I came because I was curious. Your world hums in balance—an anomaly in a cosmos obsessed with dominance and decay. I merely… touched its melody."
Ryugan's expression darkened slightly. "Touched it? The resonance of Azure Blue is fragile. One ripple can rewrite the cultivation of an entire generation."
Lucien turned toward him fully now, hands folded behind his back, the faint glint of amusement in his eyes. "And yet, the ripple continues. Tell me, Azure Sage—what is strength to you? Preservation? Perfection?"
Ryugan frowned. "Strength is harmony. To exist in tune with all things."
Lucien chuckled softly. "Harmony… the most fragile illusion of them all. What happens when harmony meets the void—when balance learns it was never balanced at all?"
The air between them thickened. Ryugan felt it—an unfathomable presence, not oppressive, but infinite. It wasn't power; it was absence. The kind of absence that consumed even the meaning of power.
He had stood before gods before. He had seen emperors who commanded stars, demons who consumed time. But this man… no, this being… was different.
He didn't exist within the world. The world existed because he allowed it.
Ryugan took a slow breath, grounding himself in the rhythm of Azure's Song. "Your energy—no, your essence—is unlike any I've felt. Are you a god?"
Lucien smiled faintly. "Gods are bound by what they create. I am… less polite."
For a long moment, silence reigned. The two simply stood there—the Sage of Resonance and the God of Void—watching the clouds drift by. The planet's pulse slowed, almost reverent, as if Azure Blue itself was listening.
Finally, Ryugan spoke again, softer this time. "If you are not here to destroy or claim, then what do you seek?"
Lucien's gaze wandered toward the horizon. "Understanding."
He raised a hand, and a small orb of pure void-light hovered above his palm. Inside it, infinite reflections of Azure Blue shimmered, each a slightly different version of the planet—one where it burned, one where it froze, one where it never existed.
"I wanted to see how Heaven's creations sing when they don't fear silence," he said. "This world is… beautiful, but ignorant of itself. You cultivate resonance, but none of you know the source of the song you follow."
Ryugan's eyes widened slightly. "The source…?"
Lucien turned his palm over. The orb dissolved into gentle violet mist. "The song you follow was once sung by a being who wished to bind the void. It failed. And its last breath became this planet's first hum. You, Azure Blue's children, are echoes of an unfinished harmony."
Ryugan's pupils trembled. His heart skipped a beat as ancient memories, sealed in the fabric of the world itself, flickered like forgotten dreams.
Lucien stepped forward. "Do not look so afraid. I am not here to take away your music. I'm simply tuning it."
"Tuning… it?"
Lucien smiled, soft but unfathomably deep. "Every world sings a note in the grand composition of creation. I am ensuring your note isn't lost when the next verse begins."
Ryugan bowed deeply. Not from fear—but from realization. "Then, you are beyond divinity. Beyond resonance itself."
Lucien looked past him, to the endless blue horizon. "I am Lucien Dreamveil. The one who exists beyond the Veil. Call me what you will."
The Sage's breath hitched. The world seemed to whisper that name—Lucien—through every gust, every ripple, every songbird's cry.
As he turned to leave, Ryugan called out, "Wait! If you are here to rewrite the song… will Azure Blue survive it?"
Lucien paused, half-glancing back, his silhouette framed by the light of twin suns.
"That," he said with a wry smile, "depends on how well you can keep up with the rhythm."
He snapped his fingers.
The sky rippled into black and gold, notes of light falling like rain. The hum deepened again, richer, more alive. For the first time in eons, the world didn't just sing—it answered.
Ryugan fell to his knees, trembling as his cultivation surged, his resonance intertwining with the new rhythm Lucien had left behind. His very soul now hummed with a strange power, neither divine nor mortal.
When he opened his eyes, Lucien was gone. Only his voice lingered, echoing through the wind like a whisper of eternity.
"Tell your people, Sage—balance does not mean stillness.
It means dancing at the edge of oblivion… and smiling."
The Azure wind carried that whisper to every corner of the planet.
The world was forever changed.